Lucy Boynton stars as Ruth Ellis on this week's Radio Times cover
The new true-crime drama uncovers why the last woman to be hanged in Britain should have been set free.
On Wednesday 13 July 1955, Ruth Ellis became the last woman in Britain to be hanged after being found guilty of killing her lover, David Blakely.
For the majority of us, that's the sum total of what we know about this notorious case. But in a new ITV drama, based on a book by Carol Ann Lee, we start to find out far more about the woman behind the headlines.
After spending weeks researching the case, Lee concludes, "I realised that Ruth's full story had never really been told."
I, for one, didn't know that the jury took just 20 minutes to find her guilty, or that she was a victim of systematic coercive control - a legal defence that wasn't available to her at the time, but no less shocking.
But the most devastating testimony comes from Ellis's granddaughter, Laura Enston. You can read her heartbreaking tale in this week's issue.
If nothing else, the case of Ruth Ellis is proof that even though the events happened 70 years ago they still have consequences here and now.
In the week that we celebrate International Women's Day, it's a reminder that when it comes to ensuring equality for women, we need to learn lessons from history.
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Also in this week's Radio Times:
- Stephen Graham and Ashley Walters explore the horror of teen knife crime - in one take - in Adolescence.
- Ten Pound Poms' Danny Brocklehurst and Michelle Keegan introduce a new series of the drama that explores the myth of the Australian Dream.
- There's more to actor Pamela Anderson than a red Baywatch swimsuit.
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