Rough justice

Ruth Ellis heads into the dock...

- CAREN CLARK, SEAN MARLAND

The murder trial of Ruth Ellis brings turmoil and conflict for her defence team, as ITV1’s factual drama A Cruel Love continues this week.

Ruth (Lucy Boynton) has shot dead her abusive lover David Blakely (Laurie Davidson). But her tenacious solicitor John Bickford (Toby Jones) is keen to prove that it was manslaughter rather than murder. He wants to focus on the domestic violence she has suffered, and a miscarriage that may have been caused by Blakely’s beatings.