Is Joan based on a true story? Inspiration behind ITV drama

Well, actually, the show is inspired by very real events in the life of notorious jewel thief Joan Hannington.

Now retired, Hannington worked with the production to bring her story to life, something that producer Ruth Kenley-Letts (Stonehouse) admitted was an integral part of the process.

"I really wanted Joan to be happy with the scripts we wrote. I always have felt a huge responsibility to make sure that we sort of stay true to her story," she said at a press conference for the series.

But how much of the new show is fact versus fiction? Read on for everything you need to know about the true story behind ITV's Joan.

Is Joan based on a true story?

Yes! The new ITV series is inspired by the true story of Joan Hannington, who came to be known as 'The Godmother' and was one of Britain's most notorious jewel thieves at the time.

Set in the '80s, the series - which is inspired by Hannington's 2002 book, I am What I am: The True Story of Britain's Most Notorious Jewel Thief - takes us on a whirlwind journey through Joan's first criminal escapades as her and her six-year-old daughter Kelly run away from their previous home in Kent.

In that first episode, we see that Joan moves to London to work with her sister, and makes the difficult decision to put Kelly in foster care while she gets her life sorted so that they can be reunited again soon.

But when she moves to London, she meets Boisie, who runs an antiques shop and starts teaching her the tricks of the trade.

At the same time, we see Joan take a vested interest in all things diamond-related, as she starts working in a jewellery store and swallows some whole diamonds to be sold off later.

And it turns out that while those scenes may appear to be something that only a good screenwriter could make up, it all actually happened.

Speaking about those intriguing first episode scenes, Joan series creator and writer Anna Symon said: "I wanted to tell the truth of her character, the truth of the unbelievable complexity within her character, but I also wanted the latitude to move away from the chronology of everything she’d done.

"We decided the best way to do that would be to use the book as an inspiration; I could cherry-pick some of the most incredible bits that you wouldn’t believe if you wrote it in a fictional script.

"Like Boisie ironing his bank notes – that’s the kind of thing I’d write in a script and someone would go, 'Well, that’s ridiculous, nobody would do that.' Or Joan swallowing diamonds at the stock-taking.

"So, I took a lot of anecdotes from the book, but I really hope – and I think I did from Joan’s reaction when she saw it – [we] capture the emotional truth of her as a character, and I could then use that truth and that spirit of Joan but turn it into what I hope is a compelling, entertaining television series."

Hannington's own book chronicles her life, including marrying convicted armed robber Ray Pavey when she was 17, having a daughter named Debbie that was put into foster care, and the decision to start working as a jewel thief.

Hannington would often dress up - as depicted in the series - in all manner of disguises to pull off elaborate schemes, admitting that she didn't only swallow jewels once, but several times.

As she penned in her book: "Best bank in the world is your tummy. Best safety-deposit box invented."

Joan and Boisie continued to work together, and when she was 24, Joan was arrested for using a stolen cheque book.

It was when she was out on bail that she and Boisie got married, but she was then sentenced to serve a 30-month sentence in Holloway prison.

After her release, Joan started a new job managing a jewellery store, and revealed in her book that, during her time there, she swallowed approximately 20 diamond rings and swapped about half a million pounds' worth of diamond bracelets for counterfeits.

Together, Joan and Boisie had a son named Benny, but Boisie died in an arson attack after trying to set fire to a house to claim an insurance payout.

After Boisie's death, Joan turned away from her life of crime and sold Boisie's antiques shops.

Speaking about meeting the real Joan Hannington before filming the series, lead actress Sophie Turner said at a press conference: "We actually didn’t meet until really quite close to filming started, I think it was maybe a week or so [before], something like that.

"So I kind of had an idea of what I was doing with the character, I pretty much had it. There’s so much in Joan’s book and it’s so written in her own voice, I kind of soaked that up – I read it like nine or 10 times, I think.

"So really, the last piece of the puzzle was meeting Joan.

"The moment Joan walks into a room, she is the star of that room, she’s the diamond. It was her mannerisms that I hadn’t quite got, and it was just the essence of her that I was missing.

"When I finally met her, I saw this kind of magnetic woman, and I really truly understood why Boisie, why so many people, were drawn to her the way she was drawn to her jewels."

Hannington, who was also in attendance at the press conference, said of Turner's role: "Well, they couldn’t have gotten anyone better. For me, the good part was, I’d never seen Sophie in anything – I go to bed at 7 o’clock every night, I’m addicted to TikTok, so I don’t watch much telly.

"Which was a good thing, because I didn’t have anything to compare her to; I didn’t know her, didn’t know Frank [Dillane], didn’t know any of the actors, which was great.

"Bit jealous because she’s slimmer and younger but, you know, I think everyone here knows that if I didn’t like something, I’d say so.

"It’s fantastic, all the actors – the big parts, the little parts. I’m not complacent about it. I lived a certain life, I’ve been retired almost 40 years. To be sitting here at 68 with my son and granddaughter, I find it a bit... I’m not a showbiz person, I’m a very private person. I just find it amazing."

Joan premieres on ITV and ITVX on Sunday 29th September at 9pm.

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