Mark Stobbart bears a terrifying resemblance to the Yorkshire Ripper as he is seen for the first time filming a drama about the serial killer.
The actor playing Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe is seen filming an ITV drama about the serial killer for the first time.
Mark Stobbart, who played DS Neil Twyler in the fourth series of Line of Duty, was spotted bearing a terrifying similarity to Sutcliffe as he left his trailer to head to the film set in Yorkshire.
Mark was filming a scene which involved police officers arriving at Sutcliffe’s house, for the drama The Long Shadow.
The house they chose to double up as Sutcliffe’s home was a residential property in the Roundhay area of Leeds. The real life house is 15 miles away in Bradford.
Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering 13 women and attempting to murder seven others from 1975 to 1980.
The six-part series, set to air later this year or early 2023, features a stellar cast. Jill Halfpenny will play Doreen, the mother of Sutcliffe’s last victim, Jacqueline Hill.
The 20-year-old student from Middlesbrough was murdered, in Leeds on November 17, 1980, and her body found on wasteland.
The drama is said to tell Doreen’s story, and the botched police investigation.
The cast also includes Katherine Kelly, Daniel Mays, David Morrissey, Toby Jones, Stephen Tompkinson and Lee Ingleby.
Kelly plays Emily Jackson, the killer’s second victim, after picking her up outside a pub in 1976.
Mays plays Emily’s husband Sydney.
ITV commissioned the drama after the success of Des and White House Farm.
ITV drama boss Polly Hill assured viewers: “It will be sensitively dramatised for ITV by this formidable team, who have a proven track record in bringing these true stories to screen.”
It is being written by George Kay, who is behind Netflix ’s hit series Criminal.
Director Paul Whittington said of the series: “By placing the victims, their families and the survivors at the heart of this story, George has crafted an excavation of British social history that goes far beyond the infamy.
“His writing sensitively reveals and humanises the untold number of lives devastated by these crimes, and powerfully exposes the enduring legacy of the failings of the biggest manhunt in British criminal history.
"This is a vital story about class prejudice, pervasive and entrenched societal sexism and women simply not being heard that still has relevance today.”
