| A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Historical drama |
| Based on | A Fine Day For Hanging: The Real Ruth Ellis Story by Carol Ann Lee |
| Screenplay by | Kelly Jones |
| Directed by | Lee Haven Jones |
| Starring | |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 4 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer |
|
| Producer | Angie Daniell |
| Editor | David Fisher |
| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | ITVX BritBox |
| Release | 17 February 2025 (United States) 5 March 2025 (United Kingdom) |
A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story, [1] [2] originally titled Ruth, [3] [4] is a four-part British historical drama television series for ITV, starring Lucy Boynton as Ruth Ellis, the last woman hanged in Britain, and Toby Jones as her solicitor John Bickford. It was released in the United States on BritBox in on 17 February 2025.
Ellis was the last woman to be hanged in the United Kingdom after the fatal shooting of her abusive lover. [5]
The project was produced by Silverprint Pictures for ITVX and is based on Carol Ann Lee's biography A Fine Day For Hanging: The Real Ruth Ellis Story; according to Silverprint creative director Kate Bartlett, the series came to be when she was told about the book's existence by one of Ellis' grandsons. [10] The script was written by Kelly Jones with Angie Daniell producing the series and Lee Haven Jones directing all four episodes. [3]
The series was originally entitled Ruth, [3] [4] but on 19 February 2024, ITV announced the series' retitling to A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story and released a first-look image of Lucy Boynton in character as Ellis. [1] [2]
In June 2023, Lucy Boynton was cast as Ruth Ellis. [3] [4] In September 2023 it was revealed the cast would also include Toby Jones, Laurie Davidson, Mark Stanley, Joe Armstrong, Arthur Darvill, Juliet Stevenson and Toby Stephens. [5] [8]
Studio filming took place at Troubadour Meridian Water Studios in September 2023. Location filming took place in October 2023, with scenes being shot in or around the Magdala Tavern and the former magistrates court in Hampstead where the real Ruth Ellis was arraigned. [11] Scenes taking place in HMP Holloway were filmed at the Historic Dockyard Chatham in Kent (representing the entrance) [12] and Dorchester Prison (representing the rest of the prison). [13] [11] Scenes taking place in the Old Bailey were mostly filmed in a reconstruction of its interiors at University College School (again in Hampstead), though the real interior does appear in some scenes. [11]
Courtroom scenes were filmed in accordance with the original trial documents; while this verbatim recital of the transcripts was a legal requirement rather than a deliberate creative decision, both Bartlett and Boynton felt that it still served to enhance the factual accuracy and the emotional aspect of the series. [10] [14]
The series was first released via the BritBox service, with the first two episodes being released on 17 February 2025 and the remaining two episodes being released on subsequent Mondays. [15] The series then began airing weekly on ITV1 from 5 March 2025, [16] [6] with a streaming release on ITVX happening concurrently. [17] [6]