The Long Shadow (2023)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Long Shadow is a historical drama - a miniseries with seven episodes - which premiered on British television (ITV) in 2023.

 

This drama is based on a true story. It is about the five-year manhunt for the criminal who was known as the Yorkshire Ripper.

 

Here is some basic information about it:

 

** Director: Lewis Arnold

** Writer: George Kay

** Based on the book Wicked Beyond Belief: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper by Michael Bilton (2003)

** Language: English

** Subtitles: English

** Run time: 7 x 49 minutes = 343 minutes

 

The cast includes the following

 

** Toby Jones as DCS Dennis Hoban

** David Morrissey as ACC George Oldfield

** Daniel May as Sydney Jackson

** Katherine Kelly as Emily Jackson

 

** Jack Deam as DI Les Hanley

** Chloe Harris as WPC Jenny Bush

** Kris Hitchen as DC John Nunn

** Lee Ingleby DSI (later DCS) Jim Hobson

 

** Michael McElhatton as CC Ronald Gregory

** Steven Waddington as DSI Dick Holland

** Liam Garrigan as PS Bob Blake

** Jasmine Lee-Jones as Marcella Claxton

 

** Dorothy Atkinson as Betty Hoban

** Sorcha Groundsell as Nicola Briggs

** John Henshaw as Mike Dugdale

** Stephen Tompkinson as David Gee

 

** Christopher Hatherall as DCS John Domaille

** Shaun Thomas as Neil Jackson

** James Clay as Ken Dwyer

** Marcus Fraser as Calvin Thompson

 

Since this drama is based on a true story, the basic facts are not a secret. They are part of the public record. This is why I feel free to mention some of them here.

 

While this drama is based on a true story, it is not a documentary film. It is a dramatized version of events. Not everything happened exactly as shown here.

 

Some details may have been added, altered or excluded for dramatic reasons or practical purposes. But the basic story is true.

 

The criminal who was known as the Yorkshire Ripper attacked and killed thirteen women between 1975 and 1980. In addition, he attacked but failed to kill seven other women. Some of his victims survived.

 

While the hunt was on, the criminal was known as the Yorkshire Ripper. This was an allusion to the Victorian serial killer Jack the Ripper.

 

In 1981, when the killer was finally caught, he was sentenced to life in prison (20 times over).

 

In 2010, this sentence was converted to a whole life order. This means a prisoner has almost no chance of getting a pardon which will release him or her from prison.

 

The criminal who was known as the Yorkshire Ripper was born in 1946. He died in prison in 2020.

 

This historical drama is not so much about the man who committed these crimes. The director wants to focus on the victims of his crimes and the many lives who were disrupted by his crimes.

 

The drama is also about the five-year manhunt for the killer. Why did it take so long for the police to identify and arrest this criminal? How was it possible for this criminal to avoid detection when so many police officers and detectives were looking for him?

 

One part of the answer is that the criminal was careful and lucky. Another part of the answer is that the police investigation was incompetent and unprofessional.

 

As stated above, the killer was finally caught in 1981. Was this the result of efficient police work? No. It was an accidental arrest.

 

Once the police had the man sitting in an interrogation room, they realised that he was, in fact, the very person they had been searching for since 1975.

 

When they checked their old records, they could see that he had been questioned by police officers no less than seven times, but each time he had been allowed to walk away, because he did not fit the false profile of the killer which the police had created.

 

What do reviewers say about this historical drama?

 

Here are some results:

 

** 77 percent = IMDb

** 87 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)

** 90 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)

 

Fifty-six user reviews are posted on IMDb. Many of them offer a rating which is higher than the rating offered by the website. Here are some examples:

 

60 percent

A grim story of everyday incompetence

 

70 percent

Nearly excellent

High quality British crime fiction

 

80 percent

Chilling

A powerful drama

Serial incompetence

Quietly devastating retelling of the murders

 

90 percent

Brilliant

Very powerful, essential watching

ITV finally produce a quality drama

Brilliant and evocative of a very frightening time

 

100 percent

Powerful

A great drama

Absolutely outstanding

Best show on tv for decades

Bringing the victims out of the shadows

Powerful and deeply upsetting real life drama

An unflinching look at the failures of the investigation

How not to solve senseless brutal murders

Traumatic yet powerful

Top notch dramatisation

Excellent. Worth watching

 

I understand the numerous positive reviews and I agree with them. This story is important. It deserves to be told, and in this drama, it is done very well. In my opinion, it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent).

 

REFERENCES

 

Wicked Beyond Belief:

The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper

By Michael Bilton

(2003 = hardcover)

(2024 = paperback)

 

Somebody's Mother, Somebody's Daughter: True Stories from Victims and Survivors of the Yorkshire Ripper

by Carol Ann Lee

(2019)

 

On the Trail of the Yorkshire Ripper:

His Final Secrets Revealed

By Richard Charles Cobb

(2019 = hardcover)

(2023 = paperback)

 

Yorkshire Ripper – The Secret Murders: The True Story of Serial Killer Peter Sutcliffe’s Reign of Terror

By Chris Clark and Tim Tate

(2021)

 

Convicting the Yorkshire Ripper:

The Trial of Peter Sutcliffe

By Richard Charles Cobb

(2023)

 

Peter Sutcliffe:

The Full Crimes of the Yorkshire Ripper

By Chris Cook

(2024)

 

*****

Somebody's Mother, 

Somebody's Daughter:

True Stories from Victims 

and Survivors of the

Yorkshire Ripper

By Carol Ann Lee

(2019)

*****

1939-1962: A World Divided (2024)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1939-1962: A World Divided is the English title of a historical drama which premiered on French and German television (arte) in 2024. It is a miniseries with six episodes.

 

Here is some basic information about this drama:

 

** German title: Die Spaltung der Welt

** French title: Les divisions du monde

** Directors: Olga Chajdas and Frank Devos

** Writers: Jan Peter and Jasmin Wind

** Executive producer: Gunnar Dedio

** Multiple languages

** Subtitles: English

** Run time: 6 x 52 minutes = 312 minutes

 

This drama covers the history of the world from 1939 to 1962 with special focus on six real historical persons:

 

# 1. Three men

** Max Wagner as Wernher von Braun (1912-1977)

A German rocket engineer who worked for Nazi Germany during WW2. After the war, he worked for the US.

** Moussa Sylla as Frantz Fanon (1925-1961)

A soldier, a psychiatrist, and a political activist who was opposed to colonialism

** Denys Rodniansky as Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971)

During WW2, a high-ranking member of the communist party of the USSR. Following Stalin’s death in 1953, he was the new leader of the USSR

 

# 2. Three women

** Meriel Hinshing as Joan Hinton (1921-2010)

A nuclear physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project during WW2. After the war, she became opposed to nuclear weapons. She moved to China where she lived for the rest of her life

** Lara Mandoki as Hedwig Höss (1908-1989)

A German woman who was the wife of Rudolf Höss, the commandant of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp during WW2

** Delia Mayer as Golda Meir (1898-1978)

A Jewish activist who campaigned for the establishment of Israel. After 1948, she was an active Israeli politician. She was the prime minister of Israel 1969-1974.

 

Here are the headlines of the six episodes:

 

# 1. Dreaming of the Moon

# 2. A Garden by the Wall

# 3. Holding out at All Costs

# 4. Little Boy

# 5. The Holy Land

# 6. A New Era

 

The lives of six characters are told in six episodes. But the system is not one episode for each character. The stories of their lives are mixed up.

 

In the first episode, the focus is on Wernher von Braun, but other characters are also seen in this episode.

 

In the second episode, the focus is on Hedwig Höss, but other characters are also seen in this episode.

 

The lives of six characters are covered in six episodes, but these six characters do not know each other. They never meet each other.

 

They live within the chosen time frame (1939-1962), but they lead separate lives in different parts of the world.

 

The stories of the six characters are mixed with archive footage from the time and the location where each character happen to be.

 

The old clips were shot in black-and-white, but for this drama they have been colorized.

 

The old clips are blended with the new recordings of the actors, and the switch from archive footage to new recordings is seamless. It is hardly noticed.

 

The six characters live in different parts of the world and speak different languages. Some scenes are set in France or Germany, while other scenes are set in Israel, the United States or the Soviet Union.

 

When the series was shown on arte tv, the original languages were used. This is (in my opinion) a positive factor, because it gives the series a high level of authenticity.

 

When the series was shown on the German television channel ARD, all conversations were dubbed into German. This is (in my opinion) a negative factor, because it gives the series a low level of authenticity.

 

What do reviewers say about this historical drama?

 

On IMDb it has a rating of 80 percent.

What do I think?

What is my rating?

 

The six characters are well-chosen. Three men and three women from different parts of the world. We have:

 

** Two scientists = Wernher von Braun and Joan Hinton

** Two politicians = Golda Meir and Nikita Khrushchev

** One political activist who is on the left wing of the political spectrum = Frantz Fanon

** One housewife who is on the right wing of the politicial spectrum = Hedwig Höss

 

The directors have chosen an unusual way of building a historical drama. Is it successful? In my opinion, the answer is yes and no.

 

It is successful, when the story is allowed to follow one of the six characters for a while. When they focus on one character long enough for the viewer to feel that we are getting close to this character.

 

But it is not so successful, when the story is broken too quickly and too often. When the story jumps from one character to the next after a quite short scene. When this happens, the story becomes fragmented.

 

As the drama moves forward from the first to the final episode, we are getting closer to the six characters. But it seems to me that some of them are getting more screen time than others.

 

As you can see, this drama has positive elements as well negative elements. When I compare the positive and the negative, I find that the positive elements are stronger than the negative. But I cannot go all the way to the top.

 

The rating on IMDb is very appropriate. This historical drama deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent).

 

REFERENCE

 

The following item is available online:

 

Marta Balaga,

1939-1962: A World Divided

A conversation with co-director Olga Chajdas

Variety

17 October 2024

 

*****

 

1939-1962:

Die Spaltung der Welt:

1939-1962

A historical drama which premiered in 2024

A miniseries with six episodes

 

*****