How a mother’s decades-long battle to change the law became the foundation of ITV’s brand new four part drama series I Fought The Law—and why telling it with care, truth, and integrity mattered every step of the way.
Charlotte Webber, Executive Producer, Hera Pictures, explains how the team brought Ann Ming’s fight for justice to the screen.
Starring BAFTA winning actor Sheridan Smith as Ann Ming, I Fought the Law is the heartbreaking and inspiring real-life story of a mother who, driven by unimaginable grief, finds strength to challenge the centuries-old Double Jeopardy Law to see her daughter’s murderer finally brought to justice after a 15-year battle.
It was Writer Jamie Crichton who first brought Ann Ming’s book For the Love of Julie to Liza Marshall, Founder of Hera Pictures and Executive Producer on I Fought the Law. Like them, when they later talked to me about this extraordinary story, I was struck not only by Ann’s strength, tenacity and determination, but by the fact that we didn’t already know about her and what she achieved in the face of unspeakable grief.
Ann’s campaign began when the man who killed her beloved daughter, Julie, was acquitted of murder and later bragged about what he had done, knowing he was protected by the archaic double jeopardy law. Not only did Ann and her family have to live with the fact that Julie had been ripped away from them, they had to tolerate that the man responsible had admitted his guilt, yet could not be tried again for his crime. Liza, Jamie and I felt passionately that everybody should know about Ann, and about what she went on to achieve following Julie’s murder.
When I later sat down with Ann, she told me the story in her own words. Meticulous in the telling, she was incredibly frank, warm and very witty. Turning her attention to the way in which we would work together in dramatising the story she said, “I’ll always be straight with you, and I expect you to be straight with me.”
It was a promise we emphatically agreed to – we would be straight with Ann, but more than that, Liza and I were keen we put Ann at the heart of every decision we made on the series. Following Julie’s disappearance, Ann was routinely dismissed and often ignored. We were determined that in telling her story, she would be consulted, listened to and involved.
Heading into our series Prep we grew excited. Sheridan gave the most electric readthrough performance, Costume and Make Up began her remarkable transformation, cast members were confirmed, then Locations. Seeing the series coming together at pace, we wanted to share our excitement with Ann, but we were mindful that the story we were recreating was a painful one, one Ann had lived for over thirty years.
I approached Ann to see what elements of the filming process she wanted to be informed on. In her signature style, Ann told me that she wanted to know everything; more than anything, she wanted to help us get the series right. Ask me anything she said. And we did. Many of our questions Ann answered off the top of her head, recalling events twenty five years ago as readily as two or three back. Others were answered by Ann generously giving us access to documents relating to her campaign; every letter sent to and from the police force, to the Law Commission, to every politician who showed even a hint of an opinion on the double jeopardy principle.
It was at her kitchen table, sifting through this extraordinary document archive, that I got to know Ann. She told me how she erupted at the perjury sentencing, narrowly avoiding being charged in contempt of court, and I told her about Middlesborough Town Hall doubling for that very courtroom. She told me of her love of line dancing, and I told her about our crew’s tears as Sheridan delivered Ann’s iconic House of Lords speech. When we later watched on screen, Sheridan delivering that speech, Ann and I were in tears. It’s like watching myself, she said, before telling me how, feeling she was losing the room, she had snapped shut her notebook, looked the gathered Lords in the eye, and pleaded they put themselves in her shoes. We watched Sheridan snap the notebook shut.
It took the efforts of our entire cast and crew to portray every authentic detail like that snapped notebook. Sheridan’s dedication to what is a staggeringly impassioned performance, Jamie’s fidelity to the facts, Director Erik Richter Strand’s portrayal of a loving family within the legal machinations of Ann’s campaign, Costume Designer Jan Simpson’s use of one of Ann’s own scarves as part of a key costume.
Bringing Ann’s remarkable story to a wider audience has been an enormous responsibility for all of us at Hera Pictures, and one that we have taken incredibly seriously. To see Ann so happy with the final result is a privilege we do not take for granted. It has been so hugely rewarding to get her nod of approval, having endeavoured to tell her story in the most faithful way possible, with a team completely dedicated to doing so with care, truth and integrity.
I Fought The Law starts on ITV 31st August. International distribution is handled by All3Media.
Jon Creamer
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