Pick of the week

Joan

RTÉ One, 10.15pm

We said farewell to Obituary’s Elvira last week. She’s being replaced in the schedule by another strong-willed woman, but where Elvira was very much a fictional character, Joan Hannington is real. In fact, the big surprise is that her story has never been told on screen before. “When I first read Joan’s book, I thought, ‘This is gold dust,’" says executive producer Richard Laxton. “She went through such struggle and desperation – it is just a hugely moving and compelling story.”

It’s a tale that begins in 1985 as Joan (played by Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner) dumps her criminal boyfriend and attempts to start a new life with her six-year-old daughter. She gets a job at a jeweller’s, but the boss turns out to be creep, so Joan walks out, tak

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