‘I Fought the Law’ is Sheridan Smith at her best ...Middle East

On 16th November 1989, Ann Ming made a terrible discovery. Two months after her 22-year-old daughter, Julie Hogg, went missing, Ming found her body concealed beneath the bath in Hogg’s home – a hiding place inexplicably overlooked by the forensic team who had investigated her disappearance. Worse still, she had to watch the man responsible, Billy Dunlop, escape a prison sentence during two separate trials and then openly boast about committing the murder at the local pub.

More than 15 years later, Ming’s relentless fight for justice changed the ancient double jeopardy law in the UK, which protected criminals from being tried twice for the same offence. Since then, Ming has been awarded an MBE for her significant contributions to the criminal justice system and now works with police forces to improve how they support families of murder victims.

This extraordinary true story, documented in Ming’s 2008 memoir, For the Love of Julie, is retold in ITV’s new four-part drama I Fought the Law. Set against the industrial backdrop of late-80s and early-90s Billingham, County Durham, each hour-long episode is charged with emotion, charting Ming’s grief, resilience, and unyielding quest for justice.

Sheridan Smith takes on the role of Ming – a casting decision that is both fitting and inspired. Known for bringing grit and humanity to roles such as Cilla Black in Cilla and another mother of a murder victim, Sarah Sak, in Four Lives, the BAFTA-winning actress once again delivers. In a short, curled blonde wig and glossy pink nails, Smith inhabits Ming with ferocity: stoic glares, tremors of anxious hands, and gut-wrenching cries of a grieving mother.

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Ming is repeatedly dismissed by men in positions of authority and Hogg’s sexual history is weaponised as a way to cast doubt on the court case. In these moments of heightened tension, Smith absorbs you into Ming’s inner world, revealing the emotions she cannot voice with small gestures that carry the weight of injustice and pain – a quiver of her lip, the flicker of an eye. It’s this quiet precision that makes Smith’s performance so moving.

Erik Richter Strand’s crisp directing underscores Ming’s rage effectively, demonstrating the imbalance of power while celebrating the strength of a woman who refuses to be ignored. The camera lingers on Smith, often isolating her in still, composed frames as the men around her either overlook her mother’s intuition, give up too quickly, or collapse into petty brawls rather than pursue the truth. Ming’s loneliness and ferocious resilience is set against a system that seems designed to silence her. “The system is rotten and I’m going to do something about it,” she says.

The drama’s pacing falters during scenes with Ming’s husband, Charlie (Daniel York Loh), whose character seems unrealised. Charlie often acts as deadweight in the fight for justice, repeating uninspired lines like “I was never a fighter” and urging Ming to give up. These moments ring hollow, especially when he’s looking at the man who murdered and mutilated his daughter.

Loh presents this same indifference during a later scene where a neighbour hands Ming a petition demanding the family leave Billingham because her husband is Asian. Until then, their interactions with the local community have been positive. With Charlie largely unphased by the hostility, this segment of the storyline lacks substance and appears to be a half-hearted attempt to explore racism.

All this aside, I Fought the Law honours Ming’s extraordinary fight to reshape British law, and I’m sure it will resonate with other families failed by the system. Thanks to this series, Ming’s pursuit of justice – and Julie – will not be forgotten.

I Fought the Law continues tomorrow night at 9pm on ITV1

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