Sophie Turner was seen in character while filming for her new role as a notorious 1980s jewel thief in the upcoming ITVX television series Joan – and we had to do a double take.
The former Game of Thrones star was worlds away from the bright lights of Hollywood as she took to the streets of Birmingham in the UK after transforming into the titular role of Joan Hannington, who was a real-life person in the eighties known as “the Godmother” by the British criminal underworld.
The actress was seen sporting a teased shoulder-length eighties hairdo, which she teamed with a navy double-breasted blazer atop a turtleneck white button-up shirt and a wine-coloured midi-skirt.
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Wearing oversized gold-rimmed glasses and strutting along in black stilettos with a small briefcase in one hand and her black handbag over her shoulder, Sophie certainly looked unassuming in the role of the city’s most notorious female criminal figure.
In the scenes Sophie filmed, her character, Joan, is seen visiting a jeweller’s shop in London, where she presumably surveys the venue in preparation for one of her shocking heists.
Filming for the real-life-inspired six-part series began in May in Kent after the project was announced in November last year.
Following Sophie’s casting announcement, she gushed in a statement: “I’m so excited to be bringing Joan Hannington’s fascinating life story to screen in Joan.
“She is one of the most notorious figures in the criminal underworld of London, earning her the nickname ‘The Godmother’. A woman who goes between her thriving and daring career as a jewel thief, all while trying to get her daughter back from social services, we see a mother in despair swept up in the exhilarating world of crime.”
Created by acclaimed screenwriter Anna Symon (The Essex Serpent) and directed by the BAFTA award-winning Richard Laxton, the series Joan is being adapted from adapting from Hannington’s 2004 memoir, I Am What I Am: The True Story of Britain’s Most Notorious Jewel Thief.