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It’s no secret that Ruth Ellis, portrayed by Lucy Boynton in the gripping new four-part crime series A Cruel Love, met her end by hanging on July 13, 1955. Ruth Ellis was a real-life figure who committed a notorious crime: she fatally shot her lover, David Blakely, played by Laurie Davidson, on Easter Sunday of that fateful year. But what drove this nightclub hostess to commit such a shocking act?
This haunting question is at the heart of A Cruel Love, a compelling true-crime drama available on BritBox. The series delves into Ruth’s motives for killing David, the sensational trial that transfixed the nation, and her subsequent execution—the last of a woman in the United Kingdom. The show offers a nuanced exploration of the events leading up to this tragic climax.
While Ruth Ellis’s story has been depicted before, most notably in the 1985 film Dance with a Stranger, it has never been as engrossing or meticulously detailed as in this latest adaptation. Lucy Boynton delivers a standout performance as Ellis, a woman constrained by limited choices and societal pressures. The series vividly captures an era when scandal could devastate lives and a crime of passion could enthrall a public still innocent to such drama.