The Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story
2019 · BBC Four · 60 min · 1 season
S01E03 · Justice
Fri, 29 Mar, 8:00 am
Justice charts the arrest, trial and conviction of Peter Sutcliffe, and the legacy for the relatives of his victims and the survivors of his attacks.
About
In May 1981, truck driver Peter Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering thirteen women and attempting to kill seven others. His trial concluded the biggest manhunt in British criminal history, for a killer nicknamed "The Yorkshire Ripper". But after an intense six year search, Sutcliffe was only caught when stopped for a minor motoring offence. And it transpired that he'd in fact already been questioned nine times during the investigation.
The series re-investigate this infamous case from a wholly new perspective, asking whether prevailing attitudes of the time, towards women and prostitutes in particular, influenced the investigation and meant that Peter Sutcliffe was caught years too late.
Episodes
- E01
Chapletown
Wed, 27 Mar· 60 minEpisode one, Chapletown, explores the early years of the investigation from 1975, when the first Ripper murder occurred. The location of the first two murders in Chapeltown, then well-known as Leeds's main red light district, led the police to decide that prostitution was the connection between the attacks. After the second murder in January 1976, the police announced they were hunting a ‘prostitute killer' and the investigation became driven by this theory.
- E02
Manhunt
Thu, 28 Mar· 60 minAs the Ripper's murders cause terror in the north of England and the unknown killer becomes a kind of cult figure, with Yorkshire Ripper chants at football matches and Thin Lizzy's Killer On The Loose topping the charts, Manhunt explores how the police investigation became a wild goose chase.
- E03
Justice
Fri, 29 Mar· 60 minJustice charts the arrest, trial and conviction of Peter Sutcliffe, and the legacy for the relatives of his victims and the survivors of his attacks.
