Sheridan

Jack James Ryan has opened up about his role in the upcoming ITV drama I Fought The Law, which sees him starring alongside Sheridan Smith in the four-part series

Coronation Street and Passenger star Jack James Ryan was left starstruck after working alongside Sheridan Smith on the ITV series, I Fought The Law. The 29-year-old actor, who has become a familiar face in British households, landed a role in the drama, which tells the real-life story of Ann Ming’s fight to change the Double Jeopardy Law and bring her daughter Julie Hogg’s murderer to justice.

Despite spending four months on set, Manchester-born Jack still found himself “geeking out” over his co-star Sheridan, 44. Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, he said: “People say ‘Oh I’ve always loved this actor’ but when I knew that I was going to be playing alongside Sheridan, I couldn’t believe it.”

He continued: “It was just amazing, I have followed her career as a young actor and been totally inspired by the work that she’s done, so getting to spend the last four months watching her work and stealing everything was the best, so much better than drama school.”

Jack also revealed that Sheridan has an incredible ability to instantly “switch on” and get into character at a moment’s notice following a break in filming.

“She is absolutely breathtaking,” he enthused. “To be surrounded by these actors, it has an absolutely great supporting cast throughout the series, so to be surrounded by them felt like I’d won the lottery – this is the type of work that I’ve always dreamed of doing.”

Discussing the show, Jack revealed: “I’ve never been in anything that was based on a true case, or any of the characters have been real, it’s always been fictional stuff. Straight away you feel the pressure to do it justice. Sheridan plays the trailblazer, Ann Ming, who has done so much for raising awareness in the work that she’s done.

“I know that we all felt the pressure, Sheridan and everyone, to do this story justice and deliver it in a sensitive way that was going to be impactful and honouring the people that we’ve lost. And also the people that are still fighting for justice, it wasn’t easy but it was also incredibly exciting to be a part of something which felt like it has the opportunity to really help and change people and have a real impact for the better.

“I’m really, really excited for this to come out, and I think it’s going to be, it’s going to be a really different side to me that people haven’t seen before,” he stated, adding there was a “quite a visual transformation.”

I Fought The Law will explore how Ann and Julie’s relatives coped with her baffling vanishing in Cleveland back in November 1989 after completing her shift at a neighbourhood pizza restaurant. Julie had maintained an extremely strong bond with her parents, Ann and Charlie. She was just 22 when she was killed.

Julie’s remains were found by her mother 80 days after they were concealed behind the panel of her bath by her killer. Nevertheless, her terraced property had been meticulously examined by forensics teams in the days following her disappearance.

The series, adapted from Ann’s memoir, For The Love of Julie, also features Daniel York Lou as Charlie Ming and Enzo Cilenti as DS Mark Brathwaite.

Additionally, Marlowe Chan-Reeves, Olivia Ng, Jake Davies, Victoria Wyant, Kent Riley and Rufus Jones all feature in the programme. Previously, Jack joined forces as a Movember ambassador – championing awareness of men’s mental health and urging blokes to open up.

Looking back on his involvement with the Movember campaign, he explained: “I was already well aware of the amazing work that Movember has done and does for raising awareness and funds for male mental health, just to be a small part of history moving forward is very exciting. It’s such an exciting project and a really meaningful project to get behind, male mental health is so under-reported and so unspoken about.”

I Fought The Law airs tonoght at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.

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Gavin and Stacey star Sheridan Smith brings Ann Ming’s relentless fight for justice to screens in I Fought The Law. The actress explains why the series was particularly daunting.

Sheridan Smith portrays Ann Ming, charting her extraordinary fight for justice in ITV‘s newest drama I Fought The Law – but the role was nothing short of daunting.

“It’s what Ann came up against,” Sheridan Smith says, “It was one thing after another. It was relentless. I don’t know the strength it took for Ann to keep fighting. I’m absolutely in awe of her.”

Julie Hogg was 22 years old when she vanished from her Billingham home in November 1989, leaving behind her toddler son Kevin. Her mother, Ann, immediately knew something was wrong.

“I was convinced something had happened to my daughter from day one,” Ann says. But police believed otherwise. “They thought she could have gone to London to start a new life,” Ann says, “It really was frustrating.”

Three months later, Ann’s maternal instincts were tragically vindicated. She discovered Julie’s body herself, hidden under the bath at her home.

The investigation soon identified a suspect: William “Billy” Dunlop. He stood trial for Julie’s murder twice, but juries failed to convict on both occasions.

Then, while serving a prison sentence for unrelated violent offences, Dunlop confessed to Julie’s killing. But there was a twist: under the centuries-old double jeopardy rule, he couldn’t be tried again for the same crime.

But for Ann, giving up wasn’t an option. She petitioned politicians for more than a decade, lobbied the media and refused to let Julie’s case fade from memory with unwavering support of her husband Charlie, played by Daniel York Loh in the crime drama.

This relentless fight – both devastatingly personal and profoundly public – is the backbone of I Fought The Law. For Sheridan Smith, stepping into Ann’s shoes was a privilege and an emotional burden.

“I can only imagine and think if it was my child, but it was emotionally taxing,” she says. “It was just nine weeks and by the end of it, I was a shaking mess.”

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The actress fully immersed herself in Ann’s world, devouring documentaries about the case and Ann’s book. Sheridan says: “I get mad at myself if I don’t feel the actual pain and trauma. I wanted to make Ann proud and get her story justice.”

Ann was also present as a consultant on the set, while filming took place in North East England. “She was a huge support and very crucial to the production the whole way through,” series director Erik Richter Strand says. “Sheridan is in every scene. She doesn’t get many breaks. We had to make that set safe, practical and comfortable for Sheridan.”

The transformation was physical as well as emotional. Sheridan swapped her trademark brunette for Ann’s blonde locks. But she dreaded one scene above all: the bathroom scene, where Ann finds Julie’s body. “I knew I had that coming, I wanted to get that scene out, it was a bit scary,” she says. “I knew it’d be torturous.”

Sheridan’s own experience as a mother – she shares her five-year-old son Billy with former partner Jamie Horn – gave the role an added resonance.

“It was my first role as a mum,” she says. “It’s your worst fear, isn’t it? No one should have to go through that. I was emotionally attached to the whole thing.”

There was another, more personal note to Sheridan’s role. “When I did Mrs Biggs, I tried to think of my mum who lost her son, my brother,” she says.

“This time, there was a different layer. Just thinking how I would have felt in that moment, if it was my little one. This was much more powerful, that’s probably why it was a bit difficult.”

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