ITV has placed lawyers on standby after it was revealed the broadcaster is “nervy” due to the portrayal of Sarah Ferguson, it has been reported
The Lady is a four-part drama set to begin airing on Sunday, showcasing the story of Jane Andrews, Ms Ferguson’s former personal dresser, who was convicted of murdering her boyfriend in 2000.
A source close to the show said: “ITV is very nervy about The Lady going out on Sunday.
“It’s not a flattering portrayal of Fergie at all but they’ve got duty lawyers on standby in case of more spectacular royal revelations.”
ITV are said to have lawyers on standby ahead of the premiere of The Lady on Sunday
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ITV
The brother of the man who was killed by Andrews also spoke out ahead of the show’s release.
Rick Cressman, a hotelier, expressed alarm that the four-part series The Lady would blend fact with fiction when portraying his brother Thomas’s death.
“[The series] is open to lots of bits of interpretation and it is fictitious,” he said.
“So, if there’s bits that are made up, like in The Crown, they had ghosts of Princess Diana appearing in the programme, I find it quite scary.”
He pushed back against suggestions the family had given their blessing to the production.
“I would call it cooperation of duty, [and] anyone who ever suggests it’s in some way done helpfully or willingly is just not thinking straight,” he explained.
Andrews served as a royal dresser for Ms Ferguson across nearly a decade before leaving the position in 1997.
Three years later, while employed at a jewellery shop, she killed Thomas Cressman using a cricket bat and knife at their west London home.
The drama focuses on the real-life story of Jane Andrews who was charged with murdering her boyfriend in 2000
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ITV
The former aide, who hailed from Grimsby, received a life sentence for the murder.
She gained release on licence in 2015, though authorities revoked this in 2018 amid harassment allegations.
Andrews was freed again in 2019 after police found insufficient evidence to support those claims.
Left Bank, the production company responsible for Netflix’s The Crown, is behind the new series.
Mia McKenna-Bruce, who plays Andrews, had suggested the victim’s relatives were “involved” in the production, a characterisation Mr Cressman disputed.
“I think Mia was a little off-track talking of involvement,” Mr Cressman said.
“We’ve been there and assisted in trying to make sure that it is actually something that comes over in the right way, because we just don’t know at this stage.”
The depiction of Sarah Ferguson is said to not be flattering
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ITV
The drama marks the tenth television production Mr Cressman has endured about his brother’s killing over the past quarter century.
“For myself and my sister and all the rest of our family, it’s part of our lives. It’s not just a story,” he said.
“And I think of my brother on much higher levels than being just a story.”