The Long Shadow continues on ITV this week, and it’s following a new and welcome trend in true crimes – read more in our review.
Rather than focus on serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, the seven-parter attempts to humanise the women he murdered. He is known to have killed 13 women, and attacked at least seven more.
This is the first time their stories have been dramatised. And it’s about time. Like the recent ITV drama The Hunt for Raoul Moat, and BBC One’s sublime Sherwood, the spotlight is deliberately turned on the victims.
In fact, Peter Sutcliffe, played by actor Mark Stobbart, doesn’t even appear in the drama series until the final two episodes. A spokesperson for the channel made it clear that the focus of the series is not on the killer, but instead his victims, and their families.
Here’s why we think The Long Shadow deserves all the awards in our review.
The Long Shadow review: What it gets SO right
Two episodes in, and The Long Shadow appears to have one apparent aim – to honour the victims of Peter Sutcliffe. Unlike the totally sensationalist drama Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. The Netflix series once again only served to glamourise the crimes of the killer.
And don’t get us started on the glossy HBO drama The Staircase, about the death of Kathleen Peterson. It should never have been made. Sadly, her name got lost once again. Instead, all eyes were once more on her husband and suspected killer Michael Peterson. And that grotesquely gratuitous crime scene left us feeling sorry for her kids.
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