Real life or just a regal retelling? The fact and fiction in ITV's Sarah Ferguson and Jane Andrews drama 'The Lady'
How true is it really?Last month, ITV dropped a new four-part royal thriller, The Lady and tonight, March 2, marks the finale of the gripping series.
The series is described as “a gripping true crime drama about Sarah Ferguson’s royal aide, Jane Andrews, whose rise and fall culminated in a brutal murder”.
However, while an opening disclaimer claims that the show has been “inspired by a true story”, it goes on to point out that “some names have been changed and some characters, events and scenes have been created and merged for dramatic purposes”.
So, how much of it is really fact and how much is fiction?
Real facts in ITV drama The Lady
Jane Andrews, portrayed in The Lady by Mia Mckenna-Bruce, was indeed Sarah Ferguson’s royal dresser for 9 years.
As depicted in the show, she was working as a children’s clothes designer at Marks & Spencer in Grimsby when she came across an anonymous advert for the role in The Lady magazine.
Six months later, she was interviewed by Ferguson. She then started a job at Buckingham Palace just four days after that.
In September 2000, 3 years after her employment with Fergie came to an end, Andrews indeed murdered her partner. She hit Thomas Cressman with a cricket bat and then stabbed him with a knife, at their flat in Fulham.
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It is also completely true that Andrews fled after the attack. She was tracked down days later in Cornwall, where police found her overdosed in her car.
Andrews survived and went to trial the following year. The prosecution called her “a woman scorned”, stating that her motive for killing was Cressman reportedly refusing to marry her. Andrews was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
‘It’s not possible to include everything’
Ahead of the drama’s release, Harriet Wistrich, CEO of the Centre for Women’s Justice, who represented Andrews during her appeal, made it clear that neither she nor Andrews had made any contribution to The Lady.
She therefore warned that: “The public are thus presented with a one-sided view that fails to explore why a vulnerable woman in her circumstances may have been driven to kill.”
Thomas Cressman’s brother, Rick, also spoke out on the series.
In an interview with the BBC, he said: “I can’t have my brother’s memory and legacy being besmirched by people just creating stuff. It’s very difficult and that was always the biggest issue for me, facing up to the announcement [in] December of 2024 that they were going to do a four-part fictionalised drama.”
He also added: “I would have preferred them to have been able to include some of the things that I feel have not been included. I think that’s actually a shame. But without sufficient time… it’s not possible to include everything.”
Major detail missed from ITV’s The Lady
One major detail missed out of The Lady is that Andrews went on the run a second time.
8 years into her life sentence, in November 2009, Andrews escaped from East Sutton Park Prison. Three days later, she was discovered just six miles away, in a hotel room with her family. She was taken back to prison but was not charged with absconding.
While many conversations in The Lady were based on court reports, it’s unlikely that they are all historically accurate.
Left Bank Pictures, who produced the ITV drama, said they had contacted the Cressman family before and during filming.
A spokesperson said: “The production company also held a private screening of all four episodes of the series for the family ahead of transmission on ITV to which Polly Hill, ITV’s Director of Drama, attended and talked to them about their concerns.”
The Lady is available to stream on ITVX.
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