A new true-crime drama explores the life – and death – of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed in the UK.
With a stellar cast including Lucy Boynton, Toby Jones and Nigel Havers, A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story reveals facts about the case that have remained secret for decades.
Here’s the lowdown on the facts behind ITV drama A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story.
What is ITV’s A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story?
Born in Wales in 1926, Ellis was the fifth of six children to her parents Arthur and Berta. In her early years, the family moved to Basingstoke in Hampshire where Ellis attended school and lived her teenage years.
Ellis moved to London in 1941 during the height of World War Two, it was here that a 17-year-old Ellis fell pregnant by a Canadian soldier stationed in the UK. The soldier had a wife back in Canada and abandoned Ellis and their child, Andy.
Ruth worked as a hostess in London clubs, where she met dentist George Ellis, whom she married in 1950 and they welcomed a daughter, Georgina, but the relationship was volatile and abusive, leading to divorce.
Ellis started working in London’s nightclubs as a hostess and eventually rose to become manager of the Little Club in Knightsbridge. It was here that Ellis met racing car driver David Blakely, and the pair soon fell in love.
Why was Ruth Ellis hanged?
The fairy-tale romance didn’t last long, with Ellis and Blakely’s relationship turning abusive, with claims of adultery on both sides. Shortly before the murder, Ellis suffered a miscarriage after Blakely punched her in the stomach.
On April 10, 1955, Ellis tracked Blakely down to a local pub and when he left the venue, she took out a revolver and fired shots at him. Blakely was pronounced dead at the scene, having sustained four gunshot wounds and multiple injuries to his intestines, liver, lung, aorta and trachea.
Ellis was arrested on the scene and put up no argument in the ensuing trial, telling the jury: ‘It’s obvious when I shot him I intended to kill him.’ It took just 20 minutes for the jury to convict her and for the death sentence to be delivered.
Where was Ruth Ellis buried?
Ellis was executed just after 9am on July 13, 1955 at Holloway Prison. The hangman was Albert Pierrepoint, one of the most prolific executioners in British history, having executed up to 600 people in his career.
As customary in British executions, Ellis was buried in an unmarked grave within the walls of Holloway Prison. In the 1970s, the remains of executed women were exhumed for reburial elsewhere. Ellis reburied in Amersham, Buckinghamshire.
Capital punishment for murder in the UK was abolished in 1965, but remained a possibility for treason until 1998. The death penalty has since been formally opposed in all circumstances.
Is this similar to the 1980s movie about Ruth Ellis?
For such a momentous moment in British history of justice, there has been relatively few retellings of Ellis’ story to make it to screens.
In 1985, Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral) directed Dance with a Stranger, starring Miranda Richardson (Sleepy Hollow) as Ruth Ellis alongside Rupert Everett, Ian Holm and Lesley Manville, and performed well at the box office.
However, A Cruel Love’s executive producer Kate Bartlett claims the ’80s movie wasn’t an influence on the new series. ‘I think, while Miranda Richardson was amazing in it, it was a slightly more male view of the story, in terms of the writers, the directors - and she was seen as slightly more hysterical,’ she commented.
‘And I think that’s what we’ve really tried to show: Ruth as she was, the person she was, what caused her to do what she did, and who she was as a woman.’
One major difference between the two is that Dance with a Stranger ends at the moment Ellis fatally shoots Blakely, whereas the new ITV series continues to portray the moments from arrest to execution.
How to watch A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story?
The drama kicks off on ITV at 9pm on Wednesday, March 5, with more episodes airing at the same time over the next three weeks. The finale is expected to air on Wednesday, March 26.
All four episodes are available to stream on ITVX now.
US audiences can binge the series on BritBox now.
Check out the trailer below for a glimpse of the drama.