A community hall in northeast England has been booked for the afternoon to film a scene for one of this year’s most talked-about TV dramas. But the real emotional moment happens off-camera, in the building’s cramped kitchen near Hartlepool, where I witness one of the most extraordinary and moving scenes imaginable during a TV production.
Retired surgical nurse Ann Ming stands calmly by a monitor, watching Sheridan Smith portray her with the actor’s signature uncanny accuracy in both appearance and speech. The camera then cuts to a young woman playing Julie Hogg – Ming’s daughter, who was murdered in 1989 at age 22. The crew holds their breath, wondering how a woman in her 70s will react to seeing actors play both herself and her lost child.
“She looks like her,” Ming says simply. This quiet dignity in such surreal circumstances won’t surprise viewers of ITV’s four-part drama I Fought the Law, which chronicles Ming’s ordeal – from Julie’s initial disappearance (initially treated as a missing person case by police) to the devastating discovery of her body 80 days later in a house bathroom that forensic teams had supposedly searched thoroughly for five days.
The series focuses on Ming’s 17-year campaign to change the legal system after her daughter’s killer, Billy Dunlop, was acquitted when two juries couldn’t reach a verdict. When Dunlop later confessed, the ancient “double jeopardy” rule prevented retrial. Ming successfully fought to overturn this 800-year-old law in 2006.
“I never attacked the police, judges or government,” Ming explains from her on-set trailer labeled “Real Ann.” “I just took it step by step, writing letters. The nightmares kept me awake, so my husband Charlie would often find me writing to politicians at 2 AM. I thought: ‘I’ve got the biggest mouth here – I’m going to keep fighting.'”
When asked if authorities expected her to eventually give up – similar to the Post Office scandal depicted in Mr Bates vs the Post Office – Ming agrees. “Was it stubbornness that kept you going?” I ask. “No,” she replies. “It was the injustice. Looking back, I’ve always been this way – when my mother had a housing dispute in the 1970s, I wrote to the Secretary of State and got a reply. That was my first campaign.”
Her current mission is preventing Dunlop (whom she refuses to name) from getting parole or moving to an open prison. “I know he’ll probably be released eventually,” she says. “Hopefully not in my lifetime.”
The series adapts Ming’s book For the Love of Julie. “People kept telling me to write it, but I’d say ‘There’s no ending yet.’ After his conviction, I could finally tell the story. Working with a ghostwriter was cathartic – reading the finished transcript made me realize: ‘You actually survived all this.'”
Ming’s trailer isn’t just for comfort – she appears in the drama too. Today’s scene features a line-dancing class (her real-life coping mechanism), where she makes a cameo. “I only started after Julie died – a friend pushed me to get out. When Charlie developed Parkinson’s, I stopped for six years. Now I go five times a week – it’s two and a half hours where you can only focus on the steps. I wish Julie could have joined me; she loved dancing.”During pre-production, Ming met Smith several times. People who’ve been portrayed on screen often tell me they felt actors studying them to mimic their mannerisms. Did Ming sense Smith doing this? “No! Was she doing that? I connected with her immediately. I’d seen all her work except one project they showed me – where Alison Steadman played her mother recovering from a stroke [Care, BBC One, 2018]. Having cared for my husband in similar circumstances, watching her performance felt like watching myself!”
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A real character… Smith with Ann Ming. Photograph: Anastasia Arsentyeva/ITV
Viewers moved by Ann’s anguish over her daughter’s killer escaping justice despite confessing might question why this legal principle remained unchanged for 800 years. Screenwriter Jamie Crichton explains: “It’s a valid question. I researched extensively to find the clearest justification for ‘double jeopardy.’ The best explanation was that it forced police to build strong cases initially – without it, they might become complacent. Many countries including America, Australia and Canada still maintain this law.”
Having successfully reformed UK law, Ming now looks internationally: “I’d love to send this program to Donald Trump and say: ‘Be bold – change double jeopardy laws across America. Why the hesitation? Critics claim it would trigger endless retrials, but English law includes strict safeguards requiring ‘new and compelling’ evidence. During my campaign, a Law Commission official said this would rarely apply. I replied: ‘What if that rare case involved your child?'”
Actors typically give interviews during filming breaks, but Smith couldn’t – she appears in nearly every scene. We spoke nearly a year later at the series premiere. She apologized for only briefly greeting me during production, though she needn’t have – not only was her schedule packed, but nearly every scene carried intense emotional weight. Director Erik Richter Strand marveled at how effortlessly she accessed these emotions. Is it truly that simple?
“Erik thinks so,” Smith laughs. “He’d say ‘Cry now!’ or ‘Scream here!’ and grew accustomed to my frequent breakdowns – he probably thought I had an emotional on/off switch. But internally, reaching those places requires real struggle.” Unlike many actors, Smith never attended drama school: “They teach being ‘in the moment,’ right? I’m just winging it. I have to genuinely experience the character’s trauma – I couldn’t fake tears with glycerin. The emotion must be real.”
Ming joins Smith’s roster of real-life portrayals including Cilla Black, Charmian Biggs, Sarah Sak, Julie Bushby, and Lisa Lynch. Is this biographical focus intentional?
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Fighting for it… Smith with Daniel York Loh as Charlie Ming in I Fought The Law. Photograph: Anastasia Arsentyeva/ITV
“Not always planned. Lisa Lynch actually contacted me on Twitter asking me to play her. I didn’t consciously pursue these roles, but I excel when portraying someone’s pain – perhaps channeling my own experiences. Fictional roles prove more challenging. For Mrs Biggs, I drew from memories of my brother’s death and my mother’s grief.”Here’s a more natural and fluent version of your text while preserving its meaning:
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As a mother, I can’t help but imagine—what if something happened to your child? Finishing the job and getting home to my son was a relief. But at the same time, I was painfully aware that Ann doesn’t get to go home to her daughter. The least I could do was endure those nine weeks of emotional strain. I don’t want to sound like some pretentious actor—it is just acting—but playing a real person gives me a sense of purpose. I love comedy and make-believe, but there’s something different about telling a real person’s story.
She takes the responsibility of portraying real lives seriously: “There was this incredibly emotional scene where Ann tells her grandson she lied about how his mother died. I didn’t realize Ann was watching—I don’t think I could’ve done it if I’d known—until she walked on set and said, ‘It was like you were inside my body.’ We both broke down crying. That was the reassurance I needed.”
Their relationship wasn’t all smooth, though: “One day on set, she saw me smoking and snapped, ‘Get that cigarette out of your hand!’ She also told me I had too many tattoos.”
I’ve followed Smith’s career and interviewed her for years, and I’ve often worried about the toll these intense performances take on her. Is there a cost? “Yeah, there is. In the past, I used acting as therapy. I’m comfortable saying this because I know you, but today at the photocall, I was shaking. Ann couldn’t believe it. Moving up north with my son and then coming back to London—having photographers yelling ‘This way!’—it’s overwhelming. I used to drink to cope, but now, with therapy, my son, sobriety, yoga, and meditation, I’m a different person. I Fought the Law drained me, and I’ll be more careful about future roles. I’m in the best place I’ve ever been, but I have to remember—the real people lived this. Still, a piece of each character stays with me.”
In Opening Night last year, she played an actor spiraling through a production while drunk—a role that uncomfortably mirrored her own struggles during Funny Girl in 2015. Watching her character crawl outside the theater, I wondered if it was too much to relive. “I know! But I’m still that northern girl who thinks she’ll never work again. I’ve never been that drunk on stage, but that scene—crawling to the theater—definitely echoed Funny Girl, the curtain coming down on me, all of it. Doing the role was about facing my fears. If I could do that, I could do anything.”
Even so, playing Ming has been “the hardest job I’ve ever done,” and she plans to be more cautious with emotionally grueling roles: “I used to go back and forth between drinking and sobriety, but this time it’s real. I’m going to choose my parts very carefully.”
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This version keeps the original meaning while making the language more natural and conversational. Let me know if you’d like any further refinements!”My sobriety and my son always come first, so I’m careful about anything that might throw me off balance. When I go home and look at my little boy’s face, I hope that one day he’ll be proud of the things I’ve done. After ‘I Fought the Law,’ his only review was: ‘Yucky wig.’ That was it—minus five stars. He just kept looking at the photo and laughing.”
Smith has just finished filming The Cage, a lighter, fictional BBC robbery drama, but she admits she’s “ready to do comedy again.” With so many TV remakes and reboots these days, some might wonder about the sitcom Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, where she starred alongside Ralf Little, Natalie Casey, Will Mellor, and Kathryn Drysdale in the early 2000s.
“I’d love to do that,” says Smith. “Especially after seeing how Gavin & Stacey brought everyone back together. Two Pints was like our version of university for those who didn’t go. It would be like reuniting with old friends. I’d do it again in a heartbeat if everyone else was up for it.”
I Fought the Law airs on ITV1 and ITVX on 31 August.
FAQS
### **FAQs About Sheridan Smith’s Emotional Interview: “I Was Crying Uncontrollably”**
#### **General Questions**
**1. What is Sheridan Smith’s interview about?**
Sheridan Smith opens up about her struggles with alcohol, grief, and the emotional challenges of her latest acting role.
**2. Why was Sheridan Smith crying uncontrollably?**
She was overwhelmed by personal struggles, including grief and the pressure of her demanding role.
**3. What role is she referring to as the most challenging?**
She hasn’t specified the exact role, but it was emotionally draining due to its intensity and her personal struggles at the time.
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#### **Personal Struggles & Mental Health**
**4. How did alcohol affect Sheridan Smith?**
She used alcohol as a coping mechanism, which worsened her mental health and emotional instability.
**5. What loss is she talking about?**
She has experienced personal losses, including the death of her father in 2016, which deeply affected her.
**6. Has Sheridan Smith sought help for her struggles?**
Yes, she has spoken about therapy and support systems helping her through difficult times.
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#### **Career & Acting Challenges**
**7. How did her personal struggles impact her career?**
She faced difficulties balancing work and mental health, leading to some public breakdowns and career pauses.
**8. What makes this role her most challenging?**
The emotional weight of the role, combined with her personal grief, made it harder to separate her feelings from the character.
**9. Has she taken breaks from acting?**
Yes, she has stepped back at times to focus on her well-being.
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#### **Public Reaction & Support**
**10. How have fans reacted to her interview?**
Many fans have expressed support, praising her honesty about mental health struggles.
**11. Has Sheridan Smith spoken about mental health before?**
Yes, she has been open about anxiety, grief, and the pressures of fame in past interviews.
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#### **Advice & Coping Mechanisms**
**12. What advice does Sheridan Smith give about coping with grief?**
She emphasizes therapy, leaning on loved ones, and avoiding unhealthy coping mechanisms like alcohol.
**13. How can others relate to her struggles?**
Many people face grief, anxiety,
