In terms of grand comebacks, an ITV drama may seem an odd choice for Hollywood star Sophie Turner to make her return to television. This is the person, after all, who rose to fame by starring in Game of Thrones, one of the biggest shows of the 21st century – a genuine worldwide phenomenon – before marrying an American pop idol.
She’s as big as it gets, and yet, since Thrones finished in 2019, Turner has stayed off the small screen, reducing her acting roles to bit-part appearances in films like 2022’s Do Revenge. But if you’re going to make a statement with your return, then this would be it. The real-life story of Joan Hannington hasn’t really been told on screen yet – who knows why, because it’s a good one.
A 1980s housewife turned diamond thief, Hannington stole hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of bling during her career, before retiring and writing a memoir about it – the perfect fodder, in other words, for a limited series.
In it, Turner plays the protagonist Joan, and we meet her at a low ebb: going out with Gary the gangster, working at a bar and struggling to make ends meet. But when some thugs come for Gary in the middle of the night and find her instead, she’s forced to flee, putting her six-year-old daughter Kelly (Mia Millichamp-Long) in foster care in order to build them a new life in London.
Wily and smart, Joan gets a job as a diamond saleswoman at a fancy London store, but when the manager (Alex Blake) gets a bit handsy, she retaliates by swiping some jewels out from under his nose, walking out and promptly entering into a business partnership with the roguishly charming small-time crook Boisie Hannington (Frank Dillane).
It has all the ingredients of a romp. What we get is something a bit more mixed: something that starts slowly and takes its sweet time getting going.
Is Turner good as Joan? She certainly gives it her all, adopting an East End twang and a breezy swagger to play her. The issue lies in the script, which feels slightly too risk-averse to make any of the threats she faces seem remotely convincing.
These threats – gangsters breaking into Joan’s house, for instance, or her ex turning up in her sister’s hair salon with a knife – are quickly brushed aside and resolved. Her relationship with Kelly feels underdeveloped, which in turn undercuts her motivations for entering into a life of crime.
And while it’s undoubtedly fun to watch Joan scheme and plot her way to infamy (Turner conveys the thrill of it brilliantly), it’s hard to buy into the desperation that supposedly drives her. Or the chemistry between her and Dillane, who plays Boisie with a cocky grin and Cockney sneer. But, of course, respects women deeply, like all 1980s men (the bad or sexist ones we meet all get a comeuppance of some kind).
The end result combines Hollywood talent with a TV budget: an odd marriage, but one that just about manages to keep itself on the road through the force of Turner’s charisma and the audacious scams she pulls off as Joan. It’s not The Gold, but does it need to be? For an autumn watch, it’ll do nicely.
