ITV has announced a drama on the Yorkshire Ripper – saying it will put victims, their families and survivors “at the heart” of the story.

The six-part series will depict the hunt for Bingley-born Peter Sutcliffe, which began in 1975, lasted several years and involved more than 1,000 officers.

Between 1975 and 1980, the Yorkshire Ripper, as he became known and worked as a lorry driver in Bradford, murdered at least 13 women and attempted to kill seven others, while narrowly evading capture time and again.

Sutcliffe, now 74, is serving 20 life terms for murdering 13 women and attempting to kill seven more. Most of his victims were sex workers who were mutilated and beaten to death.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe

He would later claim that God had sent him on a mission to kill prostitutes, but his true motivation has been the subject of speculation for decades.

It “will focus on the lives” of his victims, “the loved ones they left behind, and the everlasting toll the investigation took on the detectives”, the broadcaster said.

The commission follows the success of its other true-crime dramas Des and White House Farm.

The Yorkshire Ripper (the working title) will draw upon hundreds of case files, interview transcripts and police reports in an investigation archive.

Screenwriter George Kay said: “In a story full with eye-watering statistics, one for me has always stood out – Peter Sutcliffe rendered 23 children motherless.

“That one fact in itself demands that any definitive drama about this case should encompass far more than just the story of a police investigation.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Peter Sutcliffe worked as a lorry driver in Bradford Peter Sutcliffe worked as a lorry driver in Bradford

“We will focus not just on the police … but the victims, their families, those who were attacked but not believed, those who whose lives were permanently changed.

This is not the story of a Ripper who hailed from Yorkshire, but the story of how Yorkshire was ripped apart

The drama has been commissioned from the same producers as Des – starring David Tennant as serial killer Dennis Nilsen and – White House Farm, based on the notorious murders of the same name.

The broadcaster’s head of drama Polly Hill said: “This promises to be a definitive look at this infamous case and will be sensitively dramatised for ITV.”

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: The Telegraph & Argus front page from Monday, January 5, 1981 as the Yorkshire Ripper was due to appear in court charged with “a serious offence.” Police on anti-vice patrol in Sheffield city centre made the arrest of Peter Sutcliffe ending five years of Ripper terror throughout Yorkshire and LancashireThe Telegraph & Argus front page from Monday, January 5, 1981 as the Yorkshire Ripper was due to appear in court charged with “a serious offence.” Police on anti-vice patrol in Sheffield city centre made the arrest of Peter Sutcliffe ending five years of Ripper terror throughout Yorkshire and Lancashire

Executive producer Paul Whittington said: “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.”

The drama will be based on Michael Bilton’s book Wicked Beyond Belief: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper.