Latest news with #RuthEllis
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The true story of Ruth Ellis and why she was Britain's last woman to be hanged
ITV's latest drama series based on a true story will be arriving on the channel soon, chronicling part of the life of Ruth Ellis. A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story will begin airing on Wednesday, March 5 about a significant point in British history. Ellis became the last woman to be hanged in the UK in 1955 after she fatally shot her abusive boyfriend David Blakely. The series will explore the events that led to the shooting and her subsequent legal fight. 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. — ITV (@ITV) February 17, 2025 Lucy Boynton stars as Ruth Ellis with other cast members in the series including Toby Jones, Laurie Davidson, Arthur Darvill and Juliet Stevenson. Some viewers may not be aware of Ruth Ellis's story so here's all you need to know. Ruth Ellis was born Ruth Neilson on October 9, 1926, in the town of Rhyl in Wales, and was the fifth of six children to Bertha Goethals and Arthur Hornby. She moved to Basingstoke with her family during her childhood with her upbringing being blighted by sexual abuse at the hands of her father. Ruth left school when she was 14 and in 1941 she befriended Edna Turvey, the girlfriend of her older brother Julian, who was on leave from service in the Royal Navy. The Standard reports that Edna introduced her to "a racy life of alcohol and men" and a few years later she found herself pregnant at the age of 17. It adds: "The father was a married Canadian soldier, Clare Andrea McCallum – and while she kept the baby (whom she called Clare Andria, or Andy) – the relationship didn't survive and Ruth found herself working factory jobs to support herself and her son." Towards the end of the 1940s, Ruth was partaking in sex work, starting with nude modelling, before becoming a nightclub hostess in Hampstead. The captivating #LucyBoynton stars in intoxicating new drama, A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story. Set in 1955 in the glamorous world of London clubland, this series exposes the timeless British obsessions of class, sex and death. Coming soon to #ITV and #ITVX. — ITV (@ITV) February 19, 2024 By early 1950, Ruth was making money as a full-service escort and in November of that year married George Johnston Ellis, a 41-year-old divorced dentist. George was an alcoholic and the relationship became violent with George being convinced that Ruth was cheating on him. When their daughter Georgina was born in 1951, he refused to acknowledge her as his own, with the pair splitting up shortly after. Ruth returned to sex work but by 1953 she had started working at the Little Club, a Knightsbridge hotspot. The Standard adds: "A driven Ruth took elocution and etiquette classes, and soon found herself promoted to manager – making her one of the youngest women to do so at 27. "The job came with money, celebrity friends and status, and this was where Ellis met David Blakely, the man she would ultimately kill." Blakely was a racing driver and after only a few weeks of knowing Ruth moved into her flat despite being engaged to another woman. Ruth also began seeing another man: Desmond Cussen, a former RAF pilot turned accountant. Sacked from the Little Club after her behaviour went downhill, Ruth left her flat and moved into Cussen's house near Oxford Street, but continued to see Blakely. However, the pair struggled to reconcile their own relationship and began seeing other people. The relationship became violent, with Blakely often attacking Ruth after he had been drinking. The Standard adds: "This culminated in an incident in January, 1955, where he punched Ruth in the stomach so hard that she miscarried." A few months later Ruth shot Blakely outside the Magdala Tavern in Hampstead where she was quickly arrested. The Radio Times adds: "Aged 28, she killed her lover, 25-year-old David Blakely, on 10th April 1955 in front of the Magdala Tavern in Hampstead, London. She was immediately arrested, and the jury took just over 20 minutes to reach a guilty verdict." When the murder verdict was passed and Ruth sentenced, there was a public outcry and almost immediately, calls for a reprieve began. Recommended reading: What happened to Delia Balmer and John Sweeney and where are they now? Who is Chloe Ayling and what happened to her amid her kidnapping incident? Everything to know on ITV's The Bay Series 5 starring Marsha Thomason Despite calls for a reprieve the decision was not reversed and Ruth was hanged in Holloway Prison on July 13, 1955. She was buried in an unmarked grave on the grounds of the prison but later reburied at St Mary's Church in Amersham, Buckinghamshire. The Standard reports: "Ruth's death had a profound effect on the way the British public, and the rest of the world, saw the death penalty." The death penalty itself was halted in 1965, with the last execution occurring in 1964. A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story begins on ITV1 and ITVX on at 9pm Wednesday, March 5.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Nigel Havers' 'haunting' real-life link to A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story
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. — 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.
Telegraph
20-02-2025
- Telegraph
‘Being Ruth Ellis's granddaughter had no impact on who I am today… or so I thought'
As the granddaughter of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to hang in Britain, life was never going to be straightforward. What happened on Easter Sunday in 1955, when Ruth, a former nightclub manager, tracked down her unfaithful and abusive lover, the motor-racing driver David Blakely, to a pub in Hampstead where she shot and killed him, has defined our family. Ruth was found guilty of premeditated murder by a jury in just 20 minutes, and was sentenced to death and hanged at Holloway Prison 13 weeks after the crime. It set in play a cruel chain of events. My grandfather, Ruth's first husband, George Ellis, a dentist with an alcohol problem, hanged himself three years after Ruth's execution. In 1969, Ruth's mother, Bertha Neilson, was found unconscious in a gas-filled room; she never fully recovered. My mother, Georgina Ellis, Ruth's daughter, was three years old and living with an adoptive family when her mother was hanged. She led a chaotic life thanks to her childhood; she could not be the mother that my siblings and I needed, drank heavily later in life and died of cancer aged 50. Her older brother Andy, my uncle, who was 10 when Ruth was hanged, died by suicide, aged 37. I was convinced that I had been unaffected by the Ruth Ellis association. I managed to excel at school, graduate from university, complete a master's in my 40s and have a successful career in marketing. Being Ruth's granddaughter had no impact on the person I am today or on my mental health. Or so I thought until it caught up with me. Moving my family to Toronto, Canada, shortly before the Covid-19 lockdown gave me the opportunity to reflect. I realised I was ready to delve into my past; after 40 years, I had grown tired of hiding from it. Through the help of podcasts and books, I realised how my childhood had defined who I am. It was time for me to confront it with the help of self-discovery and professional therapy. This has happened to me at a serendipitous time, for Ruth's story is to resurface with a new ITV drama, A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story, with Lucy Boynton as Ruth, based on Carol Ann Lee's meticulously researched book, A Fine Day for a Hanging. There have been about 20 books published about my grandmother, many with their own agendas. This narrative is different, portraying Ruth as a trailblazer in life and death. She was a single parent with two children, running a thriving business, becoming London's youngest nightclub manager. She was a modern woman living in a time when convictions were punished with medieval practices. The war triggered a shift in society; the British judicial system was slow to keep up. It wasn't ready for Ruth Ellis. For the first time in 70 years, Ruth has been portrayed on screen as the woman she was, and I have become proud of my grandmother. The first time I became aware of my connection to Ruth Ellis, I was seven. I don't have many childhood memories – I have learnt that this is not unusual when you have experienced childhood trauma. I do remember that my mother made me watch Dance With a Stranger – Mike Newell's 1985 film, starring Miranda Richardson as Ruth – with my brother James, who was five, and sister Emma, six. It was inappropriate for children our age by any measure, but my mother was giddy with excitement as she invited us to the 'best' room in our family home in Manchester to watch it on the VHS player. I remember not understanding what I was seeing – lots of sex, violence and the murder – but I do recall that being the moment I decided I wanted nothing more to do with Ruth's story. This was easier said than done. At that time, my mother, known as Georgie, a model and socialite, lived and breathed the connection; it defined her. She was regularly in the press. Thanks to her looks, intelligence and relationships with high-profile celebrities, including the footballer George Best and the actor Richard Harris, this appeared relatively easy. The way she conducted herself was the root cause of our fraught relationship. Her PR strategy was clear: to draw as many parallels as possible between her life and Ruth's. Up until 1975, Mum had managed to keep her identity out of the newspapers. In March of that year, aged 23, she appeared on the front of the News of the World, styled to look like Ruth. This coverage was her first taste of the publicity she could get from adopting a 'like mother, like daughter' persona. As Georgina's eldest daughter, I was determined not to go down the same route. Someone said to me, 'Don't let it define you' – a complex concept for a child. I thought the best way was to pretend it never happened. Primary school was tricky. My parents divorced when I was eight, and eventually my father, Eric Enston, was granted full custody of me and my two siblings. As we had been one family unit during my early years, everyone at school knew the connection. I was reminded in the playground that my grandmother was a 'murderer' and a 'prostitute'. Upon reflection, my grievance wasn't necessarily with the Ruth association, but I knew Ruth and my mother went hand in hand. If I was open about my connection to Ruth, this linked me to my mother, and I didn't want to be associated with her behaviour. I was petrified of being tarred with the same brush. As I've learnt more about Ruth's character, I think back to the times when I saw similar traits in my mother. Like Ruth, Mum had a blind infatuation: with the property developer David Beard, her partner following her break-up with my father. Her David had the same initials as David Blakely, the man Ruth shot. My mother's relationship with David, whom she never married, was passionate but volatile and led to some questionable parenting decisions. Like Ruth, her attachment to my stepfather overrode other emotional connections. This capriciousness was one of the reasons she didn't have custody of her six children (my father was her third husband). My older half-brother, Scott, had been sent away to live with relatives. The outcome of my parents' custody battle for Emma, James and I was decided following one of these parenting moments. One night – when I was eight, James six, and Emma seven – my mother got us out of bed and drove us into Manchester city centre. She was looking for David, who wasn't returning her calls. Mum drove us to Bavardarge, a popular Manchester nightclub, and parked nearby. She left me and my siblings in the car and disappeared to find him. While waiting anxiously for my mother to return, Emma announced she was desperate for the toilet. I looked down the street and saw some construction workers and what looked like a site office with a light on. I got James and Emma out of the car, walked towards the office and asked if my sister could use their loo. The next thing I remember is being sat back in Mum's car, talking to police officers and describing what my mother looked like and was wearing. The police officers went into the club but couldn't find her. My next memory is of waking up in the staff room of a police station, my head resting on the lap of a female police officer. When I looked across the room, I could see my little brother sitting on a pool table and a police officer showing him how to use a cue. My final memory of that night is waking up in the back of my father Eric's car. Soon after that incident, my father was awarded custody, and my mother was granted weekend access, alternating between long and short weekend visits. This started as a consistent arrangement, but the long weekends quickly became fewer and farther between, based on my mother's social commitments. Being let down by my mother became my norm. As a teenager, my attitude towards her came from a place of increasing frustration. I was annoyed about the opportunities she had and the path she chose to follow. We lived in Didsbury in South Manchester, home to television presenters, producers and sports personalities. She knew everyone, and everyone knew her. Parents of children at my school included Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan, and Tony Wilson of Factory Records. I remember having lunches with Manchester City footballers. My mother was beautiful, witty, sharp, well spoken and charismatic. She also had financial backing; my grandparents, her adopted parents, had set her up with a shop in Manchester called Georgie Girl. In my mind, she had it all. Despite her positive attributes, my mother homed in on the sordid side of Ruth's life, using it to justify her behaviour – 'mirror image' was another phrase both she and the press would use. In 1997, The Independent interviewed my mother. The journalist wrote, 'It is sometimes hard to know where Ruth ends and Georgie begins,' an accurate observation. Ruth had been running a business as a single parent when she met David Blakely. Yet rather than focus on Ruth's achievements, Mum opted to revel in the fact that Ruth had occasionally turned to prostitution. I now know this played a much smaller role in Ruth's life compared with the image my mother had painted. One weekend, I visited my mother, who was living with my stepfather David and their two young children. I was 13. It was a Saturday, and that evening, when my dad called to pick us up, my brother and I decided to stay at Mum's. I don't remember the lead-up, but David and Mum had an explosive argument. It escalated into a violent exchange initiated by my mother, with me trying to break up the fight while my distressed siblings watched on. Scared, I ran to the neighbours' and banged on the door, but when it opened, I couldn't get my words out; the panic and fear had rendered me speechless. The neighbour offered me a brandy, asking if I was the au pair. The next thing I remember is the police arriving. I consciously decided not to tell my father; I was worried he would put a stop to my mother's weekend access. What I really craved was one-on-one time with my mother. My stepfather also had weekend access to his three children from his previous marriage, so when both sets of kids came together, the weekends were chaotic. When their relationship ended in 1994, when I was 14, she suggested we go on a girls' trip to London. We would go shopping, meet her 'friend George' for lunch and have fun. I hadn't been to London before, so I was excited to see the city and spend quality time with her. We arrived at the pub to meet George, who turned out to be the footballer George Best. As we arrived, he was sitting alone at the bar, enjoying a pint. Mum made a beeline for him, and I realised this wasn't an organised arrangement. Mum was just familiar with George's drinking haunts and knew where to find him. Feeling awkward, I took my drink and sat at a table nearby. As expected, the 'lunch with George' never happened. That evening, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe, and afterwards she suggested we go for a drink on our way back to the hotel. From the street, we descended some steps and entered what I now realise was a gentlemen's club, full of well-dressed older men and few women. I followed Mum around as she worked the room, introducing us both to people. I remember feeling incredibly uncomfortable, so I sat at the bar and watched her float around. When it was time to leave, one of my mother's new acquaintances joined us in the taxi. They dropped me at the hotel and travelled off into the night. She arrived at the hotel the following morning and took me to the Savoy for breakfast, before we caught our train back to Manchester. It hadn't been the girls' weekend I'd had in mind. I now wonder if Mum had enough money to make that trip. Did she need to go off with her new acquaintance to earn cash to fund our weekend? Still, my mother did herself no favours – her appearance on Michael Barrymore's primetime television show in 1995 being an excellent example. From the moment she stepped on set, I could see she was drunk. As I watched the interview unfold from home, I felt as though I was having an out-of-body experience. What was she doing? The thought of returning to school the following Monday was overwhelming. I was mortified when I recently discovered the interview on YouTube. I recall thinking it couldn't be as bad as I remembered. I quickly re-confirmed that it was indeed one of TV's most awkward interviews. My first instinct was to request the content be removed. However, upon reflection, I realised that it served as proof of my mother's mental state and provided validation of the struggles we endured during our childhood. It was part of my context. A pivotal moment in our relationship was another interview she did with Best magazine in May 1995, the month I was doing my GCSE exams. I wasn't aware of the article until the morning of an exam, when one of my peers brought a copy into school. It was the first time Mum had mentioned my name in the press: 'My eldest daughter, Laura, who is 16, is very bright and will go a long way. Her only stumbling block is the family legacy. She tells me, 'People at school think I must be an easy lay because of my mum and grandmother.'' Mum had crossed the line; I felt incredibly let down. After my exam, I called her on the school canteen payphone and didn't hold back. It was a while before we spoke again. Bullying and name calling were the norm throughout my school years. At 13, it ramped up when two close friends started making my family an issue. Their strategy was subtle. One of them would sit next to me in class, draw out the hangman word game and push the paper toward me. They would invite me to sleepovers, but I would be too scared to sleep, fearing what they might do. They would write letters and notes stating I was pretty in my 'own way'. I finished secondary school with little self-worth or confidence. Marriage number four resulted in my mother moving to Hull, a three-hour drive from Manchester. She telephoned after the event to tell me that she had married Michael Blackburn, a retired cricketer and rugby player. I remember the relief of knowing she was taking her chaos to the other side of the country. Thanks to that distance, our relationship improved, and I would visit her regularly. I had learnt from experience to take everything she said with a pinch of salt, and I treated her cancer diagnosis in the same way. It was only when she started to do short stays at a hospice that I realised things were serious. She died on the day I was due to move house. After a call from the hospice, I left my father, Eric, to move me in by himself and bolted to Hull, missing her by hours. I always knew Mum would never live a long life. In her later years, she drank heavily, which helped to mask the cancer until the point where treatment was futile. There's no question in my mind that her early death, in 2001, was a direct result of Ruth's execution. There is plenty of neuroscientific research to show how untreated trauma leads to unhealthy behaviours, which result in chronic illnesses. Lately, my attitude towards my mother has shifted to a more compassionate place. The government allowed Ruth to hang for her crime, and my mother never received any mental health support. I am guilty of underestimating the devastating impact this had on her. As a teenager, I thought she had choices; I now see how hardwired she was into the tragedy. When Judge Cecil Havers (played by his grandson Nigel in A Cruel Love) announced Ruth's punishment, he didn't just hand out one death sentence; he handed out three. He started the clock on Ruth's life and those of her children. Undoubtedly A Cruel Love will reopen the conversation around the stability of Ruth's conviction. In 2003, an appeal to get it overturned, led by Ruth's sister Muriel Jakubait, was lost. I was not surprised by the result. Despite Ruth's trial being a complete shambles, the judicial system looked very different in 1955; battered woman syndrome and diminished responsibility were not recognised defences. Carol Ann Lee's book and the spotlight ITV is shining on the case will have a far more wide-reaching impact than a court ruling. Like me, the British public will be re-educated about the events leading up to the shooting, the disgraceful handling of the case, and who the true villains really were. Of course, Ruth's death has always influenced my decisions. My childhood taught me everything I didn't want to be as a parent. I don't profess to be the best mother, but I work hard to offer mytwo girls the things that I missed. As a parent, I make a conscious effort to be present; I'm not sure how much the kids will remember, but I hope they will have recollections of me being there at the school gates and at bedtime. I strive for consistency; I don't go back on promises. I am determined to raise two confident young women with firm personal boundaries. In 2001, when I received the call to say my mother had died, I'm ashamed to say that I was relieved. I don't want anyone to feel relief when my time comes to check out of this world. For the first time in my life, aged 46, I am at peace with my bloodline; I no longer carry the shame for what my grandmother did or the path my mother 'chose' to take. Ruth lost her life in 1955 due to misogyny, discrimination and judgment, and this reality has shaped who I am. Ruth's legacy of strength will continue to live on through me and my daughters, which is the least we can do for my grandmother, whose death saved the lives of others by triggering the abolishment of the death penalty in Britain. A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story starts on ITV1 on March 5, and is available as a box set on ITVX the same day
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'A Cruel Love' re-creates the 1950's murder trial of Ruth Ellis
Actress Lucy Boynton joins Morning Joe to discuss the new true crime series 'A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story,' about the circumstances surrounding the 1955 murder trial of Ruth Ellis. Ellis was a nightclub manager in London who was convicted of shooting and killing her abusive boyfriend David Blakely.
