The Long Shadow's Katherine Kelly on the 'scar on the landscape' left by Sutcliffe

The Long Shadow star Katherine Kelly said Peter Sutcliffe's crimes 'left a scar on the landscape' of the local area.

Katherine Kelly is part of the ensemble cast in the ITV1 drama The Long Shadow, a series based on the police hunt for Yorkshire serial killer, Peter Sutcliffe. Between 1975 and 1980, Sutcliffe was responsible for the deaths of 13 women, and his shocking acts of violence left an impression on countless more lives.

At The Long Shadow press launch, Kelly was asked whether she had spoken to members of her family to find out what they remembered about that five-year period.

"I grew up on the border of western South Yorkshire and I did", Kelly said. "However, when you're from that area, you grow up in full knowledge of those five years of terror.

Kelly went on to explain just how much of an impact those 'five years of terror' had had on the community. "It still lives within those people who lived through that time. It changed everything. And it was indeed a long shadow, there was nobody that wasn't touched by that period of time.

"And I think, it's quite hard to imagine that, really, because it wasn't in an abstract way, it was in a day-to-day way. My partner talks about — because obviously there were no mobile phones — you went and you met women from the bus, and if a woman was ten minutes late for work, it was panic. It wasn't 'oh, she's missed the bus', it was 'Right, where is she?'

"And it left a scar on the landscape, which I grew up in full knowledge of", Kelly concluded.

In the show, Katherine Kelly plays Emily Jackson, one of Sutcliffe's victims.  Later, she talked about the pressure and the sense of responsibility she felt playing a real person who was a victim of such a horrific crime.

"I do feel privileged to be a part of it. And I think the responsibility when you're playing somebody — I'm even wary of using the word character because she existed — and the responsibility is not something that I take lightly.

"I know nobody [working on the show] takes it lightly. And I always have to walk with the fact that I may be confronted by one of her friends, or family members, and I have to look them in the eye and I'm answerable to that. And that's where my thoughts rest."

The Long Shadow premieres on ITV1 at 9 pm on Monday, September 25.