The Long Shadow co-stars Katherine Kelly and Mark Stobbart have a surprising real life connection thanks to BBC drama Line of Duty.
Serial killer Peter Sutcliffe’s horrific crimes are detailed in seven-part ITV drama The Long Shadow, with Mark playing Peter and Katherine portraying one of his victims, Emily Jackson.
Emily was Peter’s second victim of 13 women after he picked her up outside a pub in Leeds in 1986.
While both Kelly and Mark appear together in The Long Shadow, they share a connection to Line of Duty after Emily found love with actor Tony Pitts.
Tony played Detective Les Hargreaves in police drama Line of Duty and Mark worked alongside him on the show, appearing as Detective Sergeant Neil Twyle in five episodes during series four.
Linked: The Long Shadow co-stars Katherine Kelly and Mark Stobbart have a surprising real life connection thanks to BBC drama Line of Duty (Katherine pictured in July)
Teling the tale: Serial killer Peter Sutcliffe’s crimes are detailed in seven-part ITV drama The Long Shadow, with Mark playing Peter and Katherine portraying victim Emily Jackson (Mark pictured in Line of Duty)
Katherine and Tony began seeing each other two years after the breakdown of her marriage to digital analyst Ryan Clark, who she shares daughters Orla and Rose with.
A source told The Sun of Katherine and Tony’s relationship last November: ‘They have kept their relationship out of the spotlight but have attended a number of events together this year including Royal Ascot and the ITV Palooza earlier this month.
‘At the Dancing with Heroes ball Kelly couldn’t keep her hands off Tony and was stroking the back of his head all evening, they have met one another’s families and went on holiday together with their respective children earlier this year.
‘Katherine is incredibly happy with Tony and it’s clear they are a really good match.’
It comes as ITV’s newest drama The Long Shadow, telling the story of Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, was slammed by viewers after its first episode aired on Monday.
With fans taking to Twitter to complain about the show’s poor sound and lighting, with come claiming they were forced to watch it with subtitles.
One viewer wrote: ‘The Long Shadow, awful sound quality spoiling a good programme.’
While a second commented: ‘The Long Shadow – had to turn subtitles on as the sounds is dire.’
Romance: While both Kelly and Mark appear together in The Long Shadow, they share a connection to Line of Duty after Emily found love with actor Tony Pitts (pictured)
On screen: Tony played Detective Les Hargreaves (pictured) in police drama Line of Duty and Mark worked alongside him on the show
Another said: ‘The Long Shadow – What’s with the sound? We can’t hear half what’s being said! Sort it out ITV!’
And: ‘Just had to put the subtitles on, all that whispering was driving me mad.’
Someone else agreed saying: ‘yeah whisper central, had to remind and put subtitles on.’
Another viewer wrote: ‘Watching the long shadow, why is everything so dark, we had the same electric power as now, so turn the lights on!’
MailOnline have contacted ITV for comment.
Sutcliffe died aged 74 in November 2020 at University Hospital of North Durham, after refusing treatment for COVID-19 while suffering with other underlying health issues, such as obesity and diabetes.
The drama has been written by award-winning screenwriter, George Kay (Hijack, Criminal: UK) and directed by BAFTA-winning Lewis Arnold (Sherwood, Time, Des).
Hitting out: ITV ‘s newest drama The Long Shadow, telling the story of Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe , was slammed by viewers after it’s first episode aired on Monday
Say again? With fans taking to Twitter to complain about the show’s poor sound and lighting, with come claiming they were forced to watch it with subtitles
Drama: The star-studded cast includes Toby Jones, Daniel Mays and Katherine Kelly (pictured) and takes a deep dive into the heinous crimes committed by Sutcliffe, a serial killer who operated in Yorkshire in the Seventies and Eighties, as well as the stories of the women he had attacked
Horror: Within the span of over five years, Sutcliffe killed 13 women and tried to kill seven more before his eventual capture in 1981
Unimpressed: Viewers took to social media to make their feelings known
The series has been meticulously researched and drawn upon the most extensive archive of the investigation – comprising of hundreds of case files, interview transcripts and police reports.
The Long Shadow is also based on Wicked Beyond Belief, Michael Bilton’s critically acclaimed account of the case, published by William Collins.
With the investigating police officers, the victims, their families and the survivors at the heart of this series, The Long Shadow will bring a fresh perspective to a well-documented story.
Award-winning Sherlock Holmes and Harry Potter actor Toby Jones plays DCS Dennis Hoban, who initially led the enquiry,
David Morrissey takes on the role of DCS George Oldfield, who famously took on the investigation, while Lee Ingleby will serve as DCS Jim Hobson.
Corrie’s Katherine Kelly plays Emily Jackson, a 42-year-old mother from Leeds, who had turned to sex work to try to make ends meet.
She was killed by Sutcliffe in 1976 after getting into his car, where he proceeded to beat her with a hammer and stab her repeatedly with a sharpened screwdriver.
The Long Shadow is on ITV 1 and ITVX
The 13 murder victims of the Yorkshire Ripper
Wilma McCann
Wilma McCann
Age: 28
Killed on: October 30, 1975
A sex worker and mother of four, Sutcliffe battered Wilma McCann to death with a hammer and stabbed her in the neck, chest and stomach after picking her up in Leeds. He carried on life as normal with wife Sonia, and was to tell police: ‘After that first time I developed and played up a hatred for prostitutes in order to justify within myself a reason why I had attacked and killed Wilma McCann.’ Her body was found in Prince Phillip Playing Fields.
Emily Jackson
Emily Jackson
Age: 42
Killed on: January 20, 1976
A part-time sex worker, Sutcliffe pretended his car wouldn’t start when he picked her up and battered her twice with a hammer as she offered to help. He the dragged her body into a yard and used a screwdriver to viciously stab her a total of 52 times in the neck, breasts, lower abdomen and back. Her body was found on Manor Street in Leeds.
Irene Richardson
Irene Richardson
Age: 28
Killed on: February 5, 1977
Another prostitute Sutcliffe picked up, he attacked her in Roundhay Park, Leeds, where they had stopped so she could go to the toilet. As she crouched down, the killer delivered three heavy blows to her head with a hammer, then he tore open her jacket and blouse and began to stab and slash her with his Stanley knife.
Patricia Atkinson
Patricia Atkinson
Age: 32
Killed on: April 23, 1977
Sutcliffe’s first victim in his home town of Bradford was another prostitute. He picked her up and took her to a flat in Oak Avenue, where he picked up a hammer and dealt four massive blows to the back of her head. He also stabbed her six times in the stomach with a knife and tried to do the same to her back, before throwing bed linen over the top of her body and leaving.
Jayne MacDonald
Jayne MacDonald
Age: 16
Killed on: April 23, 1977
A shop assistant who had just left school, Jayne MacDonald was the first ‘non-prostitute’ victim and it was her death that saw the hunt for the killer draw national attention. Sutcliffe spotted her in the early hours of the morning in Leeds and followed her into an adventure playground, where he struck her with a hammer on the back of the head. After she fell down, he then dragged her, face down, into the play areas and stabbed her several times in the chest and back.
Jean Jordan
Jean Jordan
Age: 20
Killed on: October 1, 1977
A young prostitute, Jean Jordan was the Ripper’s first victim in Manchester. He beat her 11 times with a hammer in allotments next to Southern Cemetery, dumped her body and threw her bag, containing a brand new £5 note he gave her, into nearby shrubs. Police found the bag and traced the serial number on the note back to the payroll of Yorkshire hauliers T and W H Clark, who employed Peter Sutcliffe, but when questioned he provided an alibi that he was at a party.
Yvonne Pearson
Yvonne Pearson
Age: 21
Killed on: January 21, 1978
A young prostitute, Sutcliffe took her to a piece of waste ground at the back of Drummond’s mill in Bradford, where his father worked. There he hit her several times with a hammer. He pulled her body behind an old sofa, stuffed horsehair down her throat before kicking her in the head and jumping down on her chest.
Helen Rytka
Helen Rytka
Age: 18
Killed on: January 18, 1978
A teenage prostitute, Helen Rytka was picked up and driven to a timber yard in Great Northern Street, Huddersfield by the killer. There he beat her with a hammer several times but she remained alive until he grabbed a knife and stabbed her multiple times through the heart and lungs. Before leaving, he hid her body behind a stack of timber.
Vera Millward
Vera Millward
Age: 40
Killed on: May 16, 1978
A prostitute living in a run-down council flat in Hulme, Manchester, Vera Millward was Sutcliffe’s ninth victim. He took her Manchester Royal Infirmary where he attacked her with a hammer as soon as she got out the car. After killing her with the hammer blows, he then dragged her body to a spot by a fence and began to stab her with a knife.
Josephine Whitaker
Josephine Whitaker
Age: 19
Killed on: April 4, 1979
A teenage building society clerk, Josephine Whitaker was approached by Sutcliffe in Savile Park, Halifax where they got chatting. He hit her from behind with a hammer and again as she lay on the ground before dragging her into the darkness after hearing voices. He then stabbed her 21 times with a screwdriver in the chest and stomach as well as in the leg. Her skull had been fractured from ear to ear.
Barbara Leach
Barbara Leach
Age: 20
Killed on: September 20, 1979
Barbara Leach was a university student, about to start her third and final year in social psychology. He spotted her while driving in Bradford and opened the car door to get out as she was walking towards him. He attacked her with a hammer and dragged her into a back yard, before stabbing her with the same screwdriver that he had used on Josephine Whitaker. He then placed her body in a distorted jack-knife position behind a low wall into an area where dustbins were usually kept, covering her body with an old piece of carpet and some stones.
Marguerite Walls
Marguerite Walls
Age: 47
Killed on: August 20, 1980
A civil servant who worked at the Department of Education and Science office in Pudsey, Marguerite Walls was the Ripper’s twelfth victim. After spotting her in Leeds, he attacked her with a hammer blow, yelling ‘filthy prostitute’. He then looped rope around her neck and dragged her into a garden when he would strangle her and strip her of all her clothing except her tights. He partially covered the body with grass cuttings and leaves before making his escape.
Jacqueline Hill
Jacqueline Hill
Age: 20
Killed on: November 17, 1980
An English student at Leeds University, Jacqueline Hill had taken the bus home from a meeting with probation service workers where she had applied to become a volunteer. Sutcliffe spotted and followed her before delivering a blow to her head as she was passing an opening. Her body was discovered on a stretch of wasteland 100 yards from where she lived. She suffered four skull fractures and cuts to her head, a stab wound to her left breast and a stab wound to her right eye.
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