ITV's ‘Ruth’ Will Spotlight Life of Last Woman Executed in Britain

The life and death of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed by hanging in Britain, will be the subject of ITV’s latest miniseries. Starring Lucy Boynton (Bohemian Rhapsody) as the titular Ellis, the four-part series, simply titled Ruth, is a period drama set in 1955. The real-life Ellis was a model, escort, and nightclub manager who had tumultuous relationships with men, peaking in popularity and her high-powered society life in the mid-1950s. The final of those relationships, with racing driver David Blakely, ended in bloodshed and her subsequent downfall.

After years of physical abuse, Ellis shot Blakely dead when she was 28. She turned herself over to the police immediately and was tried for murder, found guilty, and sentenced to death. It took the jury only twenty minutes to convict her, but her salacious case and sentence were controversial. Ultimately, her death spurred support for the abolition of the death penalty, which came almost a decade later, in 1964. Ellis has been the subject of several shows and films; both fictionalized and of the true crime variety, including 2018's The Ruth Ellis Files: A Very British Crime Story.

ITV's new series plans on weaving Ellis’s story with that of her lawyer, John Bickford, as he tries to make a case for her innocence. It is based on a biography of Ellis, A Fine Day for Hanging: The Real Ruth Ellis Story by Carol Ann Lee. Screenwriter Kelly Jones and producer Angie Daniell worked together on The Long Call, and have reunited to write and produce Ruth. Lee Haven Jones (Passenger) will direct. The show comes from executive producers Kate Bartlett and Antonia Gordon at Silverprint, which produced the long-running Vera.