'A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story' Falls Short

The real-life story of Britain's Ruth Ellis is undeniably devastating and tragic. On Easter Sunday in 1955, she murdered her lover, racecar driver David Blakely, by shooting him in the back in the middle of the street. Less than three months later, Ellis, who was only 28 years old, was sentenced to death and subsequently sentenced to hang in Holloway prison. The jury only deliberated her fate for 20 minutes. She was the last woman to be executed in Britain. 

Since Ellis' execution by the Crown, there have been books, plays, radio dramas, movies, and TV series about the infamous woman. BritBox enters the fray with the four-part series A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story, with Lucy Boyton (Why Didn't They Ask Evans?) as the title character. Wanting to leave her troubled childhood behind, Ruth forged a new life for herself, changing her accent and becoming London’s youngest night club manager. 

Popular and charming, she was the literal life of the party until she met race car driver Blakely (Laurie Davidson). A spoiled, cowardly, violent man, Blakely was physically and emotionally abusive. During the course of their two-year relationship, Ruth lost hearing in her ears, miscarried their baby, and was repeatedly covered in bruises.

Ruth’s story is notorious because she showed such a lack of remorse. She infamously said, “It is obvious that when I shot him I intended to kill him.” A Cruel Love attempts to unpack what was beneath Ruth’s seemingly cold exterior and what drove her to murder. But the series also seeks to examine the way the legal system treats women who do not conform to society’s prim and proper expectations. It falls short on both counts.

Ruth’s lawyer, John Bickford (Toby Jones), knows the rigged legal system will see his client only as an “ambitious woman,” with “no respect for class boundaries, no respect for sexual boundaries... they won’t forgive you for it.” He’s told that the defense that he should mount is that Ruth was “provoked by uncontrollable sexual jealousy.”  But he knows his client could not have acted alone and begs her to cooperate in her defense.

The other man in Ruth’s life Desmond Cussen (Mark Stanley) is seemingly better on the surface. He wants to take care of Ruth and her children and offer her a better life. But the series quickly reveals that Desmond also just wants to use Ruth and toss her aside. His role in David’s murder unspools slowly and reveals him to be a sweaty and spineless excuse for a man. Stanley, so terrific in BritBox’s Trigger Point, perfectly captures a man whose outward exterior belies a man also willing to cruelly toss Ruth aside in service of his own best interests. 

Based on the book A Fine Day for a Hanging by Carol Ann Lee, written by Kelly Jones and told via flashbacks, two things make the series particularly challenging. One is that it’s hard to understand why Ruth stayed with David. Not only was he abusive, but he was consistently involved with other women and had no intention of ever bringing Ruth fully into his life. Under his spell, Ruth abandoned everything she cared about. He refused to introduce her to his mother, and his friends were equally dastardly—particularly Carole (Bessie Carter) and Anthony (Ed Sayer) Findlater. 

“I do hope we see you again. One never knows with David. But I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you,” Carole says snarkily to Ruth after meeting her. Ruth puts much of her misplaced anger on the Findlaters, who she refers to as “malicious snobs.” “If it weren’t for them. David would still be alive,” she says. 

Davidson is certainly good-looking and possesses an innate charm. He consistently “love bombs” Ruth with romantic gestures only to break her. But A Cruel Love never really examines why Ruth loves him so. She loses her job, her daughter, her money, and her sense of self-worth because of him. Yet she keeps coming back for more. Ruth sadly isn’t the first and certainly won’t be the last woman to find herself in an abusive, dysfunctional relationship that she’s unable to leave. However, the series fails to help viewers understand the “why” behind Ruth’s actions. From prison, she writes David’s parents a letter that says, “I shall die loving your son.” She constantly made excuses for him. (“I bruise very easily,” she says when asked about the injuries David inflicts on her.) Why would she give up so much for a man who was so truly and completely awful? 

The second issue is in Ruth herself. She was notoriously unemotional with a hard exterior. It’s one A Cruel Love fails to crack. After four episodes, viewers will not feel like they know Ruth better. That’s not to say Boyton doesn’t give an outstanding performance, but she keeps viewers’ understanding of Ruth on the surface. A character certainly doesn’t have to be likable, but to sustain a four-episode series, they do have to have some depth. Delusional to the end—“I want to look my best for David,” she tells her guard—viewers will leave the series not feeling like they know Ruth any better.

One is forced to turn to the Internet for some background information needed to appreciate what Ruth is up against. Ruth's sister Muriel alleged that their father sexually abused them both. The series only makes a passing reference to this. Muriel tells Ruth she doesn’t have to ask why Ruth stays with David. “I don’t have to ask that, not after dad...  you’ve never known any different. Don’t think you deserve any different.” 

By the time Ruth realizes she doesn’t want to die, it is too late. The character who garners the most understanding is John Bickford, who is tortured by the fact that he cannot convince Ruth to defend herself. “Every step of the way, you made it harder and harder for me to help save your life, and I never understood why.” Viewers won’t either. 

A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story premieres with two episodes on Monday, February 17, 2025, followed by one episode a week on Mondays until the finale on March 3.