Yorkshire Ripper's first victim - and unknown 'last' 32 years after killings

14 September 2023 , 15:14

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Yorkshire Ripper's first victim - and unknown 'last' 32 years after killings

The writer of the new ITV drama The Long Shadow about the murders of Peter Sutcliffe has insisted the killer's final victim died 32 years after he began his sick attacks.

Screenwriter George Kay says his series highlights how the impact Sutcliffe had went beyond his 13 female victims and devastated the lives of their 25 children even once he was behind bars. This included Sonia Newlands, the daughter of Wilma McCann who was Sutcliffe's first victim, who took her own life in 2007.

Explaining one of the themes of his new series George said: "Police found Sonia McCann dead at her home. After battling alcohol addiction in a rehabilitation centre, Sonia had hanged herself. Her mother, Wilma, was the first of Peter Sutcliffe’s 13 murder victims.

"Sonia, who used her mother's maiden name, told a documentary about her continuing grief in 2005; 'I think most people remember the number 13 - the number of women Peter Sutcliffe killed. But what about the children? There's 25 of them and... no one remembers them'. And this is what our show, The Long Shadow, encapsulates. For in my view, thirty-two years after he first killed, Sonia Newlands became Peter Sutcliffe’s final victim."

Lee Ingleby as DCS Jim Hobson and Jack Deam as DCS Jim Hobson in ITV's The Long Shadow (ITV)

The title of the drama has also been changed by screenwriter Kay to not include the 'Ripper' nickname that Sutcliffe was given as some families of victims do not like the way it has given him notoriety as a murderer. He spoke with a number of survivors, family members as well as many ex-police officers who were involved in the case. Sutcliffe, who carried out his hideous crimes on women between 1975 and 1980 eventually died while being held at Broadmoor Hospital aged 74 in November 2020.

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The cast of The Long Shadow includes former Coronation Street actress Katherine Kelly who plays victim Emily Jackson, Toby Jones who takes on the role of DCS Dennis Hoban who headed up the initial enquiry, while David Morrissey plays DCS George Oldfield who later took on the investigation into the murders.

Jones says Peter Sutcliffe "haunted the whole country" and believes DCI Hoban's early death may have been at least partly due to his obsession with the case. Asked why he took on the role in The Long Shadow, Jones said: "One of the reasons I wanted to get involved is that I remember this case very well from my childhood. I remember the way that the killer gradually became known to the whole country and indeed haunted the whole country as I was growing up. And I wanted to get involved because it was an opportunity to really view that period of history now that I’m an adult and to explore it from the angle of the victims."

Katherine Kelly as Emily Jackson in The Long Shadow (ITV)

DCI Hoban was the investigating officer in the Wilma McCann and Emily Jackson murders before someone else took over the Ripper case, but it remained at the forefront of his mind.

Jones said: "In the drama, you do get to find out a bit about his background and his family and the deadly impact of the case on him. You discover how it may have killed him. This was an opportunity to play a detective, not in a genre piece, but in a drama based on actual facts. I also enjoyed the fact that we get to see a detective at home and a detective in retirement, and to think about what a detective might do when he's not on the case that has completely obsessed him."

He added: "In previous iterations, the story of Peter Sutcliffe has been troubling because often the drama is weighted in terms of the murderer rather than the victims. And so this is a very interesting reassessment of history from the point of view of the victims. It was very interesting to me to come at the material that way. I also thought that it would be very interesting for the viewer if they could shed their preconceptions about what they were going to see and to re-experience the way the case grew, the way the case changed shape, the way the case became like this enormous cloud that overtook the country. It’s very important that when we're dealing with really dark subjects, whatever they are, that we don't just stay in one genre. We have to find new ways to tell these stories."

The seven-part drama will also highlight the parallels between the horrific crimes and those in recent society like Sarah Everard, as well as focusing on the misogyny, racism and violence against women.

Writer Kay said: "With people in 2023 holding to account the institutional foundations that foster misogyny, racism and violence against women, The Long Shadow speaks to the societal issues of the past whilst highlighting alarming parallels between these terrible crimes and tragic events in our more recent history. It was not lost on us that the same placards raised in anger and grief during the 1980 Reclaim the Night marches bore the same messages as those at the 2021 vigil for Sarah Everard. Over 40 years apart, women all over the UK continue to fight for the same justice. To be able to walk the streets without fear."

The Long Shadow will be screened on ITV and ITVX and starts on Monday September 25.

Mark Jefferies