TV Pick of the Week: Cruel Love The Ruth Ellis Story - review by Yvette Huddleston

Ellis was just 28 years old when she was executed at Holloway Prison on 13th July 1955 for the murder of her lover David Blakely who she shot dead in the street outside the Magdala pub in Hampstead on Easter Sunday, April 10th. Ellis and Blakely had been involved in a tempestuous on-off relationship and the narrative of the drama intercuts between Ellis awaiting her fate in Holloway Prison, on trial at the Old Bailey and flashbacks to the events leading up to the killing.

Lucy Boynton gives a very fine, nuanced performance as Ellis, a complex, troubled woman who has already packed a lot into her young life. She has two children – a ten-year-old son from a past relationship and a toddler daughter from her failed marriage to a violent man. Ellis is very good at her job as the manager of a nightclub in Knightsbridge that caters for the wealthy and privileged. It is here that she meets Blakely (Laurie Davidson), a rich, spoilt playboy racing driver. They quickly become involved and before long Blakely has moved in to her flat – but it is a troubled relationship and from the outset, Blakely is violent and controlling. Watching on is Desmond Cussen (Mark Stanley), a former lover jealously obsessed with Ellis. He proves to be a key figure in her downfall.

As the sad story unfolds it becomes apparent that Ellis, despite the fact that Blakely’s persistent violent behaviour provides clear evidence of provocation, is being judged as much for who she is as for what she has done. Her frustrated solicitor John Bickford (Toby Jones, excellent as always) also feels she is not helping herself by admitting her guilt and refusing to implicate Cussen who, it transpires, gave her the gun, taught her how to use it and drove her to the murder scene. This is a powerful retelling of the case, that avoids the sensationalism and focuses on the human tragedy at its centre.