The Ruth Ellis Files: A Very British Crime Story

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Factual: Crime & Justice

Series re-examining the 1955 Ruth Ellis case - the last woman to be hanged in Britain.

In 1955 Ruth Ellis was the last woman hanged in Britain for the murder of her lover. In this investigative three-part series film-maker Gillian Pachter re-examines the case.

Series 1

BBC Four

Gillian Pachter

Cate Hall

Wall to Wall Media

The Ruth Ellis Files: A Very British Crime Story: Series 1: Episode 2

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Episode 2

BBC Four - The Ruth Ellis Files: A Very British Crime Story, Series 1, Episode 2

Gillian Pachter turns her attention to Ruth's trial, which took just a day and a half.

Series re-examining the Ruth Ellis case. In part two, Gillian turns her attention to Ruth's trial, which took just a day and a half. Her lawyer pursued a risky defence strategy.

In April 1955 Ruth Ellis shot her lover David Blakely dead. It's a case that shocked the nation and it still fascinates today. It has its place in ushering in the defence of diminished responsibility and the eventual abolishment of capital punishment. We all think we know the story, but why, when it was seemingly such an open and shut case, does it still divide opinion on whether Ruth Ellis got the justice she deserved? 

Film-maker Gillian Pachter wants to find out. The result is a fresh investigation with fascinating true-crime twists and turns that also shines a unique light on attitudes to class, gender and sex in 1950s London.

In episode two Gillian turns her attention to Ruth's trial which took just a day and a half. She starts with a tape-recorded conversation from the 1980s between Ruth's son Andre and the barrister who led the prosecution. Andre expresses doubts about his mother's trial, calling into question her state of mind and whether she was a cold-blooded killer.

Gillian is interested to know whether the defence shared these concerns and she turns her attention to Ruth's solicitor. There are immediate and compelling questions about how he was hired, by whom and why. Ultimately it seems he was determined that the jury should look beyond the tabloid stereotype of Ruth to understand her troubled background - that way, they'd be inclined to recommend mercy and save Ruth from execution. But Ruth and her barrister had other ideas - while she refused to play ball he pursued a defence strategy so risky that the judge was forced to put his foot down.

There's the ongoing question of Ruth's alleged accomplice and how much Ruth's defence team knew of his involvement and continuing revelations from the forgotten witness, Ruth's son Andre. Gillian draws on expert opinion from top legal minds who know the case intimately, and they paint a portrait of a woman trapped not only by the constraints of 1950s society but by the narrow parameters of English law.

The Ruth Ellis Files: A Very British Crime Story: Series 1

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In 1955, Ruth Ellis was the last woman hanged in Britain for the murder of her lover. In this investigative three-part series, film-maker Gillian Pachter re-examines the case.

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The Ruth Ellis Files: A Very British Crime Story

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