Sheridan Smith has opened up about the emotionally gruelling experience of filming the ITV drama 'I Fought The Law', calling it the hardest role of her career. In a candid interview, she revealed that she was 'bawling her eyes out' during the shoot, and suggested she may never take on such a demanding part again.
The four-part series tells the true story of Ann Ming, a retired surgical nurse from Hartlepool, whose 22-year-old daughter Julie Hogg was murdered in 1989. After the killer, Billy Dunlop, was acquitted due to two hung juries, he later confessed but could not be retried under the ancient 'double jeopardy' rule. Ming campaigned for 17 years to overturn the law, succeeding in 2006.
Smith plays Ming with uncanny accuracy, and the production was marked by an extraordinary moment when Ming watched Smith portray her on set. 'She looks like her,' said the bereaved mother, matter-of-factly. Ming also appears in a cameo as a line dancer, a hobby she took up after her daughter's death to help her cope.
Ming described her campaign as driven by a sense of injustice, not stubbornness. 'I think it's the injustice of it,' she said. She now fears Dunlop may eventually be released on parole, adding: 'Hopefully it won't be in my lifetime.'
The series, adapted from Ming's book 'For the Love of Julie', has been compared to ITV's 'Mr Bates vs the Post Office' for its portrayal of an individual fighting officialdom. Ming acknowledged the parallel, saying the state may have expected her to give up, but she persisted.
