Katherine Kelly insists The Long Shadow handled victims' plight with 'integrity'

02 October 2023 , 11:30

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Katherine Kelly insists The Long Shadow handled victims' plight with 'integrity'

Katherine Kelly says Peter Sutcliffe's victims and their families were treated with sensitivity and integrity after The Long Shadow was slammed for 'cashing in' on their torment.

The Yorkshire Ripper’s younger brother says ITV bosses opened up old wounds and that isn't fair on those involved, including his own family. Carl Sutcliffe demanded the show is the last ever programme made about his evil serial killer sibling and says bringing his crimes to life again impacts many.

Featuring the likes of Toby Jones, David Morrissey, Katherine and Daniel Mays, the haunting seven-parter has left viewers gripped and ITV will air the second installment on Monday night. The former Corrie star, 43, says the killer's role in the show is minimal.

Katherine Kelly portrays Emily Jackson on the programme (ITV)

Katherine, who plays Emily Jackson in the true crime drama, told Bella Magazine: "I hope that viewers feel that it's been made with sensitivity and integrity. Peter Sutcliffe was caught just after my first birthday, so it's not in my living memory, but it is of my parents and the generations before them.

"Everyone of a certain age from that part of the world has a Peter Sutcliffe story. He left a scar on the landscape of the community. The role of him in our drama is very small. It's not about him – it's about the fact that they didn't know who he was."

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Carl Sutcliffe doesn't want another show made about his monster brother. "It has been a thorn in my side, unless you have a notorious criminal in your family, you cannot understand what it is like," he told the MailOnline. "What is to be gained from this? I feel so sorry for the victims' families that they have to endure the retelling of losing their loved one. For the sake of the victims and their families – and my family – it needs to be left now."

Twisted Peter Sutcliffe's crimes have been brought to life (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

But the killer's brother has slammed ITV bosses (REX/Shutterstock)

Peter Sutcliffe died in November 2020 and his death is said to have been gruesome. The Prisons & Probation Ombudsman, which investigates deaths in prisons, went into detail about the serial killer's dying days.

Already suffering from diabetes, angina and paranoid schizophrenia, Sutcliffe was taken from a maximum security prison near Durham to hospital on October 28, 2020, to have a pacemaker fitted. The former lorry driver, who was locked up for a whole life term in 1981, may have contracted coronavirus in hospital, Sue McAllister wrote in the report. On November 6 2020 – a day after testing positive for the disease – the killer was observed by a prison nurse to be "coughing continuously and was unable to get out of bed".

Later that day Sutcliffe, who latterly used the name Peter Coonan, began vomiting. Two days later a prison nurse found Sutcliffe, 74, had been suffering diarrhoea and vomiting. His oxygen saturation level was found to be very low and he was taken to hospital. Suffering chest pain and coughing the following day, Sutcliffe, who had earlier declined to shield on a different prison wing, was taken back to hospital and again on November 10.

Sutcliffe's condition deteriorated and on November 12 his restraints were removed for "decency". The killer, who was kept in chains until shortly before his death, died just after 1am on November 13. Ms McAllister wrote: "The clinical reviewer concluded that the care Mr Coonan received at Frankland was equivalent to that which he could have expected to receive in the community.

*The Long Shadow continues on Monday at 9pm on ITV

Sam Elliott-Gibbs