Set in Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, and the rest of West Yorkshire,[2] both books and films follow several recurring fictional characters through a bleak and violent world of police corruption and organised crime.
The novels and television versions blend elements of fact, fiction, and conspiracy theory into a confection dubbed "Yorkshire Noir" by some critics.
Their paths cross when Dunford investigates a series of murdered or missing schoolgirls, one of whom is found on Dawson's property, tortured, raped, and strangled.
He has also used the same bribes and blackmail with the newly formed West Yorkshire Metropolitan Police (WYMP), who harass the Romani people camping on the land he wants.
Dunford is spurred on by comments from people, including his reporter friend Barry Gannon (Anthony Flanagan), who warns of trouble then dies in an accident.
During his investigation of Gannon's death, Dunford believes that he has found an ally in a reform-minded young police officer, Bob Fraser (Steven Robertson).
Dunford is arrested by corrupt police officers, brutally beaten and psychologically tortured, then shown Paula's dead body.
His supposed ally police officer, Fraser, has given the Gannon documents to Detective Superintendent Maurice Jobson (David Morrissey), who destroys them.
The two cases – massacre and serial killings – are linked by Sergeant Bob Craven, who behaves in an openly hostile manner to the new team.
witnessed the whole scene while hiding behind the bar, and were spotted by Chief Constable Harold Angus (Jim Carter) and Craven as they fled the premises.
Hunter returns to Millgarth Station, Leeds, to reveal this new information to Detective Chief Superintendent John Nolan (Tony Pitts).
It is revealed that it was he who tipped off Dunford about the arson in the Roma camp near Hunslet, in which Jobson took part under pressure by Molloy and that the camp site had to be vacated to pursue a £100m joint investment by Dawson and the top echelons of the WYMP (including Jobson, Molloy, Angus, Alderman, Prentice, Nolan, Douglas and Craven) on a project for a shopping centre.
It is also revealed that he knew about the innocence of Michael Myshkin (Daniel Mays), a learning disabled man who was convicted of the child murders in 1974.
Jobson's pangs of conscience are prompted by his investigation into the recent disappearance of a young girl named Hazel Atkins, and lead him to open previous cases.
His inquiries lead him to Leonard Cole (Gerard Kearns), the young man who found the swan-stitched victim in 1974 and who is now being framed for Atkins' disappearance.
Using information given by the learning disabled Myshkin, Piggott finds a mine shaft hidden in a pigeon shed near Laws's home, where it is revealed that a paedophile and child-murdering ring was run in West Yorkshire by Reverend Laws, and that clients of this ring included significant figures of society, among them businessmen such as Dawson and policemen such as Piggott's own father.
This was the main reason for the constables' indirect assistance in Dawson's demise, thereby solving the "two little problems" referred to by Angus (a nosy young journalist and a businessman with a dark secret) at the same time without compromising their million-pound investment in the commercial centre.
[7][8][9] Filming also took place at the former Presbyterian Church on 1 Simes Street, Bradford, which was being used as the Koh-I-Noor Indian restaurant at the time, was used as The Karachi Club in the trilogy.
The wrongful prosecution and imprisonment of the character Michael Myshkin is a clear parallel to the real-life case of Stefan Kiszko, falsely accused of and convicted for the killing of 11-year-old Lesley Molseed in 1975.
The mission and subsequent official vilification of Assistant Chief Constable Peter Hunter in Red Riding 1980 are strongly reminiscent of the case of John Stalker, a real life Deputy Chief Constable of the Greater Manchester Police who headed an investigation into the shooting of suspected members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army in 1982.
[16] At the 2010 British Academy Television Awards, the series was nominated for Best Drama Serial while Rebecca Hall won Best Supporting Actress.
[19] The series has been aired by Danish public broadcaster DR1 on two occasions under the title Pigen med den røde hætte (The Girl with the Red Cap).