The Lady Itv — the lady itv premieres dramatization of Jane Andrews and Thomas Cressman
Tonight the lady itv premieres a four-part dramatization of Jane Andrews’s rise from a working-class childhood to the royal household and the murder conviction that followed. The series matters now because its release coincides with fresh controversy touching the former Duchess of York and because its makers and cast have publicly grappled with those developments.
The Lady Itv cast and creative team
The drama stars Mia McKenna-Bruce as Jane Andrews and Natalie Dormer as Sarah Ferguson; Ed Speleers plays Thomas Cressman. The four-part, partially fictionalised series was made by the producers behind The Crown, and show writer Debbie O’Malley described Andrews’s trajectory as a "toxic fairytale. " McKenna-Bruce, a Bafta Rising Star winner, has said the show "is Jane’s story, it’s not Fergie’s story. " Dormer dons a very red wig for the role, but she has distanced herself from promotion of the drama and said she would no longer promote the project; she also said she would donate her salary to charities supporting childhood victims of sexual abuse.
From Grimsby terrace to Buckingham Palace and the Old Bailey
Jane Andrews was born in Lincolnshire in 1967 into a working-class family; financial difficulties in childhood forced her parents, when she was eight, to sell their home and move to a smaller place in Grimsby with an outdoor toilet. Her life is traced in the series from that terrace in Grimsby to Buckingham Palace, and on to the Old Bailey and Her Majesty’s Prison. Headlines at the time nicknamed her "Lady Jane" and branded her with labels such as a "bunny boiler" or the "Fatal Attraction" killer, portraying her as a callous, jealous social climber; Andrews has contended that she was a victim of abuse.
Who Thomas Cressman was and the events that led to his death
Thomas Cressman, played in the drama by Ed Speleers, was born in 1960 and was the son of former Aston Villa chairman Harry Cressman; he was the youngest of three siblings and later became a stockbroker. By the time he began dating Jane Andrews in 1998 he had left finance, ran a business selling car accessories and mixed in what the drama describes as the "upper echelons" of society. The couple were introduced by a mutual friend, dated for a few years and Andrews moved into Cressman’s flat in Fulham.
Their relationship was described at trial as "volatile. " Andrews made claims about Cressman’s "extreme sexual tastes" and alleged "violence. " In September 2000 they travelled to Italy and then to Cressman’s family villa in the French Riviera; Andrews believed the trip would end in an engagement and marriage, but during the trip Cressman told her he had no intention of marrying her. Back in London, after an argument, Cressman called the police on 17 September 2000 and said on the phone: "We are rowing, someone is going to get hurt unless… I would like police to come and split us up. I would like someone here to stop us hurting each other. " The police did not attend, and later that evening Cressman was beaten with a cricket bat and stabbed in the chest. Andrews was later found guilty of his murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Mental health, diagnosis, prison episodes and release
The four-parter opens with working-class Jane trying to fit into a new royal world while managing worsening mental health. In 2001 Andrews was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. In 2009 she escaped from prison and was caught three days later and returned to custody; she was released from prison on licence in June 2015.
Broadcast details and other television highlights on the night
The Lady is scheduled to start tonight on ITV1 at 9pm and is also available on ITVX. The same evening’s television picks include extensive coverage of the film awards, where One Battle After Another, Sinners, Marty Supreme and Hamnet are the most nominated films, and British films I Swear, The Ballad of Wallis Island and Pillion are also in play; the night’s coverage is hosted by Alan Cumming and features a performance by KPop Demon Hunters.
Other scheduled programming noted for the night ranges widely: a concert in Lisbon features the Gulbenkian Orchestra conducted by Aziz Shokakimov, performing Ravel’s La Valse, Debussy’s La Mer and Bedřich Smetana’s Vltava. A classic film screening showcases Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 Breathless, with Jean-Paul Belmondo as Michel and Jean Seberg as Patricia. On lighter TV, Alan Carr and Susie Dent oversee a contest as 12 brainboxes are whittled to a final four a complex mathematical maze and a memory game based on the periodic table; an ambulance technician named Ollie is noted for having remembered every number plate on her estate as a child. In drama, a plotline sees Saintly Simon confide in Ralph and suffer hallucinations as Jack’s rival faction, saying "I’m bored of worrying about being cruel … it’s time to get whacks in, " succumbs to murderous groupthink; a storm is coming and someone is about to be martyred, with the lines "Kill the beast. Cut his throat. Spill his blood …" used in the episode.
Sports fixtures listed for the day include Premier League football: Nottingham Forest v Liverpool at 1pm followed by Tottenham v Arsenal at 4. 25pm; the Women’s FA Cup fifth-round match Chelsea v Man Utd at 1pm and Liverpool v Everton at 4pm; and Six Nations rugby union: France v Italy at 2. 20pm from Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille.
