![](\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SEI_171132072-abbf.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
ITV has renamed its upcoming Peter Sutcliffe drama following complaints from the victims\u2019 families over the original Yorkshire Ripper title.<\/p>\n
The seven-part true crime series will now be called The Long Shadow after the families suggested the original name would be \u2018disrespectful\u2019 and creating a \u2018dark brand\u2019 around him.<\/p>\n
Sutcliffe killed 13 women and attempted to murder seven more between 1975 and 1980 before his arrived in 1981, while he was sentenced to 20 concurrent sentences of life imprisonment.<\/p>\n
His sentence was changed to a whole life order in 2010, and he died three years ago in prison aged 74 after contracting covid.<\/p>\n
George Kay \u2013 the screenwriter behind the show \u2013 has penned a script focused on the victims and police investigation into the murders.<\/p>\n
Sutcliffe\u2019s character only appears briefly in the series, and not until later episodes.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/themes\/metro-parent\/img\/fallback.png\")
<\/p>\n
In a statement, to the Daily Telegraph, Kay said: \u2018We started by calling it The Yorkshire Ripper but in the beginning we hadn\u2019t learnt, as we did when making the show, that the moniker used to describe Peter Sutcliffe \u2013 which obviously began before anyone knew his real name, but continued after \u2013 was disrespectful in many ways.<\/p>\n
\u2018The victims\u2019 families certainly don\u2019t want that name being applied to Peter Sutcliffe because it creates a dark brand around a man who doesn\u2019t deserve that sort of attention, and especially not that verb.<\/p>\n
\u2018That was one of our lessons. We\u2019ve been working on this for four years and in that time we\u2019ve met lots of people in all parts of this story.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u2018We\u2019ve tried to learn and change and understand their stories and their opinions, and so because of that the title changed from The Yorkshire Ripper.\u2019<\/p>\n
The relatives of seven of his victims and survivors previously criticised Netflix over the title of its four-part series The Ripper, which they were originally told would be called Once Upon a Time in Yorkshire.<\/p>\n
In an open letter shared with the Sunday Times in 2020, they wrote: \u2018The moniker \u2018the Yorkshire Ripper\u2019 has traumatised us and our families for the past four decades.<\/p>\n
\u2018It glorifies the brutal violence of Peter Sutcliffe, and grants him a celebrity status that he does not deserve.<\/p>\n
\u2018Please remember that the word \u201cripper\u201d relates to ripping flesh and the repeated use of this phrase is irresponsible, insensitive and insulting to our families and our mothers\u2019 and grandmothers\u2019 legacies.\u2019<\/p>\n