User reviews

The poor reviews here are to me amusing, it's a good series the acting is great, the characters are well developed but hold on here the story is great, no one complained about Atomic Blonde it's the soundtrack aswell that's brilliant, epitomises the music at that time it's realistically set in how London was at that time, the it's a pity that people can't pull back and just enjoy something like this, pull your heads in and just enjoy it , the comments I'm reading gets me thinking have to watched the same series, don't see those comments about snatch or kill bill glorifying violence, I'm laughing.

Joan has no choice but to leave her violent partner, with nowhere to go she places her daughter in temporary care. In a pub Joan encounters a man named Boisie, who recognises a talent Joan has, for stealing.

Joan is an interesting subject, I'm not sure she comes across as a particularly good or likeable person, her motives throughout seemed totally selfish.

It's a very watchable, beautifully made series, it truly looks so good, the fashions, sets and cars all bring the 1980's back to life.

It may be a little on the slow side to start, but it opens up well, episode six is particularly good, it's a very dramatic conclusion. It could have worked better over four episodes.

Sophie Turner delivers a terrific performance as the title character, you really do see Joan develop from a woman escaping an abusive partner, to a sophisticated jewel thief. Turner's transformations are terrific, effortless almost.

7/10.

I was quite engaged with Joan in the first couple of episodes and Turner and Dillane were excellent and had chemistry but unfortunately it lost its way as it progressed. It was essentially TV crime by the numbers with cliched characters and situations and from what I've read is not very accurate in regards the real Joan Hannington. I'm not saying it has to be as I accept it was just based on the actual person but I was a bit disappointed how it all panned out and it all fell flat, especially in the final episode. It was a shame as both Sophie Turner and Frank Dillane demonstrated they can act well and I hope to see them again in perhaps a better vehicle.

Based on the book by Joan Hannington herself, this 6-part ITV series starred Sophie Turner in the title role as what you'd almost call a gentlewoman burglar. We're taken back to the early 80's and straight away dropped into Joan's world, just as her violent, criminal husband up and leaves her and their young child Kelly in the lurch. Joan tries to cope as a single parent, but when even a spell working for her sister fails to come off, she drifts into a life of crime, opportunely stealing a handful of diamonds from the jeweller's store where she was working. Running away from the cops, she bumps into her future husband, the spivvy antique-dealer "Boysie" Hannington. They click with each other straight away, as much on a criminal level as anything else and it's not long before they're cooking up get-rich quick plans for their mutual benefit, bringing in Boysie's equally shady, well-connected mate Albie to help with their more ambitious plans.

Over the six episodes we see just how easily Joan adapts herself to a life of deception. A veritable mistress of crime, she's as adept at donning disguises as she is at faking accents, for one job, she's Scottish and for others American. The road to true crime however never runs smoothly and the couple experience many a bump in said road as they recklessly try to dispose of a valuable Stubbs painting they've stolen to the IRA, leading Joan to dream up one last big heist to enable her and her daughter to escape to Spain and live happily ever after. Believe that and you'll believe anything, with crime decidedly not paying as her big idea to return to her old stamping ground to make one last big score doesn't go to plan in rather disastrous fashion, in different ways, for both her and hubby.

Knowing it was based on real-life events gave the programme credibility so that I could relax and watch every incredible up and down in Joan's life in proper truth-is-greater-than-fiction fashion, not that I doubt more than just the odd invention or distortion was made strictly for dramatic purposes, you understand.

Turner was terrific in the lead role, everything she did motivated by a need to keep her daughter close by her, after initially having to pass her over to Social Services at her lowest ebb. Smart, tough and sexy, she runs rings around most of the men around her and is well backed up by Frank Dillane as her literal partner in crime Boysie and Gershwyn Eustache Jr as Albie the go-between.

I certainly found it a gripping and involving watch, the programme aptly conveying time and place with its use of locations, cars, fashions, furnishings and music. It was definitely one of the best ITV crime dramas I've seen although I guess there is a debate to be had about whether or not a show like this glamourises crime. Some may argue that hers were largely victimless crimes but tell that to the honest citizens she robbed, more than one of whom experienced violence and no doubt emotional trauma at the hands of her and her accomplices...

It's 1985. Single mother Joan O'Connell (Sophie Turner) escapes after her petty criminal boyfriend gets in trouble with violent gangsters. She is forced to place her daughter with the authorities while she tries to start again in London. She steals gems from her workplace. She joins crooked antiques dealer Boise Hannington (Frank Dillane) on her way to becoming a real life Godmother.

I think this is a limited series. It could continue, but I don't know about any future plans. As it stands, it's six episodes of about forty five minutes each. That's four and a half hours in total. Some of it feels slow. The crimes are not actually that thrilling. Her desperation for her daughter is the most emotionally compelling. This needs some condensing in order to quicken certain parts.

My wife and I have just finished watching the full series and I have to say that we were gripped from the very start.

Whoever cast Sophie as Joan certainly knew their job and knew it well. As a matter of fact, the whole cast were brilliant and I don't think they could have picked anyone better.

After watching Sophie in the Game of thrones, I was surprised she did so well for her first major casting. But after this performance, I can honestly say that I would go as far as saying that she truly has to be one of the best actresses in the UK at the moment.

Also, I have to give credit to the actor that played Boisie (His name slips me sorry). Again, he gave a superb performance and his and Sophie's on screen chemistry was nothing short of awesome.

All in all, I loved it and it makes me want a season two. Fingers crossed.

I am writing this after series 1. The story is left open.

This had been hyped in advance for many weeks so I just had to bingewatch it.

Perhaps the hype was greater than thd show but, for those of us of a certs in age, there was plenty of nostalgia to see. The clothes, the music, the styles and the vehicles brought back there era so well.

I am not sure why The Wicked Game by Chris Izaak from 1989 was featured in a early 80s drama but it's not my biggest gripe.

Despite all the dressing up the show, the story is very modern being full of feminism, me too and all men are either weak or evil while it's OK for a woman to do illegal things as long as it is in a honourable cause.

Sophie Turner throws herself into the story well and there are some great songs but did we really need Bucks Fizz twice?

They could have included ELO and Ticket To The Moon which starts with the lines "Remember the good old 1980s when things were so uncomplicated? ... I wish I could go back there and everything could be the same"

I am literally gobsmacked by all the positive reviews and high ratings.

This is possibly the worst 'drama' I've wasted 6 hours of my life on.

Each episode is exactly the same. Title character claims she'll do anything to get her daughter back, suffers a setback and gets involved in a ridiculous criminal escapade. And repeat.

The acting, dialogue and plot lines are so lazy, the 2 instances of stealing jewellery hardly make her a 'cunning thief' and every single character with the exception of Joan realises poor Kelly would be better of left with the foster family way before the penny drops with 'mum'.

Maybe I am missing something here but this is no GOT performance from the leading actress.

She almost looks as embarrassed playing the character as I did watching it.

Sophie Turner delivers a remarkable performance, transporting viewers back to the vibrant 80s with its iconic hair, music, and cars. The show begins with a captivating story that pulls you in, creating a sense of deep involvement. However, as the narrative unfolds, it becomes increasingly implausible that an ordinary woman, with no criminal background, quickly evolves into a mastermind thief, manipulating seasoned criminals within days. One particularly frustrating element is Joan's tendency to gaslight others, despite her own flawed ideas. Overall, the series serves as a commentary on the shortcomings of weak men.

A sad story of a Kent girl with a rough life, who gets into diamond theft and other assorted shenanigans. It's not bad as stories like this go and passes the time, BUT whoever selected the contemporary background music for this needs to be replaced as woefully inept. It starts supposedly in 1985 and has Brass in Pocket playing from 1979. It switches to four months earlier but has two songs from four years earlier, in 1981 (Bucks Fizz, Making Your Mind Up on the radio and and Soft Cell, Tainted Love in a bar). We also hear Hungry Like the Wolf from 1982, and whilst all of that is at least from the recent past to the time when this is set, it is very strange that we don't hear anything from 1984/85. Finally, this is all blown up when we then seem to time travel to 1989 as Wicked Game by Chris Isaak plays on the jukebox. I have never in all my years seen and heard such a cocked-up selection of supposedly contemporary background music in a professional TV or movie production. It is so bad, it detracts from the show in itself.

Sophie Turner fab. Direction - no cutting edge. Background music the worst and a distraction. Supporting cast weak as a soggy banana.

In contrast to The Gentlemen....which has unpredictability, tension and great support acting hmmm.

Make up for Sophie is brilliant but poor old Albie looks like one of the Black and White Minstrels despite some cool acting. For example The IRA female prison plant is so bland as to be almost boring. Biggest disappointment is Boisie who lacks charisma, that nasty edge and depth.

However, warrants a second series with a new director, fiery casting, bigger budget, proper music and .... If you can guess where the script is going, don't go there. Hail Sophie....

STAR RATING: ***** Brilliant **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor * Awful

Britain, the early 1980's. Joan (Sophie Turner) is a single mother to her beloved daughter, Kelly (Mia Millichamp Long), having escaped from her abusive, ex con boyfriend. At the end of her tether, and unable to make ends meet, Joan hands Kelly into the care of Social Services, hoping to get back on her feet and be reunited with her one day. She lands a job at a jewellers, where she discovers a skill for diamond theft, and after forming a partnership with flashy wide boy Boisie (Frank Millane), embarks on a wild, chaotic world of criminality and chances.

1980's based crime dramas, culminating with a clean break to the 'Costa Del Crime', have been a hallmark of British cinema over the years, but few (if any) have been told from a female perspective. Director Richard Laxton not only manages this, but charts a true life tale, that certainly deserves to be told. He crafts a believable, if not quite as exhilarating as it could have been, tale that maybe gets stretched out longer than it should have been.

In the lead role, Turner delivers a convincing portrayal of a lone woman caught in a desperate situation, hardened by the tough world she has been forced to inhabit, with no system in place to help women like her at the time, and with more resourcefulness than anyone would credit her for. As such, she gets to put on a convincing array of costumes and accents that elevates the proceedings somewhat. Milane delivers steady support as the mumbling bad boy Joan finds herself drawn to, embarking on a series of heists together, before a subplot involving the IRA makes its mark, changing the tone slightly.

It's not as effective as it could be, and may be one or two episodes too long, but it still holds your attention to the end, with a cool 80's soundtrack, with great attention to fashion and period to match. ***

I cannot believe even the CW would be desperate enough to air this low end low cost mess. The pilot has enough plot holes to drive a semi truck through.

The one thing which could possibly redeem this big stinking pile of British Drama would be compelling characters.... or even characters which were even remotely entertaining or enjoyable.

This production recycles plot points and characters from a hundred movies - nothing is new or imaginative or creative. It is not just bad, it is painfully bad

It is best to just avoid this dreadful little program. You have far bnetter things to do with your time.

Good mini-series as a small window to her tragically miserable life. The emotions are the series forte and next comes the believable acting on its own merit. Needed a second season to shape Joan's plans out on building an empire without men. As it is, the production value is wasted and a pity.

Hope, they will change their mind and make a completing spin-off.

• Screenplay/storyline/plots: 6
• Production value/impact: 6.5
• Development: 7
• Realism: 6
• Entertainment: 6.5
• Acting: 7.5
• Filming/photography/cinematography: 7
• VFX: 7.5
• Music/score/sound: 6.5
• Depth: 5.5
• Logic: 4
• Flow: 5
• Crime/drama: 5.5
• Ending: 4.

This drama feels low budget but probably isn't. The plot crawls along in a very bland manner and I'd lost interest very early on.

The story is based around the evolution of a plucky unmarried mother with a violent criminal partner, into a jewel thief who moves upmarket into the big time.

Many of the sets are quite elaborate but everything feels very staged. Unfortunately the main characters are all shallow and charmless so you don't really empathise. At the same time the harsher aspects of life tend to be glossed over or oddly glamourised so there is no grit.

The lead actress looks like Boy George, which is I suppose period but not exactly what I suspect was intended and she constantly struggles to manage the regional accent which makes her acting totally unnatural. Oddly. She does better whenever she puts on a 'fake' accent.

The lead male is made up like a cancer sufferer with excess make up and his vibe is more 1970's as is much of the programme.

The 1980's soundtrack elements feel out of place against what feels to me like a dreary 1970's backdrop and the whole thing is a very odd mash up lacking any distinctive style. A more dynamic direction could have made much more of the storyline.

I won't spoil the plot but there is room for further episodes, which only adds to the pointlessness of the venture.

This could have been wrapped up in 2 or at most 4 parts, and my advice would be to watch some of the original 1980's dramas which did it all so very much better.

Great acting, suspense and gripping detail throughout. Sophie Turner has delivered a truly remarkable TV series. Sophie Turner's performance in Joan has been praised for showcasing her versatility and depth as an actor. Playing Joan Hannington, a notorious jewel thief from the 1980s, Turner embraces the role with a gritty and compelling portrayal. She skillfully balances Joan's toughness and vulnerability, bringing complexity to a character caught between her criminal exploits and personal struggles. Her ability to shift between moments of intensity and emotional nuance has been noted as a standout, helping elevate the series beyond a typical crime drama. This role marks a significant departure from her earlier work, allowing Turner to shine in a more mature and layered part.

(Reviewed after watching the first 3 episodes of 6. I abandoned it at that midway point.)

It's well acted, especially by Sophie Turner, who plays Joan. It's had a reasonable amount of money spent on it. It looks good and as bad as you expect the 1980s to look. But there's not much of a story -- at least in the first 3 episodes -- and what story there is, is no different to many such stories that have been told on screen before. And the choice of contemporary music is poor.

I'm not a particular fan of the "noble criminal" genre, so perhaps this was never going to be my cup of tea. In this instance I was especially appalled by the robbery of the painting -- no good deed goes unpunished.