With its heady mix of romance, villainy and a quest for a diamond that once belonged to Blackbeard, new Sky One drama Moonfleet is the quintessential swashbuckling tale. Starring Ray Winstone as loveable rogue Elzevir, the drama also introduces newcomer Sophie Cookson as the beautiful Grace Mohune who gets an unexpectedly personal look at the world of smuggling when she falls for Elzevir's protegee John Trenchard (Aneurin Barnard). But while Grace is fictional, the women who inhabited the often-terrifying world of 18th century smuggling gangs were not - and frequently, they were just as frightening as the men. Smuggler's tale: Grace (Sophie Cookson, right) gets involved with Elzevir (Ray Winstone) and crime
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Like Moonfleet's Grace Mohune, women became involved with smugglers
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Most didn't get a happy ending and finished their adventures in prison
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Some even turned to piracy, among them Englishwoman Mary Read
@placeholder is on Sky One, tomorrow and Sunday night, at 8pm