ITV and Silverprint Pictures have released a first-look image of its new drama A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story, previously titled Ruth.
The four-part drama stars Lucy Boynton (Murder on the Orient Express) as the real-life 1950s London club manager, then the youngest in the capital.
Ellis later found an entirely different kind of fame, becoming the last woman in Britain to be hanged, after shooting her partner David Blakely. The drama is based on A Fine Day for Hanging: The Real Ruth Ellis Story, the biography by Carol Ann Lee.
A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story follows the impresario’s story through clubland and the abusive relationship she had with Blakely.
Also in the cast are Toby Jones (Detectorists), Mark Stanley (The Reckoning) and Laurie Davidson (Will). Joe Armstrong (Happy Valley), Arthur Darvill (Doctor Who), Toby Stephens (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) and Juliet Stevenson (Secret Invasion) also appear.
“Lucy Boynton is absolutely mesmerizing as Ruth Ellis, pictured here, at the height of her success as London's youngest club manager,” said Kate Bartlett, executive producer for Silverprint Pictures. “Aged 28, her ascendancy was brought to a sharp halt when she became enmeshed in an intoxicating love triangle which brought death and tragedy.”
All four episodes are written by Kelly Jones (The Long Call) and directed by Lee Haven Jones (Passenger), while Angie Daniell (World On Fire) produces.
