THE son of Peter Sutcliffe’s first murder victim has welcomed a decision by ITV to change the title of an upcoming drama series about the serial killer.

The show - which was originally named after Sutcliffe’s long-standing nickname - will now be called The Long Shadow.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, screenwriter George Kay said the name change came after criticism from families of Sutcliffe’s victims.

Richard McCann’s mother, Wilma, was murdered by Sutcliffe in 1975. She was just 28-years-old.

After Sutcliffe died in 2020, Mr McCann called for him not to be referred to by his nickname out of respect for the women he killed.

Speaking about ITV’s decision to call the drama series The Long Shadow, Mr McCann told the T&A: “I urged them (ITV) not to use that word - it begins with R - in the title and I’m pleased they’ve listened.

“The word serves to traumatise us families left behind because it’s a description of how our loved ones were maimed, how their injuries were inflicted.”

Mr McCann said he had seen the show and described it as “sensitively” produced.

“It shows the women as women, human beings, and not just victims of Sutcliffe, not just numbers,” he added.

“For example, it shows my mum as a mum, someone who loved her children.”

Sutcliffe died aged 74 after reportedly refusing treatment for coronavirus.

His killing spree across Yorkshire and Manchester from 1975 to 1980 terrified northern England and launched a huge manhunt and a botched police inquiry.

Sutcliffe, of Heaton, Bradford, was serving a whole life term for the murders of 13 women and the attempted murder of seven more.

He was an inmate of the maximum security Frankland jail and died at the nearby University Hospital of North Durham.

The Long Shadow, which is due to air on ITV1 later this month, will focus on the five-year manhunt for Sutcliffe.

A synopsis of the show reads: “One murder has the power to cast a long shadow and this case plunged a whole society into darkness. For every victim, there were friends and loved ones. For every police officer, there was the burden of failure - of near misses and guilt - and the knowledge that as they failed to find their man, more women continued to suffer.

“The impact on the lives of those who live on after the death of their loved one remains to this day. Those who cannot escape what happened, who must sit with their incomprehensible trauma for decades after, enduring their own life sentences.”