Sophie Turner is set to play a jewelery thief in the upcoming ITV suspense drama series, Joan. While the trailer traces her character’s progression from becoming a thief to achieving the position of godmother in the underworld, the story is based on the real person, Joan Hannington.
The latter is best known as Britain’s most notorious thief, having turned to the strange business after separating from her violent husband. In his memoir, which was released in 2002 under the title I Am What I Am, Hannington talks about rising to fame through the jewelery robbery business.
As far as his life story is concerned, Hannington rose to fame as a jewelery thief in the late 1970s. After separating from her husband, the underworld personality and her daughter shifted to a foster home.
Hannington soon got a job in a jewelry store, where he began stealing diamonds. However, the stolen item was not kept in her purse or in any safe; Instead, he committed the robbery by swallowing the diamonds.
The robber wrote in his memoirs, “The best bank in the world is your stomach. The best safety-deposit box ever invented.”
Joan soon became London’s top thief, as after marrying her husband Benny Boissy, Hannington learned the art of stealing from him.
Also read: Sophie Turner opens up about her role in new film Joan: ‘It’s very different to any character I’ve played before’
As for portraying the character of Joan in the upcoming series, producer Anna Simon, who sat down with Hannington for the script, told Cosmopolitan, “I took a lot of anecdotes from the book, but I really hope — and I think I did that from Joan’s reaction when she saw it—we caught the emotional truth of her as a character.
Meanwhile, revealing whether Hannington ever felt guilty about stealing the jewels, the former mobster shared in his book that there was no episode that he could recall where he felt guilty about stealing the diamonds. In fact, he claimed that doing so made him feel happy.
As for the series, Turner said she signed on to the show because she felt a sense of motherhood. The actress told the entertainment outlet that no matter what Hannington’s character is, she would go to great lengths to protect her child.
Episodes of Zone are available to watch on ITV.
Also read: Joan star Sophie Turner opens up about the challenges of being a ‘single mother’ following her divorce from Joe Jonas: ‘If I wasn’t…’