The Ruth Ellis Story has inspired a recurring complaint on social media after premiering on Wednesday, 5 March. Featuring Bohemian Rhapsody actress Lucy Boynton as the last woman to be hanged in Britain — Ellis fatally shot her lover David Blakely in 1955 — this four-part ITV dramatisation also stars Toby Jones

Viewers of A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story were quick to highlight a problem just minutes into the new drama, confessing that they found it 'confusing'. The four-part series delves into the life and crimes of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Great Britain.

The Ruth Ellis Story revisits the famous crime, trial and hanging, fleshing out Ellis’s tragic past in the process

Executive producers Kate Bartlett and Antonia Gordon of Silverprint Pictures took on the tale of an "obsessive relationship" that was "toxic and abusive," meaning "it was important to tell the full story.

The story of Ruth Ellis’s execution in 1955 has found its own macabre niche in British folklore, and has been been the subject of several film, stage and TV treatments. Perhaps the most memorable of these was Mike Newell’s 1985 film Dance with a Stranger,

“A Cruel Love is not really about murder and hanging. It’s about obsessive desire, and the consequences when it all goes wrong. Lucy Boynton is excellent as Ruth, but it’s Toby Jones as her solicitor, Mr Bickford, who gets the best lines.” Roland White, Daily Mail

Ruth Ellis (Lucy Boynton) was arrested following the shooting of her lover David Blakely in 1955 following a turbulent relationship. Drawing inspiration from Carol Ann Lee's book, A Fine Day For A Hanging, the new series will highlight the emotional and physical abuse suffered by Ruth at the hands of her lover David Blakely.

Lucy Boynton leads the cast of ITV's hard-hitting factual drama A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story, which explores the tragic life of the last woman to be hanged in Britain.

Toby Jones is on characteristically excellent form as the doomed Ruth’s barrister in ITV’s latest true crime series