# The Long Shadow (2023)

> A seven-episode British miniseries dramatizing the five-year police hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper across 1970s South Yorkshire.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/149477

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 7
- Episode runtime: 48 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama
- Created by: George Kay
- Network: ITV1
- Cast: Michael McElhatton, Jack Deam, Lee Ingleby, Kris Hitchen, Ben Cartwright, Alexa Goodall, Sorcha Groundsell, Dylan Hall
- TMDB rating: 7.7/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13323596/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: grounded, sober, tense, realistic, unsensational

## What critics say

Reviewers find this British true-crime procedural engaging and well acted, if familiar in form, with its 1970s period detail and dated attitudes praised for adding texture.

## Synopsis

The Long Shadow (2023) is a British true crime police miniseries created by George Kay for ITV1. Across seven 48-minute episodes it dramatizes the real hunt for Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, as South Yorkshire police pursue him from October 1975 through January 1981. Senior officers such as CC Ronald Gregory (Michael McElhatton), DCS Jim Hobson (Lee Ingleby) and DI Les Hanley (Jack Deam) carry the investigation, while DC John Nunn (Kris Hitchen) and WPC Jenny Bush (Chloe Harris) work the ground-level leads. The engine of the story is the grinding, unglamorous labour of a case that stretches across years: thousands of interviews, mounting paperwork, false trails and a force racing against a killer who keeps striking. Its tone is sober and realistic, avoiding manufactured tension in favour of procedural detail and the weight of dated attitudes that hamper the search. Set in 1970s northern England, the miniseries is a single self-contained arc rather than a case-of-the-week format. Fans of Manhunt, Mindhunter and Code of a Killer will find resonance in its grounded, investigation-driven approach to real crime.

## Shows like The Long Shadow

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- [Cooper and Fry (2025)](https://ember.film/tv/201434)
- [The Ripper (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/94492)
- [The Hunt for a Killer (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/94490)
- [In the Dark (2017)](https://ember.film/tv/63434)
- [Manhunt (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/72367)
- [Steeltown Murders (2023)](https://ember.film/tv/139147)

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