Jane Andrews drama The Lady draws tears from victim’s family and fresh scrutiny from campaigners

jane andrews is at the centre of a new four‑part television drama, The Lady, and its premiere has reopened wounds for the family of the murdered man while prompting legal campaigners to question how the story is being told. The timing has intensified public attention as broadcasters and producers revisit a case more than 25 years old.

jane andrews and The Lady

The Lady is a four‑part ITV series that premiered on a Sunday night and is described by its broadcaster as a "gripping true crime drama" about Jane Andrews, charting a rise and fall that culminated in a brutal murder. The production is linked to the makers of The Crown. Natalie Dormer plays Sarah Ferguson and Mia McKenna‑Bruce portrays Jane Andrews. The drama begins with a working‑class Jane trying to fit into a new royal world while managing worsening mental health.

Rick Cressman and the family reaction

Rick Cressman, whose brother Tom Cressman was fatally attacked, said watching the series brought him to tears. Rick, a business owner from Warwickshire, described becoming "very, very tearful" by the final episode and said protecting his brother's memory and legacy has become increasingly important. He said he had been concerned when the four‑part fictionalised drama was announced in December of 2024 and that ITV gave him a private screening. He emphasised that it is problematic to fictionalise a genuine living story while his family continues to live with the aftermath and the intrusions that have followed the case.

Tom Cressman and the 2000 killing

Tom Cressman was murdered in London in 2000. While he slept at the couple's London home, he was attacked with a cricket bat and fatally stabbed by his partner, Jane Andrews. Jane Andrews denied that she killed Tom because he would not marry her; after a trial she was convicted and in 2001 was ordered to serve at least 15 years in prison. Harriet Wistrich, chief executive of the Centre for Women’s Justice, notes the conviction occurred over 25 years ago.

Harriet Wistrich, Centre for Women’s Justice, and legal context

Harriet Wistrich, who represented Jane Andrews at an appeal in 2003, said that Andrews long ago served her prison sentence and has attempted to move on, but that media interest continues, intensified whenever another one‑sided TV programme is made about the case. Wistrich emphasised that Jane Andrews did not contribute to The Lady or to previous multiple TV documentaries and warned that the public is often presented with a one‑sided view that does not explore why a vulnerable woman in these circumstances may have been driven to kill. The Centre for Women’s Justice prepared a more in‑depth press briefing and cited the precedent created in the case of Sally Challen and a greater understanding of coercive control and mental health vulnerabilities as factors that could assist Andrews in a fresh appeal, should she wish to explore one. The organisation is registered as a charitable incorporated organisation, Charity No. 1169213, with copyright noted as 2016.

Natalie Dormer, Mia McKenna‑Bruce and production details

The casting places Natalie Dormer in the role of Sarah Ferguson and Mia McKenna‑Bruce as Andrews. Andrews is identified as the former Duchess of York’s personal dresser, having been employed by Sarah Ferguson for nine years. The drama presents Andrews’s background from Cleethorpes, north‑east Lincolnshire, and follows aspects of her personal decline; the context notes that Sarah Ferguson was later involved in police efforts to track Andrews down—details of that involvement are unclear in the provided context. Producers describe the series as tracing Andrews’s life from working‑class roots into royal circles and into a fatal conclusion.

Broadcast landscape and wider television choices

The Lady’s premiere sits amid a busy television schedule and a broader cultural moment. The Cressman family say that this drama will join a long list of productions: Rick Cressman said another project is on the way involving ABC News and Disney Plus, and that will be the 12th TV production about the case. Other television highlights mentioned alongside The Lady include BAFTA coverage hosted by Alan Cumming with a performance by KPop Demon Hunters and films with multiple nominations such as One Battle After Another, Sinners, Marty Supreme and Hamnet. British films named include I Swear, The Ballad of Wallis Island and Pillion. Sports and arts listings include Premier League fixtures—Nottingham Forest v Liverpool at 1pm and Tottenham v Arsenal at 4. 25pm—Women’s FA Cup Chelsea v Man Utd at 1pm and Liverpool v Everton at 4pm, and the Six Nations match France v Italy at 2. 20pm from Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille. A concert highlights the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon conducted by Aziz Shokakimov performing Ravel’s La Valse, Debussy’s La Mer and Vltava by Bedřich Smetana. Late‑night offerings included Breathless at 12. 35am and a note on Jean‑Luc Godard’s 1960 film featuring Jean‑Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg. Other television items referenced include quiz proceedings overseen by Alan Carr and Susie Dent, where 12 contestants are whittled down to four through tasks such as a complex mathematical maze and a memory game based on the periodic table—an Ambulance technician named Ollie is mentioned in that context.

What makes this notable is how a single dramatization has aggregated long‑standing family grief, legal advocacy and a crowded production landscape: the portrayal choices in The Lady have immediate emotional impact and raise questions about how complex, contested histories are condensed for television.