Helen Archer | On 08, Apr 2025

The story of Ruth Ellis – the last woman to be hanged in Britain, after being found guilty of the murder of her erstwhile lover David Blakely in 1955 – has been told endlessly in the 70 years since her death. Most notably in Mike Newall’s 1985 film, written by Shelagh Delaney, and starring Miranda Richardson, Rupert Everett and Ian Holm, but also in the book that ITV’s adaptation credits, A Fine Day for Hanging: The Real Ruth Ellis Story, by Carol Ann Lee. It is easy to see why Ruth’s name endures – not only did her execution become a centrepiece of the national debate regarding the abolition of the death penalty, it also pointed to the misogyny and classism at the heart of the British judicial system.

This four-part series, written by Kelly Jones and directed by Lee Haven Jones, paints a portrait of a proud, yet privately vulnerable woman, whose history of abuse makes her susceptible to all kinds of predators, who surround her like men guarding a field. Lucy Boynton plays the part with a fearlessness masking her fragility, and is joined by the types of performances you’d expect from a who’s who of British television talent, including Toby Jones as her weak yet empathetic solicitor John Bickford, Laurie Davidson as the classic abuser David Blakely, and the seemingly ubiquitous Mark Stanley playing against type as Ruth’s increasingly sinister suitor, Desmond Cussen. In a crafty bit of casting, Nigel Havers plays his own grandfather, Sir Cecil Havers, the high court judge who heard Ruth’s case and passed her sentence.

Although many viewers will know how all this pans out, the series is structured in such a way that it doesn’t reveal the whole story until the final episode. Jumping backwards and forwards in time, beginning with Ruth’s final cup of tea before facing her execution, it flashes back to her arrest and her stubborn refusal to help herself – or her solicitor – put forward any kind of defence or mitigating factors, before flashing back further, to her first encounters with Blakely.

In this way, we get not only three separate timelines, but also three versions of Ruth. On meeting Blakely, she was at the top of her game – newly appointed to manage a London club (and proud of her title as the youngest club manager in London), living a nice apartment above the premises with her son and daughter, having separated from her current husband. Cussen was lurking in the background, trying and failing to woo her with flowers and the promise of a settled yet stifling future, so that when the flashily handsome racing driver appears, he provides the excitement she is craving. The honeymoon period doesn’t last long, though – slowly but surely, Blakely’s physical and mental abuse worsens, and so, too, does Ruth’s self esteem, not helped by his shark-like circle of upper class friends.

Her arrest sees a clearly traumatised Ruth, who cares little for her fate until her discussions with her her solicitor gives her an eleventh hour feeling of clarity, as she gradually reveals the truth of her relationship, her history, and her psyche. It is a clever structure that allows the viewer to go through these emotions with her, even hoping for some last-minute reprieve, despite knowing the inevitable conclusion.

In truth – as Bickford admits – there was never a way out for Ruth. Britain’s repressive class system, in all its guises, conspired against her, sealing her fate regardless of the quality of her legal representation, or her own will to live. The cards were stacked against her in every possible way, and the game, in the end, is rigged. Ruth story resonates seven decades later because, though much has changed, some things remain eternally true.

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