Episode one, Chapletown, explores the early years of the investigation from 1975, when the first Ripper murder occurred.The location of the first two murders in Chapeltown, then well-known as Leeds's main red light district, led the police to decide that prostitution was the connection between the attacks. After the second murder in January 1976, the police announced they were hunting a ‘prostitute killer' and the investigation became driven by this theory.
As the Ripper's murders cause terror in the north of England and the unknown killer becomes a kind of cult figure, with Yorkshire Ripper chants at football matches and Thin Lizzy's Killer On The Loose topping the charts, Manhunt explores how the police investigation became a wild goose chase.
Justice charts the arrest, trial and conviction of Peter Sutcliffe, and the legacy for the relatives of his victims and the survivors of his attacks.
