<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the royal drama that makes the salacious storylines of The Crown seem positively common by comparison.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Set inside Buckingham Palace in the 1980s and \u201990s, The Lady charts the rise and fall of royal dresser Jane Andrews, who worked for Sarah Ferguson, then the Duchess of York. <\/p>\n
Dubbed the \u201cFatal Attraction killer\u201d (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\u2019t view her as marriage material.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know the story inside and out, but I had definitely heard of it,\u201d she tells The Watchlist. <\/p>\n
\u201cThen I went down a bit of a rabbit hole reading about it after I had the first meeting [about the series].\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s certainly an intriguing tale. After growing up poor, Andrews was hired at the Palace in 1988, and became a confidante to the duchess.<\/p>\n
She developed a taste for the high life, even copying her famous boss\u2019s showy style and red hair colour.<\/p>\n
After her conviction, Andrews was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.<\/p>\n
McKenna-Bruce \u2013 who will also star in Sam Mendes\u2019 upcoming Beatles film series as Ringo Starr\u2019s first wife Maureen Starkey \u2013 says she was drawn to The Lady because it offered a nuanced portrait of Andrews.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s got this beautiful hope at the beginning, and then she goes and she works at the Palace where she thinks she\u2019s done the hard bit of getting in,\u201d the actor explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then she gets in, and she\u2019s 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.\u201d <\/p>\n
McKenna-Bruce hasn\u2019t met Andrews (who was released from prison in 2019), but her co-star Ed Speleers, who plays Cressman, spent time with the murdered stockbroker\u2019s brother Rick.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was trepidation about doing that, because of the huge sensitivity around the subject given what happened to Tommy in the end,\u201d Speleers tells The Watchlist. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo having to speak with Rick was [potentially fraught] but he was incredibly open, and I thoroughly enjoyed our time together.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n
Dormer, who rose to fame on Game Of Thrones, also declined to do any publicity for the series.<\/p>\n
\u201cNatalie has had to do what she feels is right,\u201d McKenna-Bruce explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s the one playing Sarah. So it\u2019s kind of a question for Natalie, but we obviously all respect and support what Natalie feels she needs to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
In fact, The Lady doesn\u2019t show Ferguson in a sympathetic light. <\/p>\n
And her ex-husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor \u2013 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 \u2013 doesn\u2019t feature at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to note that our show takes place at a different time, and actually the relevance of what\u2019s happening right now doesn\u2019t affect our story,\u201d Speleers says. <\/p>\n
\u201cI also think it\u2019s important to remember that this is very much Jane\u2019s story and her journey.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf anything, the piece we\u2019ve been trying to put together is to explore one lady\u2019s journey. It\u2019s almost a rags-to-riches story.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the dark themes, The Lady has moments of levity \u2013 including a sequence in which Ferguson parades some of her best-known outfits for Andrews. <\/p>\n
McKenna-Bruce admits that she was initially baffled by the procession of taffeta ballgowns, shoulder-padded blazers and polka-dot sun dresses. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, \u2018Wait, what are these?\u2019 and \u2018Is this like a joke?\u2019 because they were so flamboyant,\u201d she recalls with a laugh. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut they explained that these were really what people wore at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was fun \u2013 but it was a long process, because Natalie had to get into all those outfits and get out of them,\u201d she explains. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou watch these montages and you think, \u2018Oh yeah, that\u2019s five or 10 seconds of dancing around.\u2019 But actually, that took hours.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lady is streaming now on Binge. See the full cover story in a new issue of The Watchlist, out in the Sunday papers. <\/i><\/p>\nON THAT SUBJECT \u2026<\/b><\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n
Sarah Ferguson: Fire And Ice<\/i><\/p>\n
Tubi. The duchess\u2019s journey from quirky commoner to royal wife, and how she navigated debt, divorce and public scandal, are charted in this 2023 documentary.<\/p>\n
Scoop<\/i><\/p>\n
Netflix. In 2019, then-Prince Andrew appeared on Newsnight to discuss his alleged friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n
This 2024 dramatisation of the train wreck of a TV interview features Gillian Anderson as Emily Maitlis.<\/p>\n
Fergie\u2019s Killer Dresser: The Jane Andrews Story<\/i>
BritBox. At her 2001 trial, Andrews was portrayed as an obsessive bunny boiler. This 2021 doco assesses her story through a more modern lens.<\/p>\n
Princes Of The Palace<\/i>
Tubi. This 2016 documentary spotlights all of the contemporary princes of the British royal family, including the now-disowned Andrew and estranged Harry.<\/p>\n
The Crown<\/i>
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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.news.com.au \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s the royal drama that makes the salacious storylines of The Crown seem positively common by comparison. Set inside Buckingham Palace in the 1980s and \u201990s, The Lady charts the rise and fall of royal dresser Jane Andrews, who worked for Sarah Ferguson, then the Duchess of York. Dubbed the \u201cFatal Attraction killer\u201d (in reference […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2303712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[386846,446317,446320,411922,29138,354867,446331,446314,446316,378685,317759,382847,308814,441566,26961,446324,446326,348927,382833,370287,361780,446332,446329,441578,22942,446321,183049,25741,446322,390917,390918,348460,446313,382806,446328,446318,446330,22931,23068,386857,446315,446312,43163,349906,441570,446327,22946,304613,430478,446333,446319,446323,441575,446325,27727],"class_list":["post-2303711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty","tag-agence-france-presse","tag-borderline-personality","tag-boycotts-royal-drama","tag-british-actress","tag-british-royal-family","tag-cast-changes","tag-city-of-london","tag-closed-palace-doors","tag-contemporary-princes","tag-convicted-sex-offender","tag-cover-story","tag-duke-of-cambridge","tag-duke-of-york","tag-edward-speleers","tag-europe","tag-famous-boss","tag-famous-fashion-sequences","tag-film-series","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-gillian-anderson","tag-glenn-close","tag-inside-star","tag-interview-features","tag-jane-andrews","tag-jeffrey-epstein","tag-killer-dresser","tag-king-charles-iii","tag-london","tag-marriage-material","tag-maureen-starkey","tag-mia-mckenna-bruce","tag-natalie-dormer","tag-nicole-trunfio","tag-northern-europe","tag-obsessive-bunny-boiler","tag-palace-insider","tag-polka-dot-sun-dresses","tag-prince-andrew","tag-prince-william","tag-queen-elizabeth-ii-of-the-commonwealth-realms","tag-rags-to-riches-story","tag-red-hair-colour","tag-ringo-starr","tag-royal-drama","tag-royal-dresser","tag-royal-wife","tag-sarah-ferguson","tag-sky-news","tag-sophie-elsworth","tag-sordid-royal-chapter","tag-star-boycotts","tag-taffeta-ballgowns","tag-thomas-cressman","tag-train-wreck","tag-united-kingdom"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Sarah-Ferguson-Prince-Andrew-The-Lady-star-boycotts-royal-drama.avif","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2303711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2303711"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2303711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2303713,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2303711\/revisions\/2303713"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2303712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2303711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2303711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2303711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}