A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story (2025) is a four-part miniseries that dramatizes the life of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed in the United Kingdom. Sentenced to death for the murder of her lover, racing driver David Blakely, whom she shot dead in front of several witnesses, Ruth’s story is told in flashbacks as she readies herself for the gallows.
Starring Lucy Boynton as Ruth Ellis, Toby Jones as her solicitor John Bickford, Juliet Stevenson as the governor of the women’s prison, Toby Stephens as Ellis’ barrister during her murder trial, there is quite a bit of acting talent packed into this series. The storytelling is a bit wobbly, with the constant cutting back and forth between the events leading up to the fateful day when Ruth shot David, and the day of her execution. It reminded me of Feud: Capote vs. the Swans and how irritating it was to just be suddenly thrust into a different timeline without any warning, but at least in A Cruel Love, the timeline hopping is fairly distinctive with “the past” happening outside of prison and “the present” happening inside the prison. So, while I yearned for helpful subtitles to give me a hint where in the timeline I was in the story, I still had a relatively easy time figuring it out by costuming cues alone.
And speaking of the costumes: the costume credits on IMDB list three people, rather than the customary lead designer, which is unusual. There’s Nicky Demuth (principle costume standby), Anya Jane Magee (assistant costume designer), and Michael Weldon (costume supervisor). Digging around on Google, Emma Fryer is being credited as the costume designer for the series, so it’s a mystery as to why her name isn’t attached to the IMDB entry. At any rate, the costume team knocks it out of the park with the 1950s chic, dressing the characters in fabulous frocks and slick suits that are a treat to watch.
Have you watched A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story (2025)? Tell us about it in the comments!
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I enjoyed it but I will admit, I preferred the 1985 film version of Ellis’ story with Miranda Richardson and Rupert Everett more, even if it did have to pack the same story into a shorter runtime (movie vs miniseries), mainly because it focused more on Ellis’ life pre-murder.
Miranda Richardson was astonishing in that role, her first in a film. I worried about her sanity afterwards, given how completely she embodied Ruth. It’s a sad, sad story about two self-destructive people.
I agree with Kat, I much prefer Dance with a Stranger. Lucy Boynton is miscast as Ruth Ellis.
Totally agree that she was miscast
You can never say enough good things about Toby Jones’s work. He was in ‘The Play What I Wrote’ on Broadway, and I’ve been a huge fan ever since!
I watched this with my Mum and, despite finishing the series, neither of us got much out of it – possibly because it gave so much time and energy to what strikes me as a peculiar conspiracy theory, rather than any kind of serious character exploration.
The death sentence is ever a cruel one, but it’s extremely hard to see Ms Ellis’ case (Even in this show) as a persecution rather a prosecution: one might question the sentence, but certainly not the verdict.