I Fought the Law: A gripping tale of one woman's dogged battle for justice
Sheridan Smith shines in this gripping true tale of a mother's 15-year campaign to get justice for her murdered daughter.
An outstanding British TV drama landed on TVNZ+ with little fanfare recently.
Set in industrial North East of England, it tells the true story of a young woman’s sudden disappearance in 1989, and the subsequent discovery of her body concealed in the bathroom where she had lived.
Sheridan Smith plays her mother Ann Ming, and she puts in a class performance here.
At first Ann and her husband Charlie battle police indifference - she’s probably gone to London to reunite with her ex, they say.
Ming, an NHS nurse, knows Julie would never abandon her young son and she and Charlie push the local plod to take the case seriously.
They fear Julie has come to harm, and their worst nightmares are confirmed when Ann discovers her body 80 days after she vanished - alerted by a terrible smell in the house where Julie’s ex and young son are now living.
A slapdash police forensics search had uncovered nothing at the time of her disappearance. A more thorough sweep later unearths sufficient evidence to arrest a local man for her murder.
Billy Dunlop is tried for the murder, but the jury fails to reach a verdict – twice - and he is acquitted.
Ann and Charlie are shattered by the re-trauma of the trials. Charlie, while supportive of his wife, is seemingly resigned that they’ve reached the end of the road as far a justice for Julie goes.
When Dunlop boasts about murdering Julie while in prison for another assault on a woman, he is later tried for perjury during the original murder trial and gets six years. But Ann won’t rest.
She embarks on a dogged 15-year campaign to overturn the 800-year legal precedent of double jeopardy where someone cannot be tried twice for the same offence.
Sheridan is superb as Ann, courageously and obsessively pushing through her grief and exhaustion, undaunted by the wall of British establishment indifference to her fight to overturn a law going back to the Magna Carta.
Her battles take her to the loftiest legal jurisdictions in the land. She personally appeals to the House of Lords speaking without notes, never overawed, her determination to right a terrible wrong driving her.
There are no spoilers here, it’s a matter of historical record that she finally succeeded, and this fine dramatisation of an ordinary working-class woman who achieved something extraordinary does her due justice.
Ann eventually received an MBE for her tireless work to get justice for her daughter and other victims of violent crime, at the time though she said she’d rather have her Julie back than a badge.
Highly recommended.
Sheridan Smith as Ann Ming in I Fought the Law.
Supplied
Don’t watch if ... I can't think of a reason not to watch this excellent drama unless you're triggered by memories of dodgy '80s knitwear.
If you liked I Fought the Law what should you watch next?
Mr Bates vs The Post Office: More British David vs Goliath fare as Toby Jones plays Alan Bates the unassuming man who took on the the Royal Mail when a crook IT system led to thousands of sub-postmasters being wrong accused of fraud. Currently streaming on TVNZ+.
A Very British Scandal: Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw both brilliant in this three-parter about the infamous Jeremy Thorpe affair in the 1970s. Still streaming on Prime.
A Very British Scandal (2): If you liked the first why not dive into the second in this series set in the '60s? Clare Foy plays the Duchess of Argyll and Paul Bettany the Duke, her ghastly husband bent on vengeance when a compromising polaroid comes to light. Also on Prime.
