Season 1 - Episode Guide

The first episode explores the missed chances of Peter Sutcliffe's early offending and presents evidence to show that his campaign of murder and mutilation may have started at least six years before his first acknowledged victim, with the killing of Mary Judge in Leeds in 1968. Among the casest explored in this episode are Judith Roberts, a schoolgirl killed in Staffordshire in 1972 and Carol Wilkinson, a bakery worker murdered in Bradford in 1977. Despite the clear similarities with Sutcliffe's MO, two innocent men – Andrew Evans and Anthony Steel – were convicted of these murders.

The second episode sees the pressure continuing to build on West Yorkshire Police as they step up the hunt for the killer the press have dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper. On top of the crimes that police decide to include in the Ripper investigation, murders and attempted murders with a clear link to the killer are discarded and left unsolved. When a series of mysterious letters and tapes are received by the senior detectives, the investigation is derailed even further, allowing the Ripper to go on killing. Meanwhile a third innocent man is sent to prison for life.