'I supplied diamonds for ITV Joan - and a few things stood out'

A Birmingham jeweller supplied real diamonds which featured on ITV drama Joan. Goldsmith and jewellery maker Ruth Chipperfield enjoyed watching the smash hit TV show - and there were a few things which struck her.

The 34-year-old, from Hall Green, told how two of her raw and uncut pyramid-shaped diamonds were used in a classroom scene during episode four of the hit TV show. Joan - played by Game of Thrones actress Sophie Turner - is seen examining one of Ruth's 0.1 carat diamonds using a loupe.

She then declares it's 'real'. Although this was factually correct, Ruth said this scene was adapted for TV and the process to verify diamonds is more complex.

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Ruth told BirminghamLive: "I was super chuffed they used my stones. I'd been waiting and didn't know which they used until I saw it. People mentioned the diamonds Joan swallowed from the safe, but they weren't mine!"

Ruth added: "My diamonds featured in episode four when Joan is looking through a loupe in a classroom scene. It's been adapted for TV when it's said: 'There's an inclusion - that means it's real.'

"The presence of an inclusion doesn’t indicate real vs fake, although the type of inclusion can do so as part of a variety of observations, tests etc. The diamond she has is real and is seen on a tray with another one." The diamond was also examined under UV light on the show.

Ruth, who makes bespoke jewellery for clients from her city workshop, said: "Only a third of diamonds fluoresce under UV and many other gemstones also fluoresce. The stone would need to be held with tweezers under a gemstone lamp to see it properly. Also the focal distance to the loupe is also very short."

The six-part series is based on the life of notorious jewel thief Joan Hannington. Parts of the show were also filmed in and around Birmingham, including the Piccadilly Arcade. Explaining how a chance meeting led Ruth to supplying the show's production team with diamonds, she said: "I was in a jewellery tool supply shop in the Jewellery Quarter and I overheard a couple of girls talking about gemstones. I thought they might be students fairly new to the industry as the shop is opposite the Birmingham School of Jewellery.

"So I started talking to them and they said what it was for. They were in charge of the props and after some raw diamonds, so I said I could help."

Ruth said she really enjoyed the show. "Overall, I thought it was very well done," she said. "It was a brilliant show. I thought it was really cool - the glamour of it. I thought the visuals were outstanding. She (Sophie Turner) is a brilliant actress."

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