If you’re looking for a new TV show to keep you company in the autumn evenings, the casting for ITV’s forthcoming true crime drama The Long Shadow has been announced, and the line-up is seriously impressive. 

Coming to ITV1 and ITVX, the show is written by award-winning screenwriter George Kay (Hijack, Criminal: UK) and directed by Bafta-winner Lewis Arnold (Sherwood, Time, Des). 

Among the leading names announced are Toby Jones and Katherine Kelly, but what else can viewers expect from the seven-part series?

The Long Shadow is billed as the definitive depiction of the five-year hunt for serial killer Peter Sutcliffe. The show will sensitively focus on the lives of the victims who crossed his path and those of the officers at the heart of the police investigation. ITV says that “with the victims, their families and the survivors at the heart of this series, The Long Shadow brings a new perspective to a well-documented story”.

The show has researched meticulously from the investigation archives, case files, transcripts and police reports. It is based on Michael Bilton’s critically acclaimed account of the case, Wicked Beyond Belief. 

Alongside the casting announcement, ITV released a statement that read: “One murder has the power to cast a long shadow, and this case plunged a whole society into darkness. For every victim, there were friends and loved ones. For every police officer, there was the burden of failure – of near misses and guilt – and the knowledge that as they failed to find their man, more women continued to suffer. The impact on the lives of those who live on after the death of their loved one remains to this day. Those who cannot escape what happened, who must sit with their incomprehensible trauma for decades after, enduring their own life sentences.

“With people today holding to account the institutional foundations that foster misogyny, racism and violence against women, The Long Shadow will speak to the societal issues of the past whilst highlighting alarming parallels between these terrible crimes and tragic events in our more recent history.”

The show is jam-packed with supremely talented actors. The award-winning Toby Jones will play DCS Dennis Hoban, who initially led the enquiry; David Morrissey plays DCS George Oldfield, who famously took on the investigation; Lee Ingleby is DCS Jim Hobson; Katherine Kelly plays Emily Jackson with Daniel Mays as her husband, Sydney Jackson, and Shaun Thomas as their son, Neil Jackson.

Jill Halfpenny plays Doreen Hill, with Daisy Waterstone as her daughter, Jacqueline Hill. Jasmine Lee-Jones plays Marcella Claxton, Molly Wright as Donna Deangelo, Liz White as PS Meg Winterburn and Shaun Dooley as DCS Chris Gregg.

The cast also includes Alexa Davies, Chloe Harris, Stephen Tompkinson, Jack Deam, Michael McElhatton, Adam Long, Ruth Madeley, Dorothy Atkinson, Rob James-Collier, Charley Webb, Steven Waddington and Kris Hitchen.

The Long Shadow is set to come to ITV1 and ITVX in September.

Image: ITV