A Cruel Love star Nigel Havers has a remarkable real-life connection to his latest role in the new true crime drama about Ruth Ellis. Known for his roles in Chariots of Fire, and Don’t Wait Up, Havers portrays his own grandfather, Justice Cecil Havers, in the series.
Cecil was the judge who sentenced Ruth Ellis to death after her trial for the murder of her lover, David Blakely, in 1955.
In a new documentary which sits alongside the drama, Havers says Sir Cecil was horrified after the jury took just two days to find her guilty of murder, which came with a mandatory sentence of the death penalty.
Nigel, 73, says his relative was hugely affected by the case, even writing to home secretary Gwilym Lloyd George to beg for her life to be spared. “I know it upset my grandfather enormously,” says in the documentary.
“He wrote a letter to the home secretary expressing she did not deserve to be hanged. Simple as that.” In response, Sir Cecil Havers is said to have received a “blunt refusal”.
Mr and Mrs Michael Haver (Image: Getty Images)
The actor adds: “I have very fond memories of my grandfather. I adored him really. He was a kind-hearted man and I do know he had great sympathy for Ruth.”
Kate Bartlett, executive producer of A Cruel Love, reveals that they approached Havers about the role but were unsure if he would accept.
“We had lots of conversations going, ‘Oh, do you think he might?’ And he leapt at it,” she says. “We couldn’t quite believe it. So it was just amazing that he was playing his grandfather, it was extraordinary.”
Director Lee Haven Jones adds: “He was full of little observations about what his grandfather would do. Apparently his grandfather used to write all the time, he’d constantly be taking notes, and he liked to bet on the horses as well.
“So there were all of these little details and while we didn’t include all of them, it was nice to know that the role was imbued with a sense of authenticity.”
A Cruel Love features Lucy Boynton in the gripping role of Ruth Ellis, the 28 year old nightclub manager who fell into a turbulent and abusive relationship with racing driver David Blakely, portrayed by Laurie Davidson.
the ill-fated romance was punctuated with what’s currently identified as domestic violence, culminating in shocking tragedy when Ruth fatally shot David outside a pub in Hampstead back in April 1955.
Following the incident, she was promptly detained and charged with his murder. “It was such a tumultuous relationship, but they couldn’t stay away from each other,” Lucy disclosed.
“Within weeks of meeting they were already living together. They seemed to be magnetised to each other. It’s hard for us on the outside to understand it but it was clearly intoxicating. And then it quickly turned very sour.
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“He was very jealous, yet also unfaithful. He would promise her marriage, then disappear for days or weeks, telling all his friends they weren’t together anymore, then would return to her begging her to take him back. His physical abuse became so bad her friends were convinced he would kill her.”
She revealed that filming the trial scenes, where Justice Havers presided and the jury took a mere 20 minutes to find Ruth guilty, were particularly challenging.
Nigel Havers played the judge, who was actually his real-life grandfather Cecil Havers (Image: ITV)
Lucy Boynton added: “The days I filmed in court were very intense because for legal reasons and for accuracy, all dialogue is verbatim from the court transcripts. So we got a totally vivid experience of what that trial was like.
“How frustrating it was to sit through the misinformation and misrepresentation of Ruth’s experience. Because David Blakely was a member of the upper class it was deemed inappropriate to talk about his ugly behaviour, so none of the physical and emotional abuse he inflicted was mentioned, and therefore the case was entirely imbalanced and Ruth misrepresented.
“It was an incredibly intense shoot,” she added. “The scenes of domestic violence were also hard to let go of when we wrapped.”
You can watch the first episode at 9pm on Wednesday, March 5 on ITV1 and ITVX.