It’s been seven decades since Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in the UK, met her fate. Now, actress Lucy Boynton feels it’s high time to delve back into her story with the drama series A Cruel Love. “I’m so grateful to this series because I think it’s the first time that we do really examine her story with a contemporary lens, what led to this being allowed to happen in broad daylight when even in 1955 it was a tremendous miscarriage of justice,” she shares. Lucy, known for her role in Bohemian Rhapsody, steps into Ruth’s shoes in the new series. The plot centres on Ruth, a 28 year old London nightclub manager, as she gets entangled in a fiery yet toxic relationship with racing driver David Blakely, played by Laurie Davidson. Their love story, marred by what is now identified as domestic violence, culminated in tragedy when Ruth fatally shot David outside a Hampstead pub in April 1955, leading to her immediate arrest and subsequent trial for his murder.
Lucy Boynton stars as Ruth Ellis
(Image: ITV)
Describing their volatile relationship, Lucy says, “It was such a tumultuous relationship, but they couldn’t stay away from each other,” She adds, “Within weeks of meeting they were already living together. They seemed to be magnetised to each other. It’s hard for us on the outside to understand it but it was clearly intoxicating. And then it quickly turned very sour. He was very jealous, yet also unfaithful. He would promise her marriage, then disappear for days or weeks, telling all his friends they weren’t together anymore, then would return to her begging her to take him back.” The series also delves into Ruth’s trial, where the jury took a mere 20 minutes to find her guilty of murder. Lucy admits that filming the court scenes was particularly challenging. “The days I filmed in court were very intense because for legal reasons and for accuracy, all dialogue is verbatim from the court transcripts. So we got a totally vivid experience of what that trial was like. How frustrating it was to sit through the misinformation and misrepresentation of Ruth’s experience. Because David Blakely was a member of the upper class it was deemed inappropriate to talk about his ugly behaviour, so none of the physical and emotional abuse he inflicted was mentioned, and therefore the case was entirely imbalanced and Ruth misrepresented.”
The real Ruth Ellis with boyfriend David Blakely
(Image: Mirrorpix via Getty Images)
Lucy adds: “It was an incredibly intense shoot,” and confesses that “the scenes of domestic violence were also hard to let go of when we wrapped.” Sharing the screen with Lucy during these courtroom sequences is seasoned actor Nigel Havers, who portrays his real-life grandfather, Justice Cecil Havers, the judge at Ruth’s trial. Executive producer Kate Bartlett shares that they approached Nigel about the role but weren’t certain he’d accept. “We had lots of conversations going, ‘Oh, do you think he might?’ And he leapt at it,” she reveals. “We couldn’t quite believe it. So it was just amazing that he was playing his grandfather, it was extraordinary.” Director Lee Haven Jones shares some insights from Nigel: “Apparently his grandfather used to write all the time, he’d constantly be taking notes, and he liked to bet on the horses as well. So there were all of these little details and while we didn’t include all of them, it was nice to know that the role was imbued with a sense of authenticity.”
A Cruel Love tells the story of Ruth and David’s tragic affair
Ruth’s tale has been brought to life on screen before, notably in the critically acclaimed 1985 film Dance With A Stranger, featuring Miranda Richardson and Rupert Everett. However, A Cruel Love marks the first time Ruth’s family has participated in a production about her. Kate recalls, “A few years ago I got an email totally out of the blue from one of her grandsons saying her true story had never been told,” adding, “That’s the kind of email you get and you’re immediately fascinated.” “I then read Carol Ann Lee’s incredibly researched book [A Fine Day For Hanging: The Real Ruth Ellis Story] and uncovered all this incredible hidden history that we didn’t know about Ruth Ellis and the story that we’re now telling on screen.” Screenwriter Kelly Jones wanted to highlight a particular moment that demonstrated Ruth’s courage leading up to her execution by hangman Albert Pierrepoint on 13 July 1955. Kelly explains, “In the first episode there is a detail where the nurse brings her in sedative just before she’s about to be executed, and she refuses it, which actually happened,” adding, “They really wanted her to take it for obvious reasons. She chose not to, as she wanted to remain clear-headed. I believe this speaks volumes about Ruth’s personality – she desired clarity and demonstrated immense courage during her experience.” “Albert Pierrepoint said that she was the bravest person he’d ever executed, which is quite an incredible thing. He had quite a long and storied career hanging people, and she was the bravest.” A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story begins on Sunday 2 March at 9pm on ITV1
