'The Lady' to Make March Debut on BritBox
This four-part series about a former royal dresser who is later convicted of a grisly murder looks like the stuff of true crime dreams.
BritBox has released a first look at its forthcoming drama The Lady, based on the scandalous, real-life true-crime story that made global headlines, featuring everything from a royal confidante and an infamous duchess to a grisly murder and a scandalous trial. The four-part series is set to dramatize the story of Jane Andrews, the former royal dresser to Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York. A girl from a working-class background who responded to an ad in The Lady magazine and landed the job of her dreams in Buckingham Palace, Andrews was convicted of murdering her lover, Thomas Cressman, in 2001.
(For the record, this crime didn't take place until after she was dismissed from royal service, but her closeness with and connection to Fergie was all the press needed to make this into a massive story.)
The series stars Mia McKenna-Bruce as Andrews, fresh off her (very lovely) turn in Netflix's adaptation of Agatha Christie's Seven Dials. Natalie Dormer (White Lies) plays the Duchess of York, and Ed Speelers (Downton Abbey) is Cressman.
The Lady is, unfortunately for ITV and BritBox, arriving at a cultural moment in which Sarah Ferguson's ex-husband, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, is facing renewed scrutiny over his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Ferguson didn't stop styling herself as the Duchess of York until Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his royal titles in October 2025. But revelations in recently revealed documents have thrust the pair back into the spotlight and raised questions about potential legal ramifications.
Here's the series' synopsis.
The Lady charts the rise and fall of former royal dresser Jane Andrews, whose rags to riches fairy tale fell apart when she was convicted of murder. Once a young working-class girl from a northern town, Jane answered an advertisement in a magazine and to the astonishment of her friends and family, became the Duchess of York’s dresser at Buckingham Palace. Moving amongst the highest social circles in Britain, Jane managed to secure a place in the upper-classes, only to lose her job with the Duchess after nine years of service. Still reeling from her fall from grace, Jane went on to meet charismatic businessman Thomas Cressman and fell deeply in love. Soon cracks began to develop in the romance Jane had pinned all her hopes on, with disastrous consequences.
Alongside McKenna-Bruce, Dormer, the series' cast also includes Philip Glenister (After the Flood), Claire Skinner (Riot Women), Laura Aikman (Joan), Ophelia Lovibond (MobLand), Mark Stanley (Under Salt Marsh), Daniel Ryan (Passenger), and Sean Teale (The Gold).
All four episodes of The Lady are written by Debbie O'Malley (All Creatures Great and Small) and directed by Lee Haven Jones (A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story). O'Malley also serves as an executive producer, alongside Sian McWilliams, Andy Harries, and Rebecca Hodgson for Left Bank Pictures and Jess O'Riordan and Stephen Nye for BritBox. Florence Haddon Cave (Quiz) is also a producer.
The Lady will premiere on BritBox on Wednesday, March 18, with subsequent episodes released weekly through April 8, 2026.
