Joan is a thrilling six-part drama on ITV1 and ITVX that tells the true story of Joan Hannington and her notorious rise in the 1980s as one of the best diamond thieves. In a desperate bid to escape her troubled past and provide for her daughter, Joan embarks on a tumultuous life of crime.
Here's a recap of everything that happened in Joan episode 1.
The series opens with Joan (Sophie Turner) sitting in a hotel room, her scarred back uncovered, as she puts on makeup, jewelry, and a wig. She opens a bag on the bed full of rolls of money before the phone interrupts her. Answering, she replies in a well-spoken voice, that she'll be straight down. On hanging up, she drops her ring and her real voice, a cockney accent, comes through. Putting on a luxurious fur coat, she leaves the hotel and hops into the back of a fancy car for which a driver takes her away.
The scene cuts to four months earlier on the Kent coast. Joan, looking wildly different with her blonde hair down and different clothes on, serves up a meal to her daughter who writes her name, Kelly, into the spaghetti letters on her plate.
Outside, a man honks his horn and stands next to his red convertible shouting up to Joan, happy birthday. She heads next door and tells her neighbour Gary is dropping her at work and he'll be back for Kelly in ten minutes. She whispers to Kelly, "Daddy will put you to bed."
Gary drives recklessly along the seafront before dropping Joan at Rene's Nightclub. He says, look in the back, where Joan finds a big fur coat and questions where he got it. He says she knows not to ask and drives off, angrily. In the nightclub, a man approaches her at the bar and appears to proposition her. He hands over his card, Tom Fordwick, Double Glazing salesman, before leaving.
After work, she returns home to a quiet flat. Calling out for Gary, he's not there, but her daughter is asleep alone in the flat. She crawls into bed beside her. In the morning, Gary returns and grabs something from the cupboard before packing up a suitcase. He says he needs to be on his toes for a bit. When Joan questions him, he pushes her against the wall and they argue before he leaves.
On the beach with Kelly, Joan is again approached by Tom from the nightclub. She says he's undercover, to which he starts asking questions about Gary and his 'big job' and says he can protect her. She says she's not a grass and walks off.
That night, Joan hears a noise as she's trying to sleep. Turning on the light, two men break into her room, hit her with a gun, and hold it into her mouth threatening to shoot while asking where Gary is. She says he's at his girlfriends and will be back in the morning.
The men leave, but wait outside. She gets Kelly out of bed and leaves quickly down the fire escape without being seen. They sleep on the beach before Joan takes Kelly to Social Services. This is where Joan leaves her and the woman says she'll be placed into a foster home. Emotionally, Joan says bye to Kelly who doesn't want her to go, but she knows she has to keep her safe.
It cuts to London where Joan enters the New Waves hair salon. Joan approaches a woman, who appears to own the shop, and she asks where Kelly is and Joan tells her what's happened. She offers Joan a place to stay for a few days and some work, but says she doesn't want any of Joan's "chaos". That night, Joan addresses the woman as Nancy as she washes her hair.
It cuts to a week later. Joan now has a short blonde bob and is working in the salon. A male customer flirts with her while talking about his wife. So, she secretly spits in his hair product before rubbing it into his hair. Nancy is annoyed and says she's lost one of her best clients. Joan says, I'm an O'Connell. Nancy says, so am I, revealing that they're sisters.
The social worker calls Joan and says she can come to visit Kelly. When Joan asks Nancy for money to go, she says I need you to work. Instead of listening to her sister, Joan heads out into the street, breaks into a car and steals it, driving to see Kelly instead.
In a lovely neighbourhood, Kelly is waiting at a window dressed smartly to see Joan. While they spend time together, Joan questions the foster mother over cutting Kelly's hair and about a ring she gave to Kelly when she left her at social services. She says it's on a chain round her neck.
As she drives off, a police car pulls her over and takes her into custody. In the cell, the undercover officer from the beach, Tom, comes to see her. He says you need to tel the magistrate that you'll try harder and that he'll back her. It cuts to Joan pleading in court that she will make a better life and that she just needs a chance to prove herself.
Back in London, Joan enters the salon and Nancy asks her where she's been. She doesn't know about the car but Nancy says Joan needs to find another job and hands her the newspaper. As Joan looks in the paper in the park, two rich women walk past discussing jewellery. She looks down and sees an advert for a sales assistant at a jewellers.
She heads to a different jewellers and copies the accent of the women in the park pretending to buy a ring to gain knowledge. She takes this knowledge to Bernard Jones Jewellers to impress the manager and earns herself a months' trial. Two weeks later, she's working in the jewellers and clearly impressing. Although her manager seems a little too keen about her performance.
That night in the salon, Gary comes in appearing drunk and aggressive. He pushes Joan around as she tries to fight him off. Nancy comes down and Gary grabs the hair scissors, holding them against Joan's neck, and pushing her around. She tells him to get out. He spits at her feel and tells her to be careful before leaving.
Nancy packs Joan a bag, but says she doesn't have to go. Not having any money, Joan sleeps on a doorstep before heading to work early. The manager says she doesn't need to be in until the afternoon for stock take, but she offers to work more hours. While she asks for an advance on wages, he coyly suggests they wait and see how they both get on at the stock take.
Later that day, Bernard Jones closes up the shop. As he grows closer and closer to her, she tries to make excuses like looking up at the camera, but he suggests they head to the back. She says she needs to freshen up, so leaves him at the front. Grabbing her coat and bag, she notices his office and the safe are open. She goes in and sees diamonds wrapped up in a piece of paper that she eats and swallows.
She then heads to the front and tells him "the painters have arrived down below" and that she's sorry. He suggests they try again next week. She leaves and heads to the pub.
In the pub, a man is standing at the bar. She goes to buy a drink, which she can't afford. He pays for it instead. They get talking and he hands her his card, Hannington Antiques. He asks what she does for work, to which she responds she's a thief. Impressed, he offers to buy her more drinks.
The next morning, she wakes in his flat. A note on her says, "Come to work, you owe me £12.45. Boisie." Remembering she has the diamonds inside her, she drinks a bottle of olive oil and puts some gin in a glass bowl. While she's looking around his flat she finds money lined up in drawers. Clenching at her stomach, she grabs the bowl of gin and a sieve and rushes to the toilet. Returning with the bowl of clean diamonds, she notices a gun in the drawer where she took the sieve.
She heads to Hannington Antiques and propositions Boisie about selling some jewels she has. He accuses her of stealing them, considering she told him she left her job at the jewellers, is a thief, is homeless, and has lost her kid, but wants to get rich. He says he can sell them, but it'll take a few weeks. She says she needs the cash now, to which he offers her another job to do for him. As they share another drink, he says, "I think you and I are going to get along, Joan." She replies, "It's just work and it's just one job." But, she says, if he rips her off, she'll kill him. He replies, snap.
All episodes of Joan are available to stream on ITVX now.
