Nigel Havers' 'haunting' real-life link to A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story

Yahoo

03-03-2025

ITV's new true crime drama A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story is set to be a harrowing watch for many viewers, but it had particular significance for one of its stars.
Nigel Havers appears in the courtroom scenes as the judge who had to sentence Ellis to death after a jury returned a guilt verdict, but he has a real-life link to the case as he plays his own grandfather, Justice Cecil Havers, who presided over the trial.
The four-part series follows the story of how Ruth Ellis moved from a successful career as London's youngest nightclub manager to becoming the last woman hanged in the UK aged just 28, after shooting her lover David Blakely dead in 1955.
A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story tells the heartbreaking true tale of the last woman hanged in Britain. Based on true events, this gripping four-part drama series, starring Lucy Boynton and Toby Jones, is coming soon to ITV and ITVX. pic.twitter.com/zBLzuGYyOD
— ITV (@ITV) February 17, 2025
Ellis had been subjected to horrific violent and psychological abuse by wealthy racing driver Blakely, who had caused her to have a miscarriage after one severe beating weeks before his death. She tracked Blakely down to a pub in Hampstead and shot at him five times in the street, killing him.
Despite her suffering in the relationship, Ellis refused to paint herself as a victim during the trial which was plagued by misogyny and classism, and saw the jury find her guilty after just 14 minutes of deliberation and one day in court. It led to huge changes in the UK justice system with the end of capital punishment and diminished responsibility becoming a defence.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast about his family link to the drama, Havers said of his grandfather: "I adored him, he was the most charming man and very liberal and easy-going, and not scary in any sense. But looking at him as a judge, he looks quite scary."
Host Naga Munchetty asked the actor whether he had ever spoken to his grandfather about the landmark case and he replied: "I did, and he told me and everyone that he tried to make Ruth Ellis say to the jury, 'the man was so cruel to me that in self defence I shot him'. But she kept saying, 'no no, I knew what I was doing' and my grandfather would say, 'let's start again. He bullied you, he harassed you, so obviously you had to in self defence.' 'No, no, I wanted to shoot him.'
"Whatever he said, she wouldn't go down that road. So his hands were tied, because whatever happened, if you murdered someone in those days, you were hanged."
Talking about how the sentence could weigh on a judge's conscience, he added: "This is one of the many reasons we don't still do this, because the atmosphere in the court is so extraordinary, because if you're found guilty, that is the end of you. Thank heavens we don't do that now. But when we filmed that scene in court, the atmosphere was extraordinary."
He said of the emotional experience of filming: "I burst into tears [after filming]. I felt very sorry for my grandfather because he was extremely upset. He wrote a letter to the home secretary at the time and said this woman must not be hanged and the home secretary ignored it."
Despite handing Ellis her death sentence, Justice Havers had been keen to see her spared execution and had even campaigned on her behalf, as Havers revealed.
Lucy Boynton, who stars as Ellis in the drama, told This Morning how poignant it had been to have Havers as part of the cast.
She said: "It was haunting. I think people want to feel this is safely tucked away as a period piece and that we're very different now, but I think having someone on set whose close relative was there and was at the helm of it was very grounding and very haunting.
"Apparently, his grandfather was advocating for Ruth and was writing to politicians to argue that she shouldn't be hanged, so there are some people on the right side of history."
Ellis's grandson Stephen Beard has called for her to get a posthumous pardon for the murder conviction and Havers agreed in his BBC interview that he would back a campaign for her pardon.
He said: "I love that. Of course I would (agree), that would be my choice, too. I would love that to happen."
In 2010, the actor had spoken to the BBC about his grandfather having written to the home secretary recommending a reprieve for Ellis, but had been refused. He also told how Justice Havers went on to send money every year for the upkeep of Ellis's son.
Justice Havers, who had been appointed a High Court judge in 1951, retired as a judge in 1967 and died in 1977.
Havers might seem like the obvious actor for the role of his grandfather, but as he wasn't involved in developing the drama to begin with, show bosses had to ask whether he would want to take part.
Luckily, they found that he jumped at the chance, as executive producer Kate Bartlett explained.
According to OK!, she said that she was surprised to find he was keen to take on the role: "We had lots of conversations going, 'Oh, do you think he might? ' And he leapt at it. We couldn't quite believe it. So it was just amazing that he was playing his grandfather, it was extraordinary."
Director Lee Haven Jones added: "He was full of little observations about what his grandfather would do. Apparently his grandfather used to write all the time, he'd constantly be taking notes, and he liked to bet on the horses as well. So there were all of these little details and while we didn't include all of them, it was nice to know that the role was imbued with a sense of authenticity."
A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story begins on ITV1 at 9pm on Wednesday.