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As the hunt for Peter Sutcliffe (dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper) continues in ITV1’s true-crime drama The Long Shadow, Jill Halfpenny plays Doreen Hill, whose daughter Jacqueline (The Durrells actor Daisy Waterstone) is murdered by the serial killer. Here, the former Waterloo Road and EastEnders star reveals more…

How would you describe your character?

Doreen is a very forward-thinking woman, who has ambitions for her children. When we first meet her, she’s so proud that her daughter is going to university. Doreen’s not loud. She’s quietly steely and confident. She can’t understand why people can’t do whatever they’re capable of doing, no matter where they’re from, or what sex they are.

But when Jacqueline goes to university, the unimaginable happens, doesn’t it?

Yes, it’s so cruel. Doreen and her husband sent her to Leeds because they’d been told over and over again that the killer was up in the north-east, which is where they were from. They thought that it was a sensible decision and that it would be safer, then that’s where it happened.

What’s it like to play a real-life person who’s suffered such an unimaginable tragedy?

It’s a big responsibility. I remember talking with the series writer George Kay, who said that some of the families were very cautious about how it was going to be handled and how they would be portrayed. You don’t want to give them any more pain than they’ve already been through. I hope we’ve done them justice.

What do you want viewers to take away from the series?

I would just like people to watch it and be able to think and feel for all the people who were on the receiving end of those horrendous crimes. They never ever escape from that. When they die, that’s what will be written about them. That’s what’s attached to them now. And that’s a heavy coat to wear. We shouldn’t underestimate that.

✱ The Long Shadow continues on ITV1. Catch up on ITVX

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