The Tragic Tale of Ruth Ellis – The Last Woman Hanged in Britain
The story of Ruth Ellis is one that lingers in British history—a tale of love, violence, and a justice system that showed no mercy. The new ITV drama, A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story , brings this heartbreaking case to life, with Lucy Boynton delivering a powerful performance as Ellis, the last woman to be executed in the UK.
Ruth Ellis was just 28 years old when she was sentenced to death for the murder of her lover, David Blakely, in 1955. The drama opens on the day of her execution, setting an ominous tone from the start. It then rewinds, taking us through the events that led to her tragic fate.
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Ellis was a nightclub manager in London, moving in glamorous circles but trapped in a dangerous world. Her relationship with Blakely, a racing driver from a wealthier background, was toxic and abusive. He was unfaithful, violent, and cruel, yet Ellis found herself drawn back to him time and again. The show does not shy away from depicting the brutal reality of their relationship, making it clear that Ellis was a woman suffering in silence.
On the night of April 10, 1955, after yet another violent confrontation, Ellis shot Blakely outside the Magdala pub in Hampstead. There was no attempt to deny her guilt—she confessed immediately. But what followed was a trial that lacked compassion. With no real discussion of the abuse she had endured, the jury, made up entirely of men, sentenced her to death. At the time, the law had no provisions for diminished responsibility, and her sentence stood. Just three months later, on July 13, 1955, Ruth Ellis was hanged.
The drama captures the suffocating atmosphere of Ellis’s world—her desperation, the societal judgment she faced, and the heartbreaking inevitability of her fate. Toby Jones plays her lawyer, John Bickford, who appears overwhelmed by the case, unable to save her. Meanwhile, Mark Stanley portrays Desmond Cussen, another man in Ellis’s life whose own dark role in the tragedy went unpunished.
What makes A Cruel Love so gripping is that it doesn’t just tell a crime story—it forces us to examine how class, gender, and justice intersect. The British legal system has changed since Ellis’s execution, but watching her story unfold, you can’t help but wonder: if this had happened today, would Ruth Ellis have been treated differently?
This is a drama that stays with you. It is unsettling, thought-provoking, and undeniably tragic—a story that reminds us how easily a life can spiral out of control, and how, sometimes, justice fails those who need it most.
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