The story of Joan Hannington is so spectacular, it’s hard to believe that it’s never been shown on screen before. In the 1980s, Hannington made a name for herself as one of the UK’s most notorious diamond thieves, stealing hundreds of thousands of pounds’ worth of bling in a criminal career that spanned decades. Now, her story is finally being told for the first time, with Sophie Turner assuming the role of the glamorous Joan.
It’s set to be ITV’s big autumn release, and hype for the show has been steadily building for months. Here’s all you need to know about the cast. Joan is the protagonist of the show.
A deeply scarred woman in her twenties, she flees an abusive relationship with her daughter Kelly and starts a new life in London. While there, she discovers that she has a knack for stealing diamonds – and soon becomes one of the UK’s most notorious diamond thieves. Sophie Turner is best known for playing Sansa Stark in the Game of Thrones series.
Born in February 1996, she began filming Game of Thrones at age 14 and had a tutor on-set for the rest of her time filming. “The subject matter [on Game of Thrones] was so heavy that I just developed a coping mechanism of just having the most fun in between takes, so I wouldn’t get traumatized,” she later told Jessica Chastain in an interview for The Cut. She’s also played Jean Grey in the 2016 film X-Men: Apocalypse, and appeared in the 2022 dark comedy Do Revenge.
Until September 2023, she was also mar.