Sheridan Smith’s ITV drama has most shocking minutes of television I’ve seen all year

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Warning: spoilers ahead for I Fought the Law on ITV.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Ann Ming’s story, just like I was when I sat down to watch Sheridan Smith’s new ITV drama, you’re likely going to feel like you’ve been living under a rock for the past 20 years.

But once you move past that feeling and your inner shock starts to dissipate, you’ll start to realise that I Fought The Law is a series that will stay with you for quite some time after the end credits roll.

The four-part series is a harrowing true story about one woman’s fight to bring her daughter’s murderer to justice, who was controversially acquitted after two mistrials.

Based on Ann’s book For The Love of Julie, it was written for the screen by Jamie Crichton.

It depicts the mother-of-three’s 15-year battle against the 800-year-old Double Jeopardy Law, which stopped a person from being tried twice for the same offence after being acquitted or convicted.

Sheridan Smith is ‘back to her Bafta-winning Cilla and Mrs Biggs’ best’ in I Fought The Law (Picture: ITV) The actress plays Ann Ming in the harrowing ITV drama (Picture: Mike Marsland/WireImage)

We also follow how the family deals with Julie’s disappearance in Billingham, Cleveland in 1989, following her late shift at a pizza parlour.

Sheridan, who is back to her Bafta-winning Cilla and Mrs Biggs’ best, is quite simply masterful at embodying Ann.

She proved to be so convincing on set that crew began to say she was walking differently off camera, she told Metro.

In addition, Ann has previously admitted that she thought that she was looking at herself when she saw Sheridan in character.

Ann Ming speaks to Metro about her devastating loss

Senior Features Writer Josie Copson speaks to Ann Ming, the mother who campaigned to change the law in honour of her daughter.

Ann Ming is sitting on stage at a private cinema in Soho; her fingers are interlocked with the hand of an emotional Sheridan Smith, the actor portraying the grieving mother in the upcoming ITV drama, I Fought The Law.

Taking in the gravitas of the day, Ann is proud — but she would give anything not to be here.

‘There’s nothing pleasant about the whole scenario, to be quite honest, because Julie’s never coming back,’ she tells Metro. ‘I’m glad I changed the law, but there’s always that immovable downside.’

On February 1, 1990, three months after Julie had disappeared, Ann popped round to see if she could help Andrew with a horrible bathroom stench that was worsening every day. As she tentatively pushed a loose bath panel, Ann discovered her daughter’s decaying body, wrapped in a blanket.

She tells Metro that the recreation of this moment for TV is the hardest scene to watch.

‘Sheridan got it exactly right, so when I’m watching it, I relive it. I was hysterical, screaming, “She’s under the bath, she’s under the bath!”’ explains Ann, clasping her hands together in front of her face.

Ann, who received an MBE for services to the criminal justice system in 2007, went on to write a book about her fight to overturn the ancient ruling, which has since led to 15 convictions. When she heard that ITV wanted to turn her story into a drama with Sheridan, 44, on board, she gave them her blessing: ‘I have watched everything she’s ever been in and love her.’

To read more, click here.

The production design and ’80s feel that director Erik Richter Strand manages to create is also hugely admirable, especially with the grainy home footage opening credits.

But head and shoulders above the rest are two of the darkest minutes of television I have seen all year.

Following an incompetent search of their property by forensic police officers, Ann discovers her daughter inside a bath three months later as her body begins to decompose.

Ann managed to abolish an 800-year-old law to get justice for her murdered daughter, Julie Hogg (Picture: ITV/Anastasia Arsentyeva) She says that Sheridan ‘got it exactly right’ in the series (Picture: David Fisher/Shutterstock)

From Sheridan’s horror as Ann after she finds her daughter, to how she shields her grandson from the knowledge of the discovery, I can’t remember ever feeling quite so horrified and disturbed as I did when I first watched this series.

As is the case with most hard-hitting dramas based on true stories, the darkness of this story and the frustration it builds within you as you see Ann pushed back by the government on the Double Jeopardy Law can begin to feel overwhelming at times.

The series contains a truly life-affirming and inspirational real-life ending, with Ann achieving justice against her daughter’s murderer several years later.

In terms of how it highlights such a major societal issue and showcases what an extraordinary woman Ann is, I Fought the Law is magnificent.

I Fought The Law is available to watch on ITVX.

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