Critic Reviews

Thanks to the brilliance of Sheridan Smith’s acting, it was agonising. .... Over four beautifully written episodes we will see how this powerhouse of an ordinary woman campaigned for a change in the 800-year-old double jeopardy law.

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.

Taking Ann's own memoir For the Love of Julie as inspiration, writer Jamie Crichton ensures the drama doesn’t get too bogged down in the small print.

This dramatisation of her story is, at times, an exhausting watch. Sheridan Smith is well versed at bawling emotion and grandstanding speeches, and these get a good workout here. .... It’s an impressive performance, simmering in the limbo between anger and despair.

She [Sheridan Smith] elevates a workaday script that dares not take too many liberties, lest it be seen to dishonour the story, and makes it genuinely moving. She gets help from the strong cast that is – again, as ever – assembled round her.

It’s a perfect depiction of how real change is made – through slow, steady progress. It can, however, make for monotonous TV and as the series steers (rightfully) away from salacious legal drama territory, it does drag slightly.