The Long Shadow slammed for 'atrocious' glitch as viewers left baffled

26 September 2023 , 08:38

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The Long Shadow slammed for 'atrocious' glitch as first episode leaves fans baffled (Image: ITV)

Viewers of The Long Shadow have expressed disdain over the quality of the ITV1 show's audio, with some complaining that the dialogue is so difficult to hear they've had to put on subtitles.

The true crime drama, which explores the harrowing tale of the five-year-long hunt to catch serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, a.k.a. The Yorkshire Ripper, premiered last night with its first of seven episodes after a long-anticipated wait.

Directed by Sherwood's Lewis Arnold and written by George Kay, The Long Shadow focuses mainly on the police's investigation into the notorious criminal's murders that took place between 1975 and 1980. After being convicted of killing 13 women and assaulting seven others, Sutcliffe was sentenced to 20 concurrent sentences of life imprisonment. He died in custody at the age of 74 from diabetes-related illness in November 2020.

The Long Shadow's sound quality has caused quite the stir (ITV)

The show also places the "victims, their families and the survivors at the heart of this series", in an effort to bring a "new perspective" to an already "well-documented story." Its star-studded cast includes Toby Jones as DCS Dennis Hoban, who initially led the enquiry, while David Morrissey portrays DCS George Oldfield, who took on the investigation. Katherine Kelly plays Emily Jackson, a 42-year-old mother who was Sutcliffe's second victim, while Daniel Mays plays her husband, Sydney, and Shaun Thomas portrays her son, Neil Jackson. Gemma Laurie plays Wilma McCann, a 28-year-old woman who became Sutcliffe's first victim in October 1975 after she was murdered by the deranged killer five minutes from her front door.

Katherine Kelly plays Emily Jackson, Peter Sutcliffe's second murder victim

Despite its first episode receiving mostly positive reviews from critics, there's one grievance that seems to have unified viewers. Several people took to the Internet following the premiere of The Long Shadow to call out ITV for its poor sound quality, which has been blamed for making the show difficult to follow and compromising its overall enjoyment.

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"The Long Shadow - what's with the sound? We can't hear half of what's being said! Sort it out ITV," one unimpressed viewer tweeted. "The long shadow awful sound quality spoiling a good program," another said, while one person admitted they even had to "put subtitles on" because "all the whispering was driving them mad."

Another confused viewer said that they had to "rewind" the first episode, slamming it as "whisper central", while one person described its audio as simply "muffled." Other adjectives that have been used to diss the sound of The Long Shadow include "dire", "atrocious" and "dreadful", with one person even confessing they were "struggling to follow the plot" because they couldn't hear the characters' properly.

The lighting of the show has also been the subject of controversy, with one person writing, "Why is everything so dark, we had the same electric power as now, so turn the lights on." This sentiment was echoed by another viewers who wrote, "Thoroughly enjoyed The Long Shadow, but it would have been better if I could actually see it! We did have electricity in the 1970's!"

The Mirror Online has contacted ITV for comment.

Emma Dooney