The Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story (Documentary, English)
Genres: Crime, Legal
Status: Ended
Premiered: 2019-03-26
Ended: 2019-03-28
Network: BBC Four
Country: GB
Airs on: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Air time: 21:00
Runtime: 60 minutes
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.