'Joan' Screenwriter Breaks Down Joan Harrington's Approach to Crime After Revealing Premiere Episode

There's a new jewel thief in town, and she's not afraid to take you for all you are worth. Joan is based on a true story and introduces the world to Joan Hannington (Sophie Turner) – if you haven't read the real-life Joan's memoir I Am What I Am: The True Story of Britain's Most Notorious Jewel Thief. When we meet Joan in the series, she is a struggling mother who turns to stealing diamonds after escaping a violent marriage and needing quick funds to get her daughter back from social services. While reuniting with her daughter is Joan's primary focus, the first episode shows how seductive the world of crime is for the single mother. She's just setting out on her criminal enterprise when she meets her partner-to-be, Boisie (Frank Dillaine). The rest of the series will delve into how Joan and Boisie build a criminal empire filled with rare gems and stolen art, but the first episode showcases that Joan is already skilled in adapting to the moment.

After narrowly escaping the gang after her deadbeat husband, Joan takes her daughter to social services, where she knows she'll be safer. After a few weeks away, Joan ditches work at her sister's hair salon and steals a car to see her daughter but gets arrested on the way home. When she returns to her sister, who promptly fires her from the salon, Joan realizes that she needs to find something lucrative and quickly to get her daughter back.

She next finds work at a local jewelry store and learns the ropes. She maneuvers herself into a position of trust so that she's asked to stay late and help take inventory of the store's gems. She uses her boss's evident infatuation with her as a distraction and swallows the diamonds they hold in the back. She then claims her time of the month has come to avoid having to do anything sexual with her boss and she absconds with the diamonds, teaming up with Boisie to find a seller for them.