The long shadow of misogyny
ITV’s 7 part drama ‘The Long Shadow’ is about so much more than one man
The Long Shadow, the latest in a line of TV programmes about serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, has received mixed reviews. A two-star review in the Independent, for example, by TV critic Nick Hilton, argued that the programme had a ‘continued fixation with the gory details, one that has a stranglehold over a nation of Ripperologists.’
Meanwhile, Lucy Mangan, writing for the Guardian, gave the programme four stars, welcoming its genuine attempt to focus on who the victims were - something that was especially apparent in the telling of Emily Jackson’s story, brought to life by the brilliant Katherine Kelly.
Image: New pictures for ITV
I have to agree with the latter, in that this wasn’t simply a programme about Peter Sutcliffe and his infamy. This wasn’t even just a programme about those terrible specific crimes and the victims who lost their lives or families who lost their loved ones.
In my view, this was a programme about how misogyny and a patriarchal society enabled harm and the taking of life - in these cases and many others before and since. The fact that it was written by a male screenwriter is reassuring, however (I have always believed that male feminists can and do exist - I just wish there were more of them).
It’s certainly not an enjoyable watch - but it is a powerful one. It’s a stark and much-needed reminder of how such deep rooted misogyny harms all of us. So if you’re watching this and, as the saying goes, you’re not getting angry - then you’re simply not paying attention.
Because it wasn’t just Peter Sutcliffe who killed these women, it was also the narcissistic misogynists and the male-heavy power dynamic. If women had been believed, if egos hadn’t gotten in the way, lives could have been saved.
There’s a scene in one of the episodes where the Chief Constable suggests (or should that say ‘threatens’ - because it feels more like a dig at his colleagues than a genuine desire to save lives) bringing in the Met Police. Now, we all have our feelings about the Met Police, but in this context their behaviour and shortcomings are not the reason the West Yorkshire Police are reluctant to hand over the case. You get the feeling it’s got far more to do with a desire to retain the power and profile such a case brought with it.
Yet while such narcissistic and sexist behaviour continues to thrive among the male police officers leading the investigation, these traits are diverted and instead projected onto the victims. Survivors such as Marcella Claxton (played by Jasmine Lee-Jones) and Olive Smelt (played by Nicola Stephenson) are pretty much accused of attempting to sensationalise the horrific attacks that very nearly killed them by linking them to Sutcliffe. They are basically told they are lying. For what reason? Why would they lie about such a thing?
Perhaps only the male police officers can relate to why anyone might do that - notoriety and profile. After all, there’s a lot of jostling for position above all else. And of course the very idea that they could have got it wrong is impossible and ludicrous to them. Regardless of what a woman is telling them she has experienced first hand.
It’s interesting, however, that they fail to even once doubt the hoax voice recording sent in by a man…
It’s as though women - including the victims and the fellow police officers, one of whom is forced to risk her life undercover on the streets - are mere objects or pawns. Unimportant pieces of a puzzle - as though the victims are entirely irrelevant in all of this and it’s simply a game of cat and mouse for the boys’ club.
Other truths explored in the show that hit me hard (as I am sure they will for any woman who has felt afraid walking home alone) included the reminder that it wasn’t only the subject of the manhunt that threatened women’s lives. There were other threats - as already mentioned the systemic misogyny - but also other men on the streets who were indeed also dangerous. Danger was everywhere in everyday life for every woman - with one episode showing PS Meg Winterburn (Liz White) and lawyer Ruth Bundy (Alexa Davies) feeling exposed and at risk for simply going from A to B.
As we saw students protesting in episode 6, posters with the words ‘women stay home’ were amended to read ‘men stay home’ - a reminder that we still need to repeat today, as women are consistently forced to carry the burden of responsibility for harassers, attackers, abusers and killers.
These issues made for uncomfortable viewing, but they needed to be shown and reinforced. Because, to this day, women who report attacks are far too often automatically disbelieved or encouraged to absorb the shame of their attackers.
In fact, society would rather concoct a long winded conspiracy theory before believing a woman.
But even when the truth comes out, why are the women, the victims, worse off than the men who bungled the investigation? As we see at the end of the programme, Marcella Claxton finally received compensation to the tune of £17,500. Because of this, she had her health and social security cut off. And Doreen Hill (Jill Halfpenny), sued the police for negligence after her daughter was murdered by Sutcliffe. This was rejected in the high court.
Meanwhile, Chief Constable Ronald Gregory sold his story to the Daily Mail for £40,000.
This really doesn’t feel like history to me.