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Overtuigend, complex, aangrijpend en verontrustend, The Red Riding Trilogy is een adembenemende neo-noir epos gebaseerd op weerzinwekkende en waargebeurde feiten. Het scenario is geschreven door Tony Grisoni ("Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas", "Tideland") aan de hand van David Peace"s grimmige crime-thrillers. The Red Riding Trilogy vertelt de controversiële verhalen rondom de jacht op een van de meest wrede seriemoordenaars ooit: de Yorkshire Ripper.

Na een mislukt avontuur in Londen keert de cynische journalist Eddie Dunford terug naar zijn geboorteplaats in Yorkshire waar hij op pad wordt gestuurd om verslag te geven over de vermissing van een 6-jarig meisje. Maar nadat haar bizar verminkte lichaam is ontdekt, komt hij terecht in een geweldadige en verrotte nachtmerrie gedomineerd door corruptie. De identiteit van de moordenaar blijft een mysterie. Generaties lang is men in de ban van de gruwelijke zoektocht die volgt en uiteindelijk eindigt in een schokkende ontknoping.

In the Year of Our Lord 1983

This episode describes a redemption of sorts for three main characters. In doing so, it reveals or implies all of the significant hidden plot points in the previous two episodes; it is for this reason that flashbacks are much more prevalent here than in episode two. It also shows light on the ominous and seemingly ubiquitous figure of Reverend Martin Laws from Fitzwilliam (Peter Mullan), who had appeared throughout the series.
Maurice Jobson"s pangs of conscience are a major plot point in this episode. It is established that Jobson, who in the previous two episodes was mostly a silent supporting figure, was in fact deeply reluctant in his participation in most of the corruption and criminal activity within the West Yorkshire Constabulary and that he was the one who tipped off Dunford about the arson in the Gypsy camp, in which he took part against his will under pressure by Bill Molloy. It is also revealed that he knew about the innocence of the mentally challenged man who was accused of the murders of young girls in the first episode, Michael Myshkin (Daniel Mays), and that he realized at least as early as 1974 that the Constabulary was protecting high-profile figures, including Dawson, from a thorough investigation concerning their shady activities. In a parallel plot development, Jobson falls in love with a medium (Saskia Reeves) who seems to be in possession of valuable information concerning the latest crimes.

John Piggott (Mark Addy) is a public solicitor whose late father (nicknamed "the pig") was a notorious member of the Constabulary. His inquiries lead him to Leonard Cole (Gerard Kearns), the young man who found the swan-stitched victim in episode one and who is now being framed for the disappearance of a young girl named Hazel Atkins. Cole is finally tortured and murdered by the police, his death disguised as a suicide. Piggott"s investigation finally leads him to a mine shaft hidden in a pigeon shed near Laws" home, where he makes a discovery of horrific implications. It is revealed that a paedophiliac and child-murdering ring was run in West Yorkshire by Laws, who abducted lost children under the guise of securing their well-being on behalf of his parish. It is implied that only when children with known, stable families were abducted was the criminal structure partially compromised, hence resulting in the constables" assistance in Dawson"s demise. Laws counted on the complicity and perhaps even direct collaboration of high-ranking officials in the WYC. It is also revealed, through Piggott"s imagination and flashbacks by other characters, that the supporters of this ring included significant figures of society, among them businessmen such as Dawson and policemen such as Piggott"s father.

Finally, it is also revealed that BJ was the first child abducted by this criminal enterprise, and almost certainly the only one who survived.