Family Moved to Tears as ITV Drama Recounts Jane Andrews Case
The ITV four-part drama The Lady, which dramatizes the life of jane andrews, has prompted an emotional response from the victim’s family as it premiered on Sunday night. The series’ release has reignited debate about fictionalising a high-profile killing more than 25 years after it happened.
Jane Andrews and ITV’s The Lady
The Lady is a four-part series described by ITV as a "gripping true crime drama" and billed as coming from the makers of The Crown. It stars Natalie Dormer as Sarah Ferguson and Mia McKenna-Bruce as the dresser at the centre of the story. The drama is presented as tracing "a rise and fall" that culminated in a brutal murder, and it premiered on Sunday night.
Tom Cressman and the 2000 murder
Businessman Tom Cressman was attacked at his London home in 2000 by his partner, Jane Andrews. The assault involved a cricket bat and a fatal stabbing while he slept. Andrews, then 34 years old, denied killing Tom because he would not marry her but was convicted in 2001 and ordered to serve at least 15 years in prison. Andrews is from Cleethorpes in north‑east Lincolnshire and had been employed by Sarah Ferguson for nine years; who was later involved in police efforts to track Andrews down is unclear in the provided context.
Rick Cressman’s reaction and family concerns
Rick Cressman, Tom’s brother and a business owner from Warwickshire, said he became very tearful when he watched the final episode of The Lady after ITV gave him a private screening. He has long expressed concern about fictionalising a "genuine living story" while the family remains, and said protecting his brother’s memory has grown more important over time. The announcement in December 2024 that a four‑part fictionalised drama was to be made was a key point of concern for him, and he noted that a separate project by ABC News and Disney Plus is also on the way—bringing the tally of TV productions about the case to 12 when that next project is finished.
Mia McKenna-Bruce and Natalie Dormer praised by critics
Critical reaction has focused on the performances at the centre of The Lady. One prominent review headline said Mia McKenna‑Bruce "excels" in the drama, and commentary has praised Natalie Dormer for playing Sarah Ferguson "with aplomb. " Reviewers describe the four‑parter opening with a working‑class Jane trying to fit into royal circles while managing worsening mental health, and they single out McKenna‑Bruce as an "excellent rising star" in the role.
Television context and wider listings
The Lady’s premiere sits among a packed evening of television programming. Coverage of the British Academy Film Awards will be hosted by Alan Cumming and features performances including one billed by a group called KPop Demon Hunters. The most nominated films of the night include One Battle After Another, Sinners, Marty Supreme and Hamnet, and British films in the frame include I Swear, The Ballad of Wallis Island and Pillion.
Elsewhere on television schedules: the Winter Olympics has produced moments from biathletes and skaters and will close with a ceremony at the Verona Arena that hands the 2030 baton to the French Alps. A concert in Lisbon features the Gulbenkian Orchestra conducted by Aziz Shokakimov performing Ravel’s La Valse, Debussy’s La Mer and the symphonic poem Vltava by Bedřich Smetana. A drama described as reaching a penultimate, violent turn follows a character named Saintly Simon as he confides in Ralph and suffers hallucinations while rival factions plot murderous acts.
Light entertainment includes a quiz overseen by Alan Carr and Susie Dent that trims 12 contestants to four with challenges such as a complex mathematical maze and a memory game based on the periodic table; one contestant, an ambulance technician named Ollie, is noted for childhood feats of remembering number plates. Classic cinema programming includes Jean‑Luc Godard’s Breathless at 12. 35am on Talking Pictures TV.
Sports fixtures listed for the day include Premier League matches Nottingham Forest v Liverpool at 1pm on Sky Sports Main Event and Tottenham v Arsenal at 4. 25pm; the Women’s FA Cup fifth‑round tie Chelsea v Manchester United at 1pm on TNT Sports 1 and Liverpool v Everton at 4pm on Channel 4; and the Six Nations rugby fixture France v Italy at 2. 20pm on ITV1 from Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille.
What makes this notable is the overlap between a high‑profile dramatisation and an already crowded field of broadcasts: the programme’s release has prompted both critical attention to the lead performances and renewed distress from the victim’s family, underscoring how dramatizations of real crimes can have continuing personal consequences even decades later.
