THE LONG SHADOW - mon 9pm ITV. TV PACE. NO SPOILERS

[Blondeshavemorefun]

The Long Shadow is a seven-part series that will start at 9pm on Monday September 25 2023 on ITV1, with subsequent episodes broadcast every Monday evening from thereon.

The Long Shadow is based in part on Wicked Beyond Belief by Michael Bilton, a critically acclaimed account of the case. It sensitively tells the stories of the victims who crossed Sutcliffe’s path, as well as their families and survivors. It also highlights alarming parallels between the so-called Yorkshire Ripper’s terrible crimes and tragic events in our more recent history.

Between 1975 and 1980, Peter Sutcliffe terrorised Yorkshire in a killing spree that left 13 women dead and seven others lucky to be alive after they managed to survive his brutal attacks.

His horrific crimes left a deep scar on the nation’s psyche and have been the subject of numerous films and documentaries, but the grief and pain that continues to be felt by his victims’ families is often forgotten.

Opening in October 1975, with the murder of Wilma McCann, a mother of four young children from Leeds, this week’s first episode goes on to follow the story of Sydney Jackson and his wife Emily, who would be Sutcliffe’s second victim.

Like many people in Britain during the period, the Jacksons were struggling to make ends meet in tough economic times, and Emily made the difficult decision to become a part-time sex worker in a bid to support their three children.

The police initially suspect Sydney of killing his wife, until it soon becomes clear the two murders are linked – and the start of a terrifying killing spree.

As the series progresses, Sutcliffe’s crimes launch the biggest police manhunt Britain has ever seen, but many of the detectives harbour misogynistic attitudes that hamper their investigation.

However, one detective who understands the situation is DCS Dennis Hoban (Toby Jones) who takes up the case in its early stages.
Sutcliffe avoided detection for years due to a series of missed chances by police to catch him. He eventually confessed in 1981 after a police check discovered stolen number plates on his car

The cast is amazing

•	Toby Jones (<a class="break-all" href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toby_Jones)" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toby_Jones)</a> as DCS Dennis Hoban
•	David Morrissey (<a class="break-all" href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Morrissey)" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Morrissey)</a> as DCS George Oldfield
•	Daniel Mays (<a class="break-all" href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Mays)" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Mays)</a> as Sydney Jackson
•	Lee Ingleby (<a class="break-all" href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Ingleby)" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Ingleby)</a> as DCS Jim Hobson
•	Katherine Kelly (<a class="break-all" href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Kelly_(actress))" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Kelly_(actress))</a> as Emily Jackson
•	Shaun Dooley (<a class="break-all" href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaun_Dooley)" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaun_Dooley)</a> as DCS Chris Gregg
•	Daisy Waterstone (<a class="break-all" href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_Waterstone)" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_Waterstone)</a> as Jacqueline Hill
•	Jill Halfpenny (<a class="break-all" href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Halfpenny)" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Halfpenny)</a>

as Doreen Hill

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Jasmine Lee-Jones as Marcella Claxton

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Molly Wright (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Wright_(actress))
as Donna Deangelo

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Liz White (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liz_White_(actress))
as PS Meg Winterburn

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Mark Stobbart as
Peter Sutcliffe (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Sutcliffe)

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Alexa Davies (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexa_Davies)

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Chloe Harris

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Stephen Tompkinson (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Tompkinson)

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Jack Deam (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Deam)

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Michael McElhatton (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_McElhatton)

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Adam Long (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Long_(British_actor))

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Ruth Madeley (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Madeley)

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Dorothy Atkinson (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Atkinson)

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Rob James-Collier (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_James-Collier)

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Charley Webb (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charley_Webb)

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Steven Waddington (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Waddington)

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Kris Hitchen

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Victoria Myers
[1]

Virgin Media TV are showing it in Ireland a couple of days behind ITV so I've just caught up. Or have I
I found it impossible to hear what the two detectives are saying, particularly DCS Jim Hanson, the black haired guy. Not quite so difficult to hear was his partner.
There were no subtitles available.
Toby Jones was perfectly audible.

Oh yes there were lots of complaints about the mumbling!

Oh were there !
Not just me, so.
Fingers crossed there will be subtitles for Episode 3.

I can only watch with subtitles

They all mumble and I half dead

So sad that seems police only started to take the murdered seriously after Jayne as she was an innocent /good girl

Half deaf. Not dead

Yep I had to keep switching it up ( then getting blasted when the ads came on) and rewinding it to make out what they said. Annoying

thank you
i was on the other thread but there were too many spoilers

There were no subtitles on Virgin Media One l's showing of it
Sometimes there are but you can't depend on it.

This is tv paced

Mine always are as like to chat about each episode and often others
Notice things I don't

The way the police were speaking to the girl who was arrested was appalling . Also appalling was how the woman was rejected from receiving compensation .

There seems to be lots of variation on the views of some [eg Emily and husband] but I guess that happens all the time .

I’ve just watched the first episode - it’s one of the best dramas I’ve seen for a while. Katherine Kelly (might have her name wrong) as Emily is just mesmerising, she glides across the screen - what an actress. I don’t know if the families cooperated but I felt bad for Emily’s children seeing the character in the back of the van clutching her five pound note.

Wilma McCann’s son said he didn’t even recognise his Mum from that photo they always use of her - she was blonde and had been arrested for being drunk and disorderly or something, and it was literally the only photo anyone had of her at the time but was years out of date. The sad thing is it was never ever proven that she was a sex worker but after her murder that’s how she was referred to.

The character played by Toby Jones, is he based on a real detective on the case? He seems very sympathetic to sex workers and struggling single Mums. I suspect back in the 1970s most police would not have these enlightened views, which is why they kept referring to them as prostitutes and “nice girls”.

Hope they haven’t made him PC so we’re not offended, we all know how the press and police treated these victims.

I agree Katherine Kelly was superb in it.

I have read the book the series is taken from and it describes very well the utter grimness of life for the women who worked in prostitution. They were doing it just to survive and feed their children, the fathers were absent and there were no benefits apart from child benefit (family allowance). It was prostitution or lose your children and starve.

I thought their decision to introduce a fictional character, Donna De Angelo was a really good idea. You got to see just how awful it was, how badly treated the women were by punters who were not the ripper, by their husbands, and then by the police as well. It was a difficult watch but it needed to be shown. It was a terrible life. The book (Wicked Beyond Belief) describes it very effectively.

Dennis Hoban (played by Toby Jones) was a very successful detective until the ripper case: he had never failed to solve a murder. He also had Type 1 Diabetes, which led to his early death in 1978.

Yes, you spelled bloody incorrectly!!!

I was born after Sutcliffe was caught and jailed, and though I knew about it, of course, who didn't, it's history to me. So I was interested in this, not as a crime drama but to give stories and lives to the victims. I have been quite emotionally affected by it. I have watched all the episodes that have been shown on TV (three so far).

When Emily is in the club and approached by a man, is that supposed to be Peter Sutcliffe? Is it suggested she recognised him when he pulled up in his car and so she felt sort of safe with him I wonder?

I haven't recognised most of the actors, apart from Toby Jones. I didn't recognise Lee Ingleby, the woman from Emmerdale, Annie from Life on Mars, or even Steven Tompkinson. They have done a great job retro-fying them. It looks very realistic.

Ha,ha ! 😂

The "bliddy" was deliberate (like bar-stewards" - I'm trying to tone down my swears! But I did wonder if someone would pick me up on it.)

I'd wonder about the bloke I the club having such a strong resemblance to Sutcliffe, too. When I saw him I expected something to happen sooner than it did.

I recognised Toby Jones (obviously - he's stand-out), the one who played Sydney Jackson - he's been in quite a few things, including that programme where they were all looking for "H" (I can't remember what it was called - Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the Wee Donkey, my mind's going), David Morrisey (doesn't seem to have aged well, but to be fair is playing George Oldfield, so was bound to be made up to look old and grim), the DCS Jim (wasn't he in George Gently?), Katherine Kelly and Stephen Tompkinson.

The atmosphere of casual misogyny and contempt for women who were forced into this horrible trade has been well captured, I think. Most people couldn't (can't?) imagine the sort of desperation that would make a woman do this. Other women were very judgemental of them, too. Sutcliffe was from my era of youth and I remember it very well - including the "I'm not a tart so I don't need to worry" attitude. Poor little Jayne MacDonald's murder was a wake-up call. I wasn't "morals" that governed his attacks; it was opportunity. Prostitutes are more vulnerable, and are out later at night than most other women, so the streets are empty and there are likely to be no witnesses.

It is a brutal and desperately sad story. I've seen Wilma McCann's son on TV a couple of times and what a wonderful man he has grown into - articulate, compassionate, hard-working and a good family man - she'd be so proud of him.

I thought the same thing - the man dancing with Emily at the club was meant to be Sutcliffe? I assumed she would be murdered that night.

I also clocked Arabella Weir as Toby Jones’ wife who didn’t want Emmerdale Farm to be interrupted by a phone call.

The man in the club isn’t Peter Sutcliffe, the actor playing him only appears in the last two episodes. I think it’s just a coincidence and a plot device for Emily to realise that there’s a potential source of income that she could bring in. There’s not much evidence that PS ever had sex with prostitutes, although he did spy on them and their clients when he was younger.

I get confused by the way they’ve made George Oldfield and Dick Holland look very similar 😬. David Morissey’s voice sounds odd but I assume it’s based on how Oldfield actually sounded.

Thank you - I'll get hold of a copy of this book. I admit to a fascination with this sort of topic, but I am less interested in the blood and gore than in the social background and psychological make up of victims and perpetrators.

Carol Ann Lee's book on the subject 'Somebody's Mother, Somebody's Daughter') is also really good, a brief biopic
of every victim and survivor, and very little about Sutcliffe.

Reading it you get a strong sense of how young the women were and how much they had to contend with so early in life, incl. the removal of many children to foster care, and how the brutality of partners was a constant. Alcoholism, clinical depression, untreated PND and no doubt grief for lost children. Lot of sad stories.

I thought there was a welfare system of s
sorts?
I watched a documentry,from the70,s ,where they were trying to catch women,who were working whilst also claiming some kind of benefits.

There was Family Allowance (now child benefit) and Family Income Supplement, although you had to be working to qualify for that. Single mothers could claim Supplementary Benefit - giro cheques - whether or not they were working, but it was means-tested. There was also an Invalidity Benefit for those who couldn't work due to injury or illness.

@Emotionalsupportviper It's available on Kindle for £5.99, I've started reading it.

Maybe I am wrong but I thought I remembered reading that all Wilma McCann had to live on was her family allowance useless father having abandoned them all

Thanks for that @SydneyCarton

They must have been absolutely desperate to go out with him on the prowl that really struck me at the time women were being targeted in Ipswich too.

Thanks - I'll have a look.

@BalloonSlayer "...useless father having abandoned them all."

It was ever thus.

If only men like that were treated as pariahs.
Particularly by other men sad to say that would only work. They wouldn't regard women's views as having merit