This show is truly harrowing. It’s a perfectly grim examination of the complete and utter failures of West Yorkshire Police in their attempt to hunt down Peter Sutcliffe, The Yorkshire Ripper. 

What struck me the most about this series is the way that Sutcliffe’s presence Is felt but not seen in the first five episodes. The creative decision to not glamorise Sutcliffe’s killings by showing them and by extension him is this series’ strong point. It reflects what it must have been like in the years he was at large. 

The fact that it instead chooses to focus on the so called investigators also allows the series to shine as it gets to highlight the inadequacies of West Yorkshire Police. Particularly the attitude of head of CID George Oldfield who got lead down a wild goose chase. Arguably the worst one of the lot was Ron Gregory. His level of negligence is damn near criminal and the series does not back down from pointing this out. 

I’m glad this series doesn’t pull its punches when criticising the police and their failures in regards to this case.

This show is truly harrowing. It’s a perfectly grim examination of the complete and utter failures of West Yorkshire Police in their attempt to hunt down Peter Sutcliffe, The Yorkshire Ripper. 

What struck me the most about this series is the way that Sutcliffe’s presence Is felt but not seen in the first five episodes. The creative decision to not glamorise Sutcliffe’s killings by showing them and by extension him is this series’ strong point. It reflects what it must have been like in the years he was at large. 

The fact that it instead chooses to focus on the so called investigators also allows the series to shine as it gets to highlight the inadequacies of West Yorkshire Police. Particularly the attitude of head of CID George Oldfield who got lead down a wild goose chase. Arguably the worst one of the lot was Ron Gregory. His level of negligence is damn near criminal and the series does not back down from pointing this out. 

I’m glad this series doesn’t pull its punches when criticising the police and their failures in regards to this case.