BritBox Takes on 'A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story'

ITV announced it was commissioning a series on Ruth Ellis in mid-July 2023. The last woman to be executed by hanging in Britain, the real-life Ellis was a model and escort who rose to nightclub manager. Her popularity in the U.K. social scene peaked in the mid-1950s until her relationship with racing driver David Blakely ended in bloodshed and her conviction. Lucy Boynton (Why Didn't They Ask Evans?) was tapped to play the titular Ellis in the series, which at the time was under the working title of Ruth. Finally, we can update you with the new title, A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story, which will come to BritBox in 2025.

Ellis shot and killed Blakely in public, outside The Magdala public house, on Easter Sunday, April 10, 1955, when she was just 28. She turned herself over to the police immediately. Though there was ample evidence Blakey abused Ellis for years leading up to the incident, she was tried for murder, not manslaughter, found guilty by a jury after all of 20 minutes of deliberations, and sentenced to death. Her execution became the tipping point in the fight to abolish the death penalty, though it took nearly a decade before it finally passed in 1964. 

The new series is based on A Fine Day for Hanging: The Real Ruth Ellis Story by Carol Ann Lee and will argue that under today's laws, Ellis wouldn't have been tried for murder but would have been found innocent of manslaughter as well and walked out a free woman.

Here's the series synopsis:

A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story is a compelling true crime drama that tells the hidden story of Ruth Ellis and exposes the timeless British obsessions of class, sex, and death. Set in 1955 in the glamorous and intoxicating world of London club-land, Ruth found acclaim, aged 28, as the capital's youngest club manager. But her success soon unraveled as she became entwined in an abusive relationship with racing driver David Blakely. On trial for his murder, Ruth was condemned to die by a system that judged her for far more than her crime.  

Boynton will co-star alongside Toby Jones (Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office), who plays her real-life solicitor, John Bickford, who argued that Blakley's abuse was grounds for self-defense, an unusual defense at the time, considering women were still lawfully considered the property of their husbands in the 1950s. 

The series also stars Laurie Davidson (Mary & George), Mark Stanley (Game of Thrones), Joe Armstrong (Happy Valley), Arthur Darvill (World on Fire), Juliet Stevenson (Professor T), and Toby Stephens (Jane Eyre).

Kelly Jones (The Long Call) penned all four episodes, with Carol Ann Lee advising. Director Lee Haven Jones (Passenger) helmed all installments, and Angie Daniell (Vigil) produced. Jones executive produced the series as well with Kate Bartlett and Antonia Gordon for Silverprint Pictures. 

A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story will premiere with two episodes on BritBox on Thursday, February 17, 2025, and then one episode a week through the beginning of March.