The Long Shadow star Katherine Kelly’s surprising link to Peter Sutcliffe actor
Actress Katherine Kelly has a surprising link to The Long Shadow's Peter Sutcliffe actor Mark Stobbart.
The seven-part ITV drama will see the vile crimes committed by Sutcliffe before the serial killer's eventual capture in 1981, 12 years after his first documented assault. It has an all-star cast, featuring the likes of Toby Jones, David Morrissey, Daniel Mays and Jill Halfpenny, as they document the impact of Sutcliffe's crimes long after he was arrested.
Katherine plays Emily Jackson in the drama, who was one of Sutcliffe's victims. The serial killer murdered 13 women and Emily, 42, was his second confirmed victim. She was murdered after Sutcliffe picked her up outside a Leeds pub in 1976. The two actors starred together in The Long Shadow, but they also share a surprising Line Of Duty connection.
Coronation Street actress Katherine Kelly has found love with Line Of Duty actor Tony Pitts (Can Nguyen/REX/Shutterstock)
Mark Stobbart plays Sutcliffe in the dramaCoronation Street star Katherine found love with Line Of Duty actor Tony Pitts, two years after her marriage split. Tony, who was a hit with fans when he played Detective Les Hargreaves in the corrupt police BBC drama, has posed with Katherine on the red carpet at a number of public events. While Sutcliffe actor Mark Stobbart also worked in the police drama alongside Tony.
He starred in five episodes during season four, as Detective Sergeant Neil Twyler. Katherine and Tony's relationship came two years after the breakdown on her marriage to digital analyst Ryan Clark. They have two daughters, Orla and Rose. "They have kept their relationship out of the spotlight but have attended a number of events together this year including Royal Ascot and the ITV Palooza earlier this month," a source told The Sun last November.
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"At the Dancing with Heroes ball Kelly couldn’t keep her hands off Tony and was stroking the back of his head all evening, they have met one another’s families and went on holiday together with their respective children earlier this year. Katherine is incredibly happy with Tony and it’s clear they are a really good match."
Katherine and her ex husband Ryan split in 2020 after seven years of marriage. A spokesperson for the couple said at the time: "Katherine and Ryan have made the difficult decision to separate. They see it as a positive move for both of them and the separation is completely amicable."
Katherine relocated from their North London home to Barnsley so she could be closer to her family. Tony is also a familiar face on screen, having played Archie Brooks in the long-running soap Emmerdale.
The Long Shadow director Lewis Arnold has said they intentionally have not shown any of Sutcliffe's violence on screen in the drama. "That's a decision we made as storytellers – if that had been part of the show, I don't think I would have done it," he explained. "But immediately when I talked to writer George Kay, I realised that wasn't the intention. There were lots of conversations about how much and how little do we put him in there. He is in there, but we asked how much we needed to tell this version of that story?"
Writer George has also shared why there was a purposeful shift away from their original drama title featuring Sutcliffe's grim moniker – The Yorkshire Ripper. "We started by calling it 'The Yorkshire Ripper' when we announced it," George explained. "But we learned over time that the name people use to describe Peter Sutcliffe — which obviously began before anyone knew his real name, but then continued after his identity was revealed — was disrespectful in many ways. It's especially painful for the victims' families, because it creates a sort of dark brand around a man who doesn't deserve that sort of attention.
"This is a story we've been working on for four years. And in that time, we've learnt lots of things and met lots of people in all parts of this story. I think we've been really good about being flexible and trying to learn and change and understand their stories and their opinions. The Yorkshire Ripper was a working title, but The Long Shadow is more in tune with the story, we're trying to tell the broader story that we're trying to tell not just about the crimes and the investigation, which are really important, but the the effects of the crimes and the effects that continue long after Peter Sutcliffe himself was arrested."
*The Long Shadow airs Monday at 9pm on ITV
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