38. The Yorkshire Ripper: Do women need to reclaim the night?

Peter Sutcliffe, better known as the Yorkshire Ripper murdered 13 women and attacked many others. The case involved 5 million hours of mostly futile police work and sparked angst and fury among women. Could he have been stopped sooner?

On this episode of Bad People, Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen explore how the police were sidetracked in their investigation by confirmation bias and sexism and how women responded with “Reclaim the Night” marches across the country.

Warning: This episode includes descriptions of sexual violence, murder and possibly some strong language. This episode contains audio from: The Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story produced by Wall to Wall, BBC Archive, BBC AUDIO – BRASSTACKS, BBC News, John Humble and ITV.

CREDITS Presenters: Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Producer: Louisa Field Assistant Producer: Simona Rata Music: Matt Chandler Editor: Rami Tzabar Academic Consultants for The Open University: Dr. Zoe Walkington & Dr. Camilla Elphick

#BadPeople_BBC Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins Commissioning Assistant Producer: Adam Eland Bad People is produced in partnership with The Open University and is a BBC Audio Science Production for BBC Sounds.