Lucy Boynton Breaks Down the Impact of Ruth Ellis’ Tragic Fate in ‘Cruel Love’ Series (VIDEO)

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for A Cruel Love]

Lucy Boynton will admit that she didn’t know much about Ruth Ellis before playing the last woman to be executed in Great Britain in BritBox’s A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story. Looking back, the true story had a profound impact on the actress.

“Throughout the process of research [I realized] what a loss it is to not be more familiar with this case, considering the implications of repercussions it had on our judicial system but our society as a whole,” she told TV Insider.

Ellis was a nightclub hostess who was convicted of murder after she fatally shot her lover, race car driver David Blakely, played by Laurie Davidson in the series, after an abusive relationship. She had a speedy trial, and Ellis never revealed the full extent of Blakely’s physical and emotional abuse in court. Desmond Cussen, whom Ellis claimed gave her the gun and taught her how to use it (an accusation he denied), was never charged with anything connected to Blakely’s murder.

Ellis was sentenced to death and executed on July 13, 1955, despite protests advocating for her clemency. Her death caused a public outcry throughout the United Kingdom over the severity of her sentence. Capital punishment was fully abolished in the United Kingdom in 1973.

Courtesy of BritBox

“I think people want to think of situations like this, cases like this, as being so detached from our present society, like a safe distance that we can’t possibly be culpable,” Boynton noted. “But the reality is that it’s so recent. I mean, they knew at the time that it was a miscarriage of justice. So in that sense, they were kind of contemporary enough to understand the misogyny that was at play. So it shouldn’t have happened then. Thankfully, it couldn’t happen now.”

She continued, “I was surprised that it was allowed to be carried out in broad daylight with a vast audience. I think you always hope that there will be more people to step in and prevent this from being carried through, and an action being taken where misogyny is the driving force. And so it’s really horrifying to see when it is allowed to be carried out.”

Up until her last moment, Ellis never showed any fear. However, Boynton pointed out that Ellis discovering that her wishes regarding her son weren’t going to be carried out after her death “brought crashing down any sense of stability” for her.

While Ellis is in the history books for being the last woman to be hanged in Great Britain, Boynton doesn’t want that to be her legacy.

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Who Was Ruth Ellis? Learn the True Story Behind BritBox’s ‘A Cruel Love’

“I think what’s so interesting about her is when you understand the context of the 1950s and the kind of regression that happened within that society post-war, where we started to kind of clutch at more traditional values and therefore kind of narrow the pathway of what women can are allowed access to in society, you understand more and more just what a rebellion her very existence was and what a rebellion her ambition was. She wanted to be successful in business, financially independent, and even that alone is carving out space that you are told that you don’t deserve and that is not for you,” she said.

She always had hoped that things could get better and was fervently diligent to create that for herself. All of that was self-sourced confidence in herself, and I think that’s just remarkable.”

A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story, Streaming Now, BritBox

If you or someone you know is the victim of domestic abuse, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233.