It’s the royal drama that makes the salacious storylines of The Crown seem positively common by comparison.
Set inside Buckingham Palace in the 1980s and ’90s, The Lady charts the rise and fall of royal dresser Jane Andrews, who worked for Sarah Ferguson, then the Duchess of York.
Dubbed the “Fatal Attraction killer” (in reference to the 1987 movie starring Glenn Close as an obsessed lover), Andrews stabbed her boyfriend Thomas Cressman to death in 2000 after discovering that he didn’t view her as marriage material.
Actor Mia McKenna-Bruce, 28, who plays Andrews in the four-part series, was only three when this sordid royal chapter dominated the British tabloids.
“I didn’t know the story inside and out, but I had definitely heard of it,” she tells The Watchlist.
“Then I went down a bit of a rabbit hole reading about it after I had the first meeting [about the series].”
It’s certainly an intriguing tale. After growing up poor, Andrews was hired at the Palace in 1988, and became a confidante to the duchess.
She developed a taste for the high life, even copying her famous boss’s showy style and red hair colour.
After her conviction, Andrews was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.
McKenna-Bruce – who will also star in Sam Mendes’ upcoming Beatles film series as Ringo Starr’s first wife Maureen Starkey – says she was drawn to The Lady because it offered a nuanced portrait of Andrews.
“She’s got this beautiful hope at the beginning, and then she goes and she works at the Palace where she thinks she’s done the hard bit of getting in,” the actor explains.
“And then she gets in, and she’s still being ridiculed for her accent and the way she dresses, which will be familiar for a lot of people. That, for me, was a real hook.”
McKenna-Bruce hasn’t met Andrews (who was released from prison in 2019), but her co-star Ed Speleers, who plays Cressman, spent time with the murdered stockbroker’s brother Rick.
“There was trepidation about doing that, because of the huge sensitivity around the subject given what happened to Tommy in the end,” Speleers tells The Watchlist.
“So having to speak with Rick was [potentially fraught] but he was incredibly open, and I thoroughly enjoyed our time together.”
The series made headlines even before it aired in the UK last year, when its star Natalie Dormer, who plays Ferguson, donated her salary to charities for child abuse victims amid ongoing revelations about the former duchess’s relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Dormer, who rose to fame on Game Of Thrones, also declined to do any publicity for the series.
“Natalie has had to do what she feels is right,” McKenna-Bruce explains.
“She’s the one playing Sarah. So it’s kind of a question for Natalie, but we obviously all respect and support what Natalie feels she needs to do.”
In fact, The Lady doesn’t show Ferguson in a sympathetic light.
And her ex-husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor – whose ties to Epstein have seen him stripped of his titles, evicted from his estate by King Charles III and arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office – doesn’t feature at all.
“It’s important to note that our show takes place at a different time, and actually the relevance of what’s happening right now doesn’t affect our story,” Speleers says.
“I also think it’s important to remember that this is very much Jane’s story and her journey.
“If anything, the piece we’ve been trying to put together is to explore one lady’s journey. It’s almost a rags-to-riches story.”
Despite the dark themes, The Lady has moments of levity – including a sequence in which Ferguson parades some of her best-known outfits for Andrews.
McKenna-Bruce admits that she was initially baffled by the procession of taffeta ballgowns, shoulder-padded blazers and polka-dot sun dresses.
“I was like, ‘Wait, what are these?’ and ‘Is this like a joke?’ because they were so flamboyant,” she recalls with a laugh.
“But they explained that these were really what people wore at the time.”
After shooting that scene, McKenna-Bruce says she will never look at the famous fashion sequences in films such as The Devil Wears Prada, Pretty Woman and Sex And The City in quite the same way.
“It was fun – but it was a long process, because Natalie had to get into all those outfits and get out of them,” she explains.
“You watch these montages and you think, ‘Oh yeah, that’s five or 10 seconds of dancing around.’ But actually, that took hours.”
The Lady is streaming now on Binge. See the full cover story in a new issue of The Watchlist, out in the Sunday papers.
ON THAT SUBJECT …
Where to watch the woes and lows of the Windsors
Sarah Ferguson: Fire And Ice
Tubi. The duchess’s journey from quirky commoner to royal wife, and how she navigated debt, divorce and public scandal, are charted in this 2023 documentary.
Scoop
Netflix. In 2019, then-Prince Andrew appeared on Newsnight to discuss his alleged friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.
This 2024 dramatisation of the train wreck of a TV interview features Gillian Anderson as Emily Maitlis.
Fergie’s Killer Dresser: The Jane Andrews Story
BritBox. At her 2001 trial, Andrews was portrayed as an obsessive bunny boiler. This 2021 doco assesses her story through a more modern lens.
Princes Of The Palace
Tubi. This 2016 documentary spotlights all of the contemporary princes of the British royal family, including the now-disowned Andrew and estranged Harry.
The Crown
Netflix. Over six seasons and several cast changes, this critically acclaimed series lifts the lid on the drama behind closed palace doors during the long reign of Elizabeth II.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.news.com.au ’
