‘A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story’ episode release schedule
Britain is obsessed with true crime stories and tales of justice denied. ITV and BritBox now bring us A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story, which tells the tale of the last woman hanged in Britain. She shot her lover, but he was abusive to her. Ellis’s whole life was full of abuse. ITV’s new show A Cruel Love looks at her story and asks why the British society of 1955 felt the need to take her life.
Ellis is played in the show by Lucy Boynton. “I was quite shocked that I didn’t know about her, considering how intense the repercussions of this case were, especially on the judicial system in the UK,” Boynton told The Hollywood Reporter. “She’s an integral part of our social-political history.”
Boynton is joined by a stellar cast that includes Toby Jones (he recently garnered a lot of attention for his role in the very successful ITV true-life drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office), Laurie Davidson, Mark Stanley, Arthur Darvill, Juliet Stevenson, and Toby Stephens.
When will new episodes of A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis story be released?
North American viewers will get to unravel the tragedy of Ruth Ellis’ case before the Brits. The first two episodes are now available to stream on BritBox. Episode 3 will be released on Monday, February 24, and the final episode will appear on Monday, March 3. Those in the U.K. will have to wait until March to watch the four-episode miniseries on ITVX.
Boynton approves of the decision to air the show in the U.S. “It’s such a human story—it’s about the politics of it, the gender dynamic, the class system. And I think that those are all global issues, so it’s very easy to relate to,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “The fact that this happened in the British system is only specific to this case, but [Ellis’s] sensibility, her as a person, and the relationship dynamics are universally accessible and familiar.”
Boynton has gotten great reviews for her performance as Ellis. A Cruel Love is well worth a watch if you want to feel sad and angry about how women were treated in the not-so-distant past.
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