The true story behind Sophie Turner’s new crime drama Joan

Sophie Turner is Joan Hannington in ITV’s new true crime drama Joan, inspired by the notorious criminal’s life.

The six-part series is based on Hannington’s 2002 memoir I Am What I Am, in which she recounts her experiences of abuse as a child and her hardships as an adult, which led to her becoming Britain’s most notorious jewel thief in the 1980s. Hannington became a major figure in London’s criminal underworld and was even known as “The Godmother” in her time.

Created by Ann Symon, the series begins with Hannington’s experience with her first partner Gary, with whom she shared her daughter Kelly. When he runs afoul of the wrong people, Hannington is forced to place her daughter in foster care for protection. Out of her desire to get her child back, she then plunges into crime.

While trying to make ends meet to get her daughter out of foster care, she meets Boisie Hannington (Frank Dillane), an antiques dealer who was doing business in the criminal underworld, and the two immediately hit it off, fall in love marry.

But what is the real story behind the drama? Read on to find out more.

In her memoirs, Hannington explained that stealing diamonds was a kind of thrill: “Swallowing diamonds was my life, my thrill, my drug.” She explained that it was her way of gaming the system after “the system failed “. [her]“by taking her daughter away from her.

Hannington stole diamonds as part of a complex theft operation in which she visited a jeweler in disguise and learned all about a ring before having an exact replica made. This was a fake diamond in a band made of real gold or platinum. Her elaborate ruse would continue with her traveling to a luxury hotel, booking a room for one night and calling the jeweler under the pretense of looking for a ring.

Read more: Sophie Turner says playing ex-thief Joan Hannington was the “thrill of her career”.

Disguising herself as a high-class American woman through expensive clothing and an elaborate accent, Hannington wrote that she would drive to the store in a limousine to establish her disguise and, once inside, flirt with the staff while examining various rings. While the staff was distracted by her behavior, she asked to try on a ring, secretly swapped the real ring for a fake, and pretended to sneeze while swallowing the jewel.

“The best bank in the world is your stomach. The best safe deposit box invented,” Hannington wrote.

Some names were changed in the series, for example Hannington’s first husband was named Ray, while her daughter was named Debbie rather than Kelly. However, Hannington placed her daughter in the care of social workers after she was threatened by people Ray encountered.

When Hannington stole a car to visit her daughter, she was arrested and taken to Holloway Prison. This prison stay led to social workers deciding to leave Debbie where she was rather than let Hannington take her back when she had the income to support them both. Her inability to get her daughter back led Hannington to become a jewel thief, according to her memoirs.

Hannington first stole diamonds when she had a job at a jeweler and, during an inventory, decided to swallow a handful of gems that were stored in a safe and not recorded in the system.

“I didn’t know it at the time, but I had swallowed about £800,000 worth of stones,” Hannington recalled of the incident.

A few months later she met Boisie Hannington, whom she describes as “the best fence picker, the best thief, the best jeweler and antique dealer.” The couple were together for eleven years, nine of which they were married, and during that time Boisie taught Hannington how to antique and also what it took to be a professional thief.

Hannington and her husband worked closely together, with Hannington working at Boisie’s at night and “processing dodgy checks and credit cards for himself” during the day, a period the retired thief referred to as “Robbery Incorporated.”

She served several short prison sentences in the early days of her relationship with Boisie, but wrote that their criminal partnership flourished in the 1980s.

“We probably had millions – several million – that passed through our hands. That’s not a lot of money these days, nothing related to the drug deal. But in the ’80s, we were among the first criminals to enter the league of millionaires without getting it off the sidewalk,” she wrote, referring to crimes like armed robbery.

The couple remained together until Boisie’s death after he was caught in an explosion in a failed arson attack. Shortly thereafter, Hannington retired from the criminal life and the couple have a son together, Benny, a musician known by his nickname Benny Banks.

Joan continues on Monday September 30 at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.