A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story (2025) s01e04 Episode Script
Episode 4
1
(ominous music playing)
You are due to hang
at nine o'clock tomorrow morning
22 hours from now.
Do you wish to make a new statement
about the murder of David Blakely,
one that may materially affect
your legal situation?
Yes.
I had been ill for two weeks.
The miscarriage?
David had been so sorry.
- Are you watching me sleep?
- (David chuckles softly)
Listening to you snore.
(music concludes)
I don't snore.
I want to be woken up
by your snoring
for the rest of my life.
- Soppy little fool.
- (David chuckles softly)
(Ruth groans, winces)
(David)
Is your stomach still painful?
It's fine.
Doctor says it's healing well.
Good (kisses)
because
I'm taking you out tonight.
- (Ruth) Mm.
- (David) Clean slate.
No more fighting. No more
Cinema cleaning girls?
She was an usherette.
I do have some self-respect.
Neither one of us has been perfect,
but from now on,
we're going to be
a boring old married couple.
You in a housecoat, me in slippers.
And occasionally,
we'll talk of how young,
foolish we used to be.
Promise?
(kisses)
Yes.
(smooching)
See you tonight.
Be ready at eight.
(musical compact plays
"La Vie en Rose")
(clock chimes)
(suspenseful music playing)
(dial tone)
(woman over phone)
Findlaters' residence.
- Is David there?
- (woman) No. (giggling)
(disconnect tone)
- (dial tone)
- (Ant over phone) Hello?
Ant, who was that girl?
(Ant) Look,
David isn't here, all right?
(disconnect tone)
I got Desmond to drive me
to the Findlaters'.
Wait here.
(music fades)
- I want to speak to David.
- He's not here.
His car's outside. Look, I know
he's in there with some girl.
- That's our nanny.
- (Ruth) You did this, didn't you?
You threw her at him. David! Davi
He's left you, Ruth.
You won't see him ever again.
- You're lying.
- (Carole) I have only ever
told you the truth.
You've never wanted to hear it.
He can't just walk away
with everything in ruins.
(Carole) I know you need
someone to blame
for the way
your life has turned out.
You know, I had you down
as a dangerous sort of woman,
a predator who set a trap
for a naive boy.
But I was wrong. You're just
a mess, a wretched, ungovernable,
emotionally incontinent mess,
a whirlwind of shabby destruction,
bringing everyone else down
with you.
- (tense music playing)
- My job
my savings, my daughter,
my unborn child are all gone
because of him.
He does not get to walk away
without saying a word. He doesn't!
- I have to speak to him. David!
- (Carole) There's nothing to say.
Then I want my key back
for Egerton Gardens.
I want my key back!
- I'll have it sent to you.
- You cannot do this!
(hammering on door)
You can't do this! David!
David, I know you're in there!
David!
I felt I had to do something
anything to make him listen.
(Desmond) Ruth!
- Ruth! That's enough.
- (Ruth) David!
- David!
- That's enough. Now, come on.
He's in there with a girl.
He's laughing at me.
(Desmond) Does he have a key
to Egerton Gardens,
the place I rented for you,
your "new start"?
Has he been there all along?
What are you looking at?
- (Ruth) David! David!
- (Desmond) Get in the car, Ruth!
In the car, Ruth!
I had to go back the next day.
I was determined
to make David speak to me.
Their plan,
what they had wanted all along,
to get David away from me,
without looking back,
without acknowledging
what he had done to me,
it had worked.
- Are you all in? Are you all in?
- (girl laughs)
(Ruth) All night, I sat there
and thought
about the last two years.
When I had first met David,
I was managing a successful club,
I had two beautiful children
I had money in the bank,
admirers, a lovely flat.
And now, all I had
was a bedsitting room
no money, no job
and a man who swore
he loved me one day
and then beat
and abused me the next.
(gasps, cries out)
A man who was relieved
when I lost the child he fathered.
I thought, and I thought
of the things he had said to me,
all the things he had done to me,
and I just felt pure rage.
(doorbell buzzes)
I don't know what to do.
- I'll make you some coffee.
- (Ruth) I don't want any coffee.
Well, tea, then!
(Ruth)
I don't want any fucking tea!
(sobbing)
I just wish he was dead.
I wish he was dead.
I wish he would jump in a lake
and drown,
and I could just be free.
We could be free. We could be free.
Mm-hm. I just want to be done
with all of it.
Do you?
Whose idea was it to get the gun?
Mm-hm.
(sobs quietly)
(music fades)
I wouldn't know how to use it.
I wouldn't know how to aim it.
I'll show you.
(ominous music playing)
I need the Permanent
Under-Secretary of State.
(secretary over phone)
He's at Ascot.
Well, get him bloody back
from Ascot!
(secretary)
What message should I give?
Tell him Ruth Ellis
isn't going to hang tomorrow.
- (music concludes)
- (bell chimes)
(Allen) Mrs Ellis
is accusing Desmond Cussen
- of conspiracy to murder.
- Yes.
The execution will have to be
postponed while he's interviewed.
If charges are brought against him,
Ruth Ellis will be
the principal witness.
She will be needed
to give evidence.
And that's to say nothing
for her own conviction,
which can now be regarded
as unsafe.
She was drunk,
she was influenced by this man.
I anticipate a retrial,
at the very least.
You are not, in fact,
a criminal lawyer, Mr Mishcon?
You are a divorce solicitor?
- Yes.
- Well, the Under-Secretary is on
his way back from Ascot.
I will brief him, and doubtless,
he will wish to speak
to the Home Secretary.
But the execution will be postponed
while all this is investigated?
I can give no such assurance,
not on the strength of this alone.
Then what would you need?
We can do nothing until Cussen
is interviewed, at the very least.
We must have
some corroborating evidence.
Until then,
I'm afraid these are just words.
Then call Scotland Yard
and instruct them to find him now!
As I say,
I will inform my superiors.
We have 16 hours
until she is due to die.
(suspenseful music playing)
(Mishcon) You're right.
I know little of criminal law.
But I know how long it takes
to divorce someone.
Six months minimum between
the decrees nisi and absolute,
to ensure the grounds are correct,
that the marriage
is truly unsalvageable,
because a divorce is an absolute
that cannot be undone.
Your government passed that law.
And you give this woman,
between conviction and killing her,
22 days?
Call the bloody police!
(music fades)
Cussen left his office
20 minutes ago.
He's on his way home.
You said it yourself, sir.
She pulled the trigger.
Doesn't matter
where she got the gun.
You did everything right.
Let's go.
(Ruth) Thank you for coming back.
I know I wasn't the most
gracious hostess last time.
(Jacqueline) I deserved it.
You're many things
but you are no coward.
I wasn't when there was no hope.
Now I'm bloody petrified.
(sombre music playing)
You remember when you and Vicki
came to visit me in hospital
and you brought gin
and a gramophone?
Matron told us not to turn
the place into a bordello,
but by midnight, she was absolutely
smashed and dancing with us.
I remember Vicki flashing
the geriatric ward
(both chuckle)
and three of them
proposing to her. (chuckles)
And we sat up on the roof
and watched the sun come up.
Hmm.
I wish we could do that tomorrow
morning before Mr Pierrepoint.
(Jacqueline) Well, the hangman
can sod off back to his pub.
Your statement changed everything.
You do know what his pub is called?
- Hmm?
- "Help The Poor Struggler".
- (Jackie) No! (laughs)
- Joy told me.
(both chuckle softly)
Listen,
I can try to find Desmond
get a confession
and take it to the police.
(Ruth) We don't have to.
DCI Davies has been
at the Home Office,
getting a rocket up his arse.
They're going to find Desmond,
Jackie.
He's going to be arrested
and charged tonight.
(music fades)
(Bickford) So, you want to know
if I have anything else
that might help you.
As you can see,
I'm in no fit state to help anyone.
But you knew.
You clearly knew about the gun.
I made certain suppositions
which have proved to be true.
(Mishcon)
And you told her to stay quiet?
You advised her to lie,
to perjure herself in crown court?
(Bickford) I was bound
by client confidentiality,
as I still am.
Mrs Ellis made me swear
not to say anything.
You may say I made the wrong
decision, and perhaps I did.
My aim was to show
that she was provoked,
not that she'd conspired
with anyone,
premeditated the whole thing.
(Mishcon) Well,
that was very convenient,
for Desmond Cussen,
that you took that route.
Did you make a deal with him?
Certainly not, my friend.
I suppose, my problem is
that I'm not brave enough
to stand up to them all,
to to stand up to it.
It?
The English machine,
the whole thuddering weight of it.
Are you talking about a conspiracy?
- (tense music playing)
- (Bickford) Nothing so vulgar.
The machine is bigger
than any one man.
It's bigger
than any gentlemen's club,
courtroom or police station.
It is concerned
with self-preservation, above all,
and it is ruthless, you may say,
to the point of savagery,
to anyone who threatens it.
And Ruth threatens it
in every possible way.
And that is why the machine
is determined to get her.
It has been from the start.
You're drunk, man,
and this is dangerous nonsense.
This is the law,
the justice system,
the finest in the world.
And you say I'm talking nonsense?
I was like you, you know.
I thought I was
one of the good ones,
fighting the machine
until I realised, I'm just a cog,
being ground in it.
If you know something
that could help her
We have hours to save her life.
It's too late.
(indistinct clamour)
- (bystander 1) There's Pierrepoint!
- (bystander 2) There's the hangman!
(bystander 3)
How do you sleep at night?
(clamouring continues)
Pierrepoint, come back!
- (music concludes)
- (Muriel) Why didn't you say
anything about
Desmond Cussen before?
It seemed traitorous
until I realised
he'd betrayed me worse.
He promised to look after Andre?
Nothing.
Not a visit, not a single penny.
What does Andre know?
He's been told you're in Italy,
modelling swimsuits. (scoffs)
The MP, Mr Rogers, and his wife,
they've been very kind.
Offered to take him
to the country for a few days,
get him away from all this.
- But now we might not need to.
- (sobs)
They tannoyed the Under-Secretary
of State at Ascot.
(chuckles tearfully)
The press heard it.
Reporters camped out at the house,
one from bloody New Zealand!
Evening papers all saying
the same thing,
a last-minute reprieve.
(Bertha) And there's been money
sent in by well-wishers,
enough for you and Andre
to get away somewhere,
- a new life.
- (hopeful music playing)
(Arthur) Well, you'll never need
to work again.
Talk shows, after-dinner speeches.
You're a flaming celebrity!
(protestors shout outside)
(chanting) Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
There's hundreds of them!
(protestors) Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
(music concludes)
(chanting) Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
- (chanting fades)
- (sombre music playing)
(radio reporter) Hundreds of people
have gathered this evening
outside Holloway Prison
in support of Mrs Ruth Ellis,
who is due to hang
tomorrow morning
for the murder of her lover,
David Blakely.
A night club hostess,
Mrs Ellis was sentenced to death
at the Old Bailey on 21st June
this year for killing Mr Blakely.
Lawyers for Mrs Ellis claim
that new evidence has surfaced
implicating an unnamed person
and placing them
at the scene of the crime.
Her newly appointed solicitor,
Mr Victor Mishcon,
has submitted new evidence
to the Home Off
This heat, it's hellish.
Let's get out of London.
Pack some things.
(Jayveer) It's nine o'clock,
12 hours until she hangs.
Why aren't you out
looking for Desmond Cussen?
She shot him in the back, right,
point-blank range.
An innocent bloke.
Could've been any one of us.
She deserves
to bloody swing for it.
Oh, shut up, Peter!
We looked for him, all right?
There was no answer
at Cussen's flat,
and we've driven round the West End
for hours.
I've been given two men
and half a day
to search
the whole of bloody London!
Does it really seem
like anyone wants him to be found?
- Lucia, where is he?
- (Lucia) Upstairs.
Thanks.
Desmond
do you know how I can find him?
You know me, Jackie. I'm no grass.
No police. They've given up.
Please tell me, Morris.
Is he with one of your girls?
She should have asked me
to take care of him, Blakely.
I'd have taken pleasure in it.
Ruth is in there, waiting to die,
while you're here
enjoying yourself.
Towel! Hurry up!
Got reporters chasing me
night and day
customers deserting me,
and you want me to grass up one
of the only punters I've got left.
Ruthie wanted everything,
the big job,
big posh bloke,
big rock on her finger.
She went too far, took too much.
She ruined all of us.
I know you're not a bad man
but you've done some bad things
to Ruth
to me.
This is your chance to face it,
all of it.
Help me find him.
Please!
(knocking on door)
Open the door, Desmond.
There's no police here.
(footsteps approach)
(door opens)
You've been here all along.
I've come here as a friend,
to ask you to do the right thing.
The police know
you helped kill Blakely.
You may not
have pulled the trigger,
but he is dead because of you.
She's lying to save her own skin.
I don't blame her.
But I had nothing to do
with any of it.
No
You have one chance
to save the woman you loved.
- She never loved me.
- Is that why you did it?
To punish Ruth and David together?
You knew she would be arrested.
She came to you
when she was desperate.
You could have helped her.
You should have helped her!
But instead, you gave
a broken woman a loaded gun.
You know,
they haven't even told Andre yet
about what is happening
to his mother.
But soon, they will have to.
They will have to tell him
that she isn't in Italy,
modelling swimsuits
that she's dead
hanged.
And he won't even be able
to visit her grave
because she will be buried
with murderers in a prison pit.
What you have done to that child
is unforgivable.
I told Ruth he should have been
at her mother's that day.
Was Andre there?
Did he see something?
Make sure he gets this.
We're leaving.
Wait. Hey, wai
- (gasps)
- Don't!
- (Jacqueline) He's gone.
- Course he has.
(music concludes)
I told the police,
but he could be anywhere by now.
He talked about Andre.
Was Andre there
when Desmond gave you the gun?
Did he see Desmond give it to you?
(Desmond) Right hand on first,
left hand supporting.
Legs shoulder-width apart.
(tense music playing)
Elbows straight, not locked.
Now, this little blade
is the sight.
Get that on your target,
then squeeze the trigger.
Most importantly,
don't hold your breath,
or you'll tense up
and you won't hit the target.
Breathe.
In and out.
Nice and calm.
(Ruth breathes steadily)
(breathing quickens)
I can't do it.
Yes, you can.
(gunshot)
(gunshot)
(gunshots)
You see?
(twigs snap)
I told you to wait in the car!
Go back, now!
(Jacqueline) How much does he know?
He knows enough.
He's a witness. The police need
evidence to support your statement.
We thought only Desmond could
give that, but Andre could.
No, I won't.
I will not use him like that.
I will not ask that of him.
- I think he knows you're here.
- Of course he does.
(crying) He's a smart boy.
He doesn't believe that nonsense
about swimsuits in Italy.
Then let him talk to the police.
If he gives a statement
to the police and it fails
he will blame himself.
But you still have a chance
if you ask him to do this.
He needs to tell them
and the police
what he knows tonight.
I won't be long.
You will look after him,
you promise, whatever happens?
I swear it.
(musical compact plays
"La Vie en Rose")
Are you quite well there, dear?
(Desmond) Yes,
she's quite all right, thank you.
Are you all right?
I don't know.
I'm here. I'm with you. I love you.
I know.
I don't think I can.
Of course you can.
(muffled chatter and laughter)
Four bottles of light ale, please.
Oh, and two packets of cigarettes.
Come on. Because we're having
a party round the corner.
(Clive) Leave the poor girl alone.
It would have been rude
not to invite her.
- Leave the poor girl alone.
- David.
David!
(David) Jesus Ch
Ruth, what are you? No!
- Christ, she's got a fu
- (gunshots)
(gasping)
(gunshots)
(Clive) Call an ambulance!
Someone get help! Someone get help!
She killed him.
I won't be long.
(Clive) Why did you have
to kill him?
(music concludes)
(protestors chanting faintly)
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
(phone rings)
Yes?
(tense music playing)
I took down your statement
this morning.
It appears that another version
was recorded, too,
by the, er the prison officer
who sat with us.
In his version,
you asked Cussen for the gun.
I didn't say that!
(sighs) I'm asking myself why
they're focussed on this version,
why they might be favouring it.
(Ruth) 'Cause they want it all
to be over.
The protests, the noise, the fuss,
the newspapers, the petitions,
all these people talking about
what a mess it is.
It's an embarrassment.
They want it over and done with.
They were looking
for a reason to ignore
what I told them, to say that
Desmond's part doesn't matter,
- and they've found it.
- They can't ignore it.
There are legal procedures.
(Ruth) Mr Bickford
was right all along.
He said they wouldn't let me get
away with it, and they won't.
Right. No matter
what anyone says or does now
it won't do anything.
They are determined to put an end
to this, and they will,
tomorrow at 9am.
I want you to call my parents and
say that Andre is going to go away
with the MP Mr Rogers and his wife,
as planned.
You don't want him to make
a statement to police?
No, I want him out of London
and away from here,
immediately. Please do it now!
(door opens)
(ragged breaths)
(protestor outside) Pray with us.
Our Father who art in heaven
Hallowed be they name
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done
On Earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
(ragged breaths)
(Joy) Mrs Ellis?
(gasping) Make them stop!
- Quiet.
- (protestors continue praying)
- (Joy) Ruth?
- I want it to be over.
Ruth, come with me.
- I want it to be over.
- (Joy) Up we get. Up we get.
(protestors outside) For ever
and ever, amen.
(music fades)
(sighs)
(Joy) I thought you might
like to finally
take your beer privileges.
- Is this allowed out here?
- No. But what can they do to you?
- Thanks.
- Not done much.
(melancholic music playing)
You might not believe this,
but the last few weeks have been
some of the best of my life.
You've all been so kind to me,
calling me "Mrs Ellis",
three square meals a day,
all those jam puddings.
No screaming, no fighting,
no men knocking on my door
in the middle of the night.
I've really rather liked it here.
Can you put me through
to the governor of Holloway Prison?
(music fades)
(footsteps approach)
Mrs Ellis
You've come to tell me
there's not going to be a reprieve.
It's quite all right.
It's quite all right. Promise.
(sombre music playing)
What time is it?
Two a.m.
Seven hours, then.
Would you like to sit up together?
I have some brandy in my office.
Actually, I'd quite like to get
some sleep if you don't mind.
Thank you.
(music fades)
(phone rings)
Philip Allen.
I want to speak
to the Home Secretary.
I insist
on speaking to him personally.
The Home Secretary's made
his position very clear.
And what is that position?
He says, if she isn't hanged
tomorrow, she never will be.
(sombre music playing)
I have practised law
for 20 years, and until today,
I would not have thought
it possible
that it should be used
by Englishmen in this way,
as a fig leaf
for an act of pure savagery.
(alarm rings)
(crowd chatter)
- (keys turn in lock)
- (music concludes)
No more prison smocks, then.
Can't say I'm sorry.
Hardy Amies.
I spent my entire first wage
from Carroll's on it.
(Joy) It's lovely.
My mother was horrified.
Said I should have made do
with rayon like everybody else.
I probably should have made do
with a lot of things.
A little house in Basingstoke,
a job in a typing pool,
a week in Bognor with a fat husband
once a year.
But I couldn't.
I wanted everything I could get
out of this life, every drop.
And I don't regret it
not a single moment.
(ominous music playing)
(Jayveer) Jacqueline?
I'm sorry. I tried.
They won't let me run the story
in the newspaper.
You need evidence
of what Cussen did?
I need something.
When all this is over,
you talk to Andre, her son.
(prison bell rings)
(tick echoes)
(keys turn in lock)
(door clangs)
How lovely. Thank you, Joy.
(banging)
(banging continues)
(clattering)
(quietly) Sorry.
(keys turn in lock)
- It will calm you.
- No, thank you.
(phone rings)
Charity Taylor.
(musical compact plays
"La Vie en Rose")
(keys turn in lock)
(door clangs shut)
(ticking echoes)
(door opens)
I'm so sorry, Mrs Ellis.
I just need a moment
with the undersheriff.
There's been a call
from a Miss Holmes,
claiming to be
the Home Secretary's office.
A reprieve.
I've tried to verify it.
No one there
knows anything about it.
(undersheriff) A hoax?
(Charity) It must be mustn't it?
(undersheriff) This Miss Holmes
(Charity)
I've tried two private secretaries.
No one's heard of her.
Thank you.
Oh.
I won't be needing these anymore.
(undersheriff)
One minute to, ma'am.
(Charity) We can't make her wait.
It's torture!
(ticking echoes)
I mean, it
it's got to be a hoax.
Proceed.
(keys turn in lock)
- (gasps)
- (chair thuds)
(Pierrepoint) It's all right,
lass, it's all right.
(suspenseful music playing)
(Pierrepoint) Follow me.
(protestors
chanting indistinctly outside)
Don't worry, lass,
I won't hurt you.
(ragged breaths)
(ragged breaths)
(trapdoor opens)
(sombre music playing)
(musical compact plays
"La Vie en Rose")
(music concludes)
(ominous music playing)
You are due to hang
at nine o'clock tomorrow morning
22 hours from now.
Do you wish to make a new statement
about the murder of David Blakely,
one that may materially affect
your legal situation?
Yes.
I had been ill for two weeks.
The miscarriage?
David had been so sorry.
- Are you watching me sleep?
- (David chuckles softly)
Listening to you snore.
(music concludes)
I don't snore.
I want to be woken up
by your snoring
for the rest of my life.
- Soppy little fool.
- (David chuckles softly)
(Ruth groans, winces)
(David)
Is your stomach still painful?
It's fine.
Doctor says it's healing well.
Good (kisses)
because
I'm taking you out tonight.
- (Ruth) Mm.
- (David) Clean slate.
No more fighting. No more
Cinema cleaning girls?
She was an usherette.
I do have some self-respect.
Neither one of us has been perfect,
but from now on,
we're going to be
a boring old married couple.
You in a housecoat, me in slippers.
And occasionally,
we'll talk of how young,
foolish we used to be.
Promise?
(kisses)
Yes.
(smooching)
See you tonight.
Be ready at eight.
(musical compact plays
"La Vie en Rose")
(clock chimes)
(suspenseful music playing)
(dial tone)
(woman over phone)
Findlaters' residence.
- Is David there?
- (woman) No. (giggling)
(disconnect tone)
- (dial tone)
- (Ant over phone) Hello?
Ant, who was that girl?
(Ant) Look,
David isn't here, all right?
(disconnect tone)
I got Desmond to drive me
to the Findlaters'.
Wait here.
(music fades)
- I want to speak to David.
- He's not here.
His car's outside. Look, I know
he's in there with some girl.
- That's our nanny.
- (Ruth) You did this, didn't you?
You threw her at him. David! Davi
He's left you, Ruth.
You won't see him ever again.
- You're lying.
- (Carole) I have only ever
told you the truth.
You've never wanted to hear it.
He can't just walk away
with everything in ruins.
(Carole) I know you need
someone to blame
for the way
your life has turned out.
You know, I had you down
as a dangerous sort of woman,
a predator who set a trap
for a naive boy.
But I was wrong. You're just
a mess, a wretched, ungovernable,
emotionally incontinent mess,
a whirlwind of shabby destruction,
bringing everyone else down
with you.
- (tense music playing)
- My job
my savings, my daughter,
my unborn child are all gone
because of him.
He does not get to walk away
without saying a word. He doesn't!
- I have to speak to him. David!
- (Carole) There's nothing to say.
Then I want my key back
for Egerton Gardens.
I want my key back!
- I'll have it sent to you.
- You cannot do this!
(hammering on door)
You can't do this! David!
David, I know you're in there!
David!
I felt I had to do something
anything to make him listen.
(Desmond) Ruth!
- Ruth! That's enough.
- (Ruth) David!
- David!
- That's enough. Now, come on.
He's in there with a girl.
He's laughing at me.
(Desmond) Does he have a key
to Egerton Gardens,
the place I rented for you,
your "new start"?
Has he been there all along?
What are you looking at?
- (Ruth) David! David!
- (Desmond) Get in the car, Ruth!
In the car, Ruth!
I had to go back the next day.
I was determined
to make David speak to me.
Their plan,
what they had wanted all along,
to get David away from me,
without looking back,
without acknowledging
what he had done to me,
it had worked.
- Are you all in? Are you all in?
- (girl laughs)
(Ruth) All night, I sat there
and thought
about the last two years.
When I had first met David,
I was managing a successful club,
I had two beautiful children
I had money in the bank,
admirers, a lovely flat.
And now, all I had
was a bedsitting room
no money, no job
and a man who swore
he loved me one day
and then beat
and abused me the next.
(gasps, cries out)
A man who was relieved
when I lost the child he fathered.
I thought, and I thought
of the things he had said to me,
all the things he had done to me,
and I just felt pure rage.
(doorbell buzzes)
I don't know what to do.
- I'll make you some coffee.
- (Ruth) I don't want any coffee.
Well, tea, then!
(Ruth)
I don't want any fucking tea!
(sobbing)
I just wish he was dead.
I wish he was dead.
I wish he would jump in a lake
and drown,
and I could just be free.
We could be free. We could be free.
Mm-hm. I just want to be done
with all of it.
Do you?
Whose idea was it to get the gun?
Mm-hm.
(sobs quietly)
(music fades)
I wouldn't know how to use it.
I wouldn't know how to aim it.
I'll show you.
(ominous music playing)
I need the Permanent
Under-Secretary of State.
(secretary over phone)
He's at Ascot.
Well, get him bloody back
from Ascot!
(secretary)
What message should I give?
Tell him Ruth Ellis
isn't going to hang tomorrow.
- (music concludes)
- (bell chimes)
(Allen) Mrs Ellis
is accusing Desmond Cussen
- of conspiracy to murder.
- Yes.
The execution will have to be
postponed while he's interviewed.
If charges are brought against him,
Ruth Ellis will be
the principal witness.
She will be needed
to give evidence.
And that's to say nothing
for her own conviction,
which can now be regarded
as unsafe.
She was drunk,
she was influenced by this man.
I anticipate a retrial,
at the very least.
You are not, in fact,
a criminal lawyer, Mr Mishcon?
You are a divorce solicitor?
- Yes.
- Well, the Under-Secretary is on
his way back from Ascot.
I will brief him, and doubtless,
he will wish to speak
to the Home Secretary.
But the execution will be postponed
while all this is investigated?
I can give no such assurance,
not on the strength of this alone.
Then what would you need?
We can do nothing until Cussen
is interviewed, at the very least.
We must have
some corroborating evidence.
Until then,
I'm afraid these are just words.
Then call Scotland Yard
and instruct them to find him now!
As I say,
I will inform my superiors.
We have 16 hours
until she is due to die.
(suspenseful music playing)
(Mishcon) You're right.
I know little of criminal law.
But I know how long it takes
to divorce someone.
Six months minimum between
the decrees nisi and absolute,
to ensure the grounds are correct,
that the marriage
is truly unsalvageable,
because a divorce is an absolute
that cannot be undone.
Your government passed that law.
And you give this woman,
between conviction and killing her,
22 days?
Call the bloody police!
(music fades)
Cussen left his office
20 minutes ago.
He's on his way home.
You said it yourself, sir.
She pulled the trigger.
Doesn't matter
where she got the gun.
You did everything right.
Let's go.
(Ruth) Thank you for coming back.
I know I wasn't the most
gracious hostess last time.
(Jacqueline) I deserved it.
You're many things
but you are no coward.
I wasn't when there was no hope.
Now I'm bloody petrified.
(sombre music playing)
You remember when you and Vicki
came to visit me in hospital
and you brought gin
and a gramophone?
Matron told us not to turn
the place into a bordello,
but by midnight, she was absolutely
smashed and dancing with us.
I remember Vicki flashing
the geriatric ward
(both chuckle)
and three of them
proposing to her. (chuckles)
And we sat up on the roof
and watched the sun come up.
Hmm.
I wish we could do that tomorrow
morning before Mr Pierrepoint.
(Jacqueline) Well, the hangman
can sod off back to his pub.
Your statement changed everything.
You do know what his pub is called?
- Hmm?
- "Help The Poor Struggler".
- (Jackie) No! (laughs)
- Joy told me.
(both chuckle softly)
Listen,
I can try to find Desmond
get a confession
and take it to the police.
(Ruth) We don't have to.
DCI Davies has been
at the Home Office,
getting a rocket up his arse.
They're going to find Desmond,
Jackie.
He's going to be arrested
and charged tonight.
(music fades)
(Bickford) So, you want to know
if I have anything else
that might help you.
As you can see,
I'm in no fit state to help anyone.
But you knew.
You clearly knew about the gun.
I made certain suppositions
which have proved to be true.
(Mishcon)
And you told her to stay quiet?
You advised her to lie,
to perjure herself in crown court?
(Bickford) I was bound
by client confidentiality,
as I still am.
Mrs Ellis made me swear
not to say anything.
You may say I made the wrong
decision, and perhaps I did.
My aim was to show
that she was provoked,
not that she'd conspired
with anyone,
premeditated the whole thing.
(Mishcon) Well,
that was very convenient,
for Desmond Cussen,
that you took that route.
Did you make a deal with him?
Certainly not, my friend.
I suppose, my problem is
that I'm not brave enough
to stand up to them all,
to to stand up to it.
It?
The English machine,
the whole thuddering weight of it.
Are you talking about a conspiracy?
- (tense music playing)
- (Bickford) Nothing so vulgar.
The machine is bigger
than any one man.
It's bigger
than any gentlemen's club,
courtroom or police station.
It is concerned
with self-preservation, above all,
and it is ruthless, you may say,
to the point of savagery,
to anyone who threatens it.
And Ruth threatens it
in every possible way.
And that is why the machine
is determined to get her.
It has been from the start.
You're drunk, man,
and this is dangerous nonsense.
This is the law,
the justice system,
the finest in the world.
And you say I'm talking nonsense?
I was like you, you know.
I thought I was
one of the good ones,
fighting the machine
until I realised, I'm just a cog,
being ground in it.
If you know something
that could help her
We have hours to save her life.
It's too late.
(indistinct clamour)
- (bystander 1) There's Pierrepoint!
- (bystander 2) There's the hangman!
(bystander 3)
How do you sleep at night?
(clamouring continues)
Pierrepoint, come back!
- (music concludes)
- (Muriel) Why didn't you say
anything about
Desmond Cussen before?
It seemed traitorous
until I realised
he'd betrayed me worse.
He promised to look after Andre?
Nothing.
Not a visit, not a single penny.
What does Andre know?
He's been told you're in Italy,
modelling swimsuits. (scoffs)
The MP, Mr Rogers, and his wife,
they've been very kind.
Offered to take him
to the country for a few days,
get him away from all this.
- But now we might not need to.
- (sobs)
They tannoyed the Under-Secretary
of State at Ascot.
(chuckles tearfully)
The press heard it.
Reporters camped out at the house,
one from bloody New Zealand!
Evening papers all saying
the same thing,
a last-minute reprieve.
(Bertha) And there's been money
sent in by well-wishers,
enough for you and Andre
to get away somewhere,
- a new life.
- (hopeful music playing)
(Arthur) Well, you'll never need
to work again.
Talk shows, after-dinner speeches.
You're a flaming celebrity!
(protestors shout outside)
(chanting) Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
There's hundreds of them!
(protestors) Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
(music concludes)
(chanting) Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
- (chanting fades)
- (sombre music playing)
(radio reporter) Hundreds of people
have gathered this evening
outside Holloway Prison
in support of Mrs Ruth Ellis,
who is due to hang
tomorrow morning
for the murder of her lover,
David Blakely.
A night club hostess,
Mrs Ellis was sentenced to death
at the Old Bailey on 21st June
this year for killing Mr Blakely.
Lawyers for Mrs Ellis claim
that new evidence has surfaced
implicating an unnamed person
and placing them
at the scene of the crime.
Her newly appointed solicitor,
Mr Victor Mishcon,
has submitted new evidence
to the Home Off
This heat, it's hellish.
Let's get out of London.
Pack some things.
(Jayveer) It's nine o'clock,
12 hours until she hangs.
Why aren't you out
looking for Desmond Cussen?
She shot him in the back, right,
point-blank range.
An innocent bloke.
Could've been any one of us.
She deserves
to bloody swing for it.
Oh, shut up, Peter!
We looked for him, all right?
There was no answer
at Cussen's flat,
and we've driven round the West End
for hours.
I've been given two men
and half a day
to search
the whole of bloody London!
Does it really seem
like anyone wants him to be found?
- Lucia, where is he?
- (Lucia) Upstairs.
Thanks.
Desmond
do you know how I can find him?
You know me, Jackie. I'm no grass.
No police. They've given up.
Please tell me, Morris.
Is he with one of your girls?
She should have asked me
to take care of him, Blakely.
I'd have taken pleasure in it.
Ruth is in there, waiting to die,
while you're here
enjoying yourself.
Towel! Hurry up!
Got reporters chasing me
night and day
customers deserting me,
and you want me to grass up one
of the only punters I've got left.
Ruthie wanted everything,
the big job,
big posh bloke,
big rock on her finger.
She went too far, took too much.
She ruined all of us.
I know you're not a bad man
but you've done some bad things
to Ruth
to me.
This is your chance to face it,
all of it.
Help me find him.
Please!
(knocking on door)
Open the door, Desmond.
There's no police here.
(footsteps approach)
(door opens)
You've been here all along.
I've come here as a friend,
to ask you to do the right thing.
The police know
you helped kill Blakely.
You may not
have pulled the trigger,
but he is dead because of you.
She's lying to save her own skin.
I don't blame her.
But I had nothing to do
with any of it.
No
You have one chance
to save the woman you loved.
- She never loved me.
- Is that why you did it?
To punish Ruth and David together?
You knew she would be arrested.
She came to you
when she was desperate.
You could have helped her.
You should have helped her!
But instead, you gave
a broken woman a loaded gun.
You know,
they haven't even told Andre yet
about what is happening
to his mother.
But soon, they will have to.
They will have to tell him
that she isn't in Italy,
modelling swimsuits
that she's dead
hanged.
And he won't even be able
to visit her grave
because she will be buried
with murderers in a prison pit.
What you have done to that child
is unforgivable.
I told Ruth he should have been
at her mother's that day.
Was Andre there?
Did he see something?
Make sure he gets this.
We're leaving.
Wait. Hey, wai
- (gasps)
- Don't!
- (Jacqueline) He's gone.
- Course he has.
(music concludes)
I told the police,
but he could be anywhere by now.
He talked about Andre.
Was Andre there
when Desmond gave you the gun?
Did he see Desmond give it to you?
(Desmond) Right hand on first,
left hand supporting.
Legs shoulder-width apart.
(tense music playing)
Elbows straight, not locked.
Now, this little blade
is the sight.
Get that on your target,
then squeeze the trigger.
Most importantly,
don't hold your breath,
or you'll tense up
and you won't hit the target.
Breathe.
In and out.
Nice and calm.
(Ruth breathes steadily)
(breathing quickens)
I can't do it.
Yes, you can.
(gunshot)
(gunshot)
(gunshots)
You see?
(twigs snap)
I told you to wait in the car!
Go back, now!
(Jacqueline) How much does he know?
He knows enough.
He's a witness. The police need
evidence to support your statement.
We thought only Desmond could
give that, but Andre could.
No, I won't.
I will not use him like that.
I will not ask that of him.
- I think he knows you're here.
- Of course he does.
(crying) He's a smart boy.
He doesn't believe that nonsense
about swimsuits in Italy.
Then let him talk to the police.
If he gives a statement
to the police and it fails
he will blame himself.
But you still have a chance
if you ask him to do this.
He needs to tell them
and the police
what he knows tonight.
I won't be long.
You will look after him,
you promise, whatever happens?
I swear it.
(musical compact plays
"La Vie en Rose")
Are you quite well there, dear?
(Desmond) Yes,
she's quite all right, thank you.
Are you all right?
I don't know.
I'm here. I'm with you. I love you.
I know.
I don't think I can.
Of course you can.
(muffled chatter and laughter)
Four bottles of light ale, please.
Oh, and two packets of cigarettes.
Come on. Because we're having
a party round the corner.
(Clive) Leave the poor girl alone.
It would have been rude
not to invite her.
- Leave the poor girl alone.
- David.
David!
(David) Jesus Ch
Ruth, what are you? No!
- Christ, she's got a fu
- (gunshots)
(gasping)
(gunshots)
(Clive) Call an ambulance!
Someone get help! Someone get help!
She killed him.
I won't be long.
(Clive) Why did you have
to kill him?
(music concludes)
(protestors chanting faintly)
Evans, Bentley, Ellis!
(phone rings)
Yes?
(tense music playing)
I took down your statement
this morning.
It appears that another version
was recorded, too,
by the, er the prison officer
who sat with us.
In his version,
you asked Cussen for the gun.
I didn't say that!
(sighs) I'm asking myself why
they're focussed on this version,
why they might be favouring it.
(Ruth) 'Cause they want it all
to be over.
The protests, the noise, the fuss,
the newspapers, the petitions,
all these people talking about
what a mess it is.
It's an embarrassment.
They want it over and done with.
They were looking
for a reason to ignore
what I told them, to say that
Desmond's part doesn't matter,
- and they've found it.
- They can't ignore it.
There are legal procedures.
(Ruth) Mr Bickford
was right all along.
He said they wouldn't let me get
away with it, and they won't.
Right. No matter
what anyone says or does now
it won't do anything.
They are determined to put an end
to this, and they will,
tomorrow at 9am.
I want you to call my parents and
say that Andre is going to go away
with the MP Mr Rogers and his wife,
as planned.
You don't want him to make
a statement to police?
No, I want him out of London
and away from here,
immediately. Please do it now!
(door opens)
(ragged breaths)
(protestor outside) Pray with us.
Our Father who art in heaven
Hallowed be they name
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done
On Earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
(ragged breaths)
(Joy) Mrs Ellis?
(gasping) Make them stop!
- Quiet.
- (protestors continue praying)
- (Joy) Ruth?
- I want it to be over.
Ruth, come with me.
- I want it to be over.
- (Joy) Up we get. Up we get.
(protestors outside) For ever
and ever, amen.
(music fades)
(sighs)
(Joy) I thought you might
like to finally
take your beer privileges.
- Is this allowed out here?
- No. But what can they do to you?
- Thanks.
- Not done much.
(melancholic music playing)
You might not believe this,
but the last few weeks have been
some of the best of my life.
You've all been so kind to me,
calling me "Mrs Ellis",
three square meals a day,
all those jam puddings.
No screaming, no fighting,
no men knocking on my door
in the middle of the night.
I've really rather liked it here.
Can you put me through
to the governor of Holloway Prison?
(music fades)
(footsteps approach)
Mrs Ellis
You've come to tell me
there's not going to be a reprieve.
It's quite all right.
It's quite all right. Promise.
(sombre music playing)
What time is it?
Two a.m.
Seven hours, then.
Would you like to sit up together?
I have some brandy in my office.
Actually, I'd quite like to get
some sleep if you don't mind.
Thank you.
(music fades)
(phone rings)
Philip Allen.
I want to speak
to the Home Secretary.
I insist
on speaking to him personally.
The Home Secretary's made
his position very clear.
And what is that position?
He says, if she isn't hanged
tomorrow, she never will be.
(sombre music playing)
I have practised law
for 20 years, and until today,
I would not have thought
it possible
that it should be used
by Englishmen in this way,
as a fig leaf
for an act of pure savagery.
(alarm rings)
(crowd chatter)
- (keys turn in lock)
- (music concludes)
No more prison smocks, then.
Can't say I'm sorry.
Hardy Amies.
I spent my entire first wage
from Carroll's on it.
(Joy) It's lovely.
My mother was horrified.
Said I should have made do
with rayon like everybody else.
I probably should have made do
with a lot of things.
A little house in Basingstoke,
a job in a typing pool,
a week in Bognor with a fat husband
once a year.
But I couldn't.
I wanted everything I could get
out of this life, every drop.
And I don't regret it
not a single moment.
(ominous music playing)
(Jayveer) Jacqueline?
I'm sorry. I tried.
They won't let me run the story
in the newspaper.
You need evidence
of what Cussen did?
I need something.
When all this is over,
you talk to Andre, her son.
(prison bell rings)
(tick echoes)
(keys turn in lock)
(door clangs)
How lovely. Thank you, Joy.
(banging)
(banging continues)
(clattering)
(quietly) Sorry.
(keys turn in lock)
- It will calm you.
- No, thank you.
(phone rings)
Charity Taylor.
(musical compact plays
"La Vie en Rose")
(keys turn in lock)
(door clangs shut)
(ticking echoes)
(door opens)
I'm so sorry, Mrs Ellis.
I just need a moment
with the undersheriff.
There's been a call
from a Miss Holmes,
claiming to be
the Home Secretary's office.
A reprieve.
I've tried to verify it.
No one there
knows anything about it.
(undersheriff) A hoax?
(Charity) It must be mustn't it?
(undersheriff) This Miss Holmes
(Charity)
I've tried two private secretaries.
No one's heard of her.
Thank you.
Oh.
I won't be needing these anymore.
(undersheriff)
One minute to, ma'am.
(Charity) We can't make her wait.
It's torture!
(ticking echoes)
I mean, it
it's got to be a hoax.
Proceed.
(keys turn in lock)
- (gasps)
- (chair thuds)
(Pierrepoint) It's all right,
lass, it's all right.
(suspenseful music playing)
(Pierrepoint) Follow me.
(protestors
chanting indistinctly outside)
Don't worry, lass,
I won't hurt you.
(ragged breaths)
(ragged breaths)
(trapdoor opens)
(sombre music playing)
(musical compact plays
"La Vie en Rose")
(music concludes)