Jane Andrews drama The Lady prompts tears from family as critics praise Mia McKenna-Bruce
The ITV four-part drama The Lady, which tells the story of jane andrews, has drawn an emotional response from the victim's family and strong reviews for its performances. The series premiered on Sunday night and has reignited debate over dramatizing a real-life killing two decades after the crime.
Rick Cressman on the ITV screening
Rick Cressman, a business owner from Warwickshire and brother of the murdered man Tom Cressman, said a private screening of the drama left him "very, very tearful" by the final episode. He described the decision to make a fictionalised four-part drama, announced in December 2024, as a continuing challenge for the family, saying they have had to cope with recurring media intrusions over more than 25 years.
Tom Cressman’s killing and legal aftermath
Tom Cressman was attacked with a cricket bat and fatally stabbed while he slept at his London home in 2000. Jane Andrews, then 34, denied murdering Cressman because he would not marry her but was convicted in 2001 and ordered to serve at least 15 years in prison. Rick Cressman said he has cooperated with the media out of a sense of duty to his brother and that protecting Tom’s memory has become increasingly important.
Jane Andrews in The Lady
The Lady follows the life of Jane Andrews, who worked as the personal dresser to the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, and was employed by Ferguson for nine years. The drama, made by the team behind The Crown and described by ITV as a "gripping true crime drama" about Andrews "whose rise and fall culminated in a brutal murder", also shows Andrews later helping police efforts to track her down. The four-parter opens with a depiction of a working-class Jane trying to fit into a new royal world while managing worsening mental health.
Cast response and critical reaction: Natalie Dormer and Mia McKenna-Bruce
Natalie Dormer plays Sarah Ferguson opposite Mia McKenna-Bruce as Jane Andrews. Critics have singled out McKenna-Bruce as an "excellent rising star, " with one review stating she "excels" in the role, while Dormer’s portrayal of the duchess has been described as delivered "with aplomb. " What makes this notable is the pairing of star performances with a story that has repeatedly returned to British screens: Rick Cressman says the ITV drama will be the 12th television production about the case when a separate project from ABC News and Disney Plus is completed.
Family concerns and the production timeline
Rick Cressman said he had serious reservations about the commissioning of the ITV drama and that the private screening was part of an effort to address those concerns. He stressed that it is a problem to fictionalise a genuine living story while his family is still present, and warned he could not allow his brother’s memory to be "besmirched by people just creating stuff. " The series’ launch follows the December 2024 announcement of the four-part project and arrives more than 25 years after the 2000 killing.
Television context and other programming mentioned
The Lady arrives amid a crowded television schedule that includes major awards and sports broadcasting: One Battle After Another, Sinners, Marty Supreme and Hamnet were named as the most nominated films at a recent awards night, while coverage of that evening was hosted by Alan Cumming and featured British films I Swear, The Ballad of Wallis Island and Pillion. Viewers were also alerted to a performance by KPop Demon Hunters.
Parallel programming notes include the Winter Olympics coverage, which has featured a biathlete's confession of infidelity and an ice routine by Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson; the closing ceremony at the Verona Arena will hand the 2030 baton to the French Alps. A concert in Lisbon by the Gulbenkian Orchestra under Aziz Shokakimov includes Ravel’s La Valse, Debussy’s La Mer and Bedřich Smetana’s Vltava.
Sports listings on the broadcast day include Premier League fixtures Nottingham Forest v Liverpool at 1pm and Tottenham v Arsenal at 4. 25pm; the Women's FA Cup fifth-round matches Chelsea v Man Utd at 1pm and Liverpool v Everton at 4pm; and Six Nations rugby France v Italy at 2. 20pm from the Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille. Late-night film programming includes Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless at 12. 35am on Talking Pictures TV.
The Lady’s premiere has therefore intersected with both public interest in high-profile television events and renewed scrutiny from the family of the victim, underscoring a wider debate about dramatizing recent real crimes.
