This Is Personal: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper 

This is a dramatisation of the real-life investigation into the notorious Yorkshire Ripper murders of the late 1970s, showing the effect that it had on the health and career of Assistant ... See full summary »

Stars:

Gerard Horan, Stephen Moore, Claire Webzell

5 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Gerard Horan	...	Detective Chief Superintendent John Domaille 2 episodes, 2000
Stephen Moore	...	Professor David Gee 2 episodes, 2000
Claire Webzell	...	Sonia Sutcliffe 2 episodes, 2000
Paul Angelis	...	Det. Chief Supt. Jack Ridgeway 2 episodes, 2000
Pip Donaghy	...	Det. Chief Supt. Will Brooks 2 episodes, 2000
Howard Ward	...	Det. Supt. John Stainthorpe 2 episodes, 2000
Jim Millea	...	Det. Insp. John Boyle 2 episodes, 2000
John Graham-Davies	...	Det. Insp. Tony Glendenning 2 episodes, 2000
Andrew Readman	...	Det. Sgt. Peter Smith 2 episodes, 2000
David Prosho	...	Det. Sgt. Parks 2 episodes, 2000
Katharine Rogers	...	WPC Sue Neave 2 episodes, 2000
Laura Richmond	...	WPC Ruth Ford 2 episodes, 2000
Paula J. Horton	...	WPC Susan Phillips 2 episodes, 2000
Simon Lenagan	...	DC Cambrook 2 episodes, 2000
Tim Dantay	...	DC Cleasby 2 episodes, 2000
Matt Healy	...	DC Rogan 2 episodes, 2000
Darren Roberts	...	DC Wakeman 2 episodes, 2000
Martin Ronan	...	DC Sandford 2 episodes, 2000
Terence Mann	...	DC Marks 2 episodes, 2000
Marcus Romer	...	DC Barkham 2 episodes, 2000
John Griffin	...	DC Garrett 2 episodes, 2000
David Maybrick	...	Keighley Constable 2 episodes, 2000
Craig Cheetham	...	Peter Sutcliffe 2 episodes, 2000
Maggie Ollerenshaw	...	Margaret Oldfield 2 episodes, 2000
Kimberley Walsh	...	Gillian Oldfield 2 episodes, 2000
Sam Townend	...	Christopher Oldfield, aged 13 2 episodes, 2000
Matthew Lewis	...	Christopher Oldfield aged 9 2 episodes, 2000
Neil Boorman	...	Wilf MacDonald 2 episodes, 2000
Sue Cleaver	...	Sylvia Holland 2 episodes, 2000
Suzanne Ellison	...	Irene MacDonald 2 episodes, 2000
Liz Hume Dawson	...	Chapeltown Prostitute 2 episodes, 2000
Tanya Myers	...	Myra Lawton 2 episodes, 2000
Mark Benton	...	Terence Hawkshaw 2 episodes, 2000
Jean Stevens	...	Mrs. Hawkshaw 2 episodes, 2000
Ken Bradshaw	...	Adrian Windows 2 episodes, 2000
Vinette Robinson	...	Rita Rytka 2 episodes, 2000
Ted Robbins	...	Chauffeur 2 episodes, 2000
Gemma Phoenix	...	Schoolgirl 2 episodes, 2000
Peter Lorenzelli	...	Barker 2 episodes, 2000
Laura Crossley	...	Tracey Browne 2 episodes, 2000
Christine Mackie	...	Mrs. Browne 2 episodes, 2000
James Higgins	...	Stevenson 2 episodes, 2000
Alun Armstrong	...	Asst. Chief Const. George Oldfield 2 episodes, 2000
Chris Brailsford	...	Ken Rees 2 episodes, 2000
Gillian Brownson	...	Nurse 2 episodes, 2000
Rosy Clayton	...	Maggie 2 episodes, 2000
John Duttine	...	Det. Chief Supt. Jim Hobson 2 episodes, 2000
Steven Dykes	...	Dewsbury Sergeant 2 episodes, 2000
Juliet Ellis	...	Olivia Reivers 2 episodes, 2000
Keiran Flynn	...	DC Andy Laptew 2 episodes, 2000
Simon Hanna	...	PC Robert Hydes 2 episodes, 2000
Zoie Kennedy	...	WPC 2 episodes, 2000
James Laurenson	...	Chief Const. Ronald Gregory 2 episodes, 2000
Kate Layden	...	Mrs. Sykes 2 episodes, 2000
Francis Maguire	...	DC Greenwood 2 episodes, 2000
Olwen May	...	Diane Simpson 2 episodes, 2000
Dominic Monaghan	...	Jimmy Furey 2 episodes, 2000
James Quinn	...	Det. Sgt. Desmond O'Boyle 2 episodes, 2000
Malcolm Raeburn	...	Bradford Sergeant 2 episodes, 2000
Steve Ramsden	...	Sergeant Bob Ring 2 episodes, 2000
Richard Ridings	...	Det. Supt. Dick Holland 2 episodes, 2000
Lynda Rooke	...	Mrs. Hill 2 episodes, 2000
Kate Rutter	...	Jane Barker 2 episodes, 2000
Mike Savage	...	Det. Chief Supt. Clark 2 episodes, 2000
Jack P. Shepherd		2 episodes, 2000
John Kay Steel	...	Professor Stanley Ellis 2 episodes, 2000
Hannah Storey	...	Teresa Sykes 2 episodes, 2000
John Wheatley	...	Keith McPhail 2 episodes, 2000
Patricia Wilcock	...	Rachel Horton 2 episodes, 2000
Stephen Woods	...	Police Pathologist 2 episodes, 2000

Storyline

This is a dramatisation of the real-life investigation into the notorious Yorkshire Ripper murders of the late 1970s, showing the effect that it had on the health and career of Assistant Chief Constable George Oldfield who led the enquiry.

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Plot Keywords:

yorkshire | murder | ripper | true crime | tv mini series | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English German

Release Date:

2000 (UK)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Granada Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min (2 parts)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When the police recieve and then play a hoax tape from a man claiming to be 'Jack', the tape is the original recording sent to real life police.

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Soundtracks

Thank You for Being a Friend
Performed by Andrew Gold

User Reviews

Excellent Docu Drama

The whole point of why the Police are made to look clueless is because I'm afraid that is exactly what happened. If you did not know about the case you would think the same way as Boba Fett, in that its that ridiculous it cannot be true. Unfortunately all the major incidents and mistakes made by the Police portrayed in this 2 part series actually did happen. We should not forget that if the Ripper was to have practised his evil ways the year 2000 he would have been caught extremely quickly with all the advances in modern technology.

This is the late 1970s. No DNA testing, No Super Computers, No CCTV to name but a few.

Alan Armstrong gives an absolutely first class performance of George Oldfield and steals the show.

We are shown how much pressure the West Yorkshire Police force were under and how they were unable to deal with an investigation of such evil magnitude.

In hindsight it is very easy to criticise the Police however the programme takes great detail in explaining how they were sidetracked by the hoax letters and tapes which allowed Sutcliffe to continue for another 3 years and how in the end he was caught not by their great detective work but by pure chance.

If you read in detail about the Ripper case and the Police enquiry into it, some of the mishandling by The Police was astounding. If you don't know a little about the case it's easy to imagine its all fiction.

I think this programme is excellent viewing for anyone who is unaware of the case and offers an insight into the difficulties they had in the late 1970s.

A bit more detail could have went into the numerous alibis given for her husband by Sonia Sutcliffe as in my opinion this was the other reason, along with the tape, for him eluding capture for so long.