What did you miss?
Sophie Turner has said growing up on the set of Game of Thrones has left her unable to sleep without a true crime podcast.
Turner began playing Sansa Stark in the notoriously bloodthirsty fantasy series when she was just 14, and told Good Morning Britain it had left her as a huge fan of true crime which she finds “relaxing”.
Joan star Turner also told how each character she has played in her career has changed her in some way as her new drama series begins on ITV this weekend.
What, how, and why?
Sophie Turner is set to star as Britain’s most notorious jewel thief Joan Hannington in ITV drama Joan on Sunday, and her next project is heist drama Haven – both perfect projects for the actor who shared her love of crime with Good Morning Britain on Friday.
Turner, who landed her first big role at 14 as Sansa Stark in the gory TV adaptation of Game of Thrones, said that her formative experiences on set had left her unable to fall asleep without a terrifying podcast.
She said: “I love true crime, that’s the thing. I live for true crime.”
Read more: Sophie Turner
GMB’s Richard Arnold asked her: “How do you sleep?” and she replied: “With a podcast, a true crime podcast. That’s how I fall asleep. It’s the best, it’s so relaxing.”
Arnold told her he would find it terrifying bedtime listening, but Turner explained: “Maybe that’s because of being brought up on Game of Thrones, it might be down to that. When kids were being read bedtime stories, I was on the Game of Thrones set watching people’s head get chopped off.”
Opening up more on how starring in the long-running fantasy series had changed her life, she said: “I feel like I’ve lived 10 lives since that time in Game of Thrones. Most of my growing happens from my characters, so the more characters I play, the more I grow as a person. I think I’ve changed exponentially.”
What is Sophie Turner’s new drama Joan?
ITV true crime drama Joan begins on Sunday evening, starring Turner in the title role as real-life jewel thief Joan Hannington.
The six-part series is based on Hannington’s 2004 memoir I Am What I Am, which recounts her experiences of abuse as a child, and her hardships as an adult, that led to her becoming Britain’s most notorious jewel thief in the 1980s. Hannington became a prime figure in London’s criminal underworld, and she even became know as “The Godmother” in her time.
Speaking about starring as Hannington, true crime fan Turner said: “It was amazing, it was the thrill of my career. To be able to play someone like Joan, who’s so multifaceted and is so funny, but [has] gone through so much trauma — she’s so ambitious, and she’s all these things, ‘mother, lover, liar, thief’ but there really is so much to her.
“She really is so much in one person, and I just felt it would be the biggest treat to be able to play her, and it’s just remarkable that it’s all a true story… inspired by.”
Good Morning Britain airs on ITV1 at 6am on weekdays.
