A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story
  • Network: BritBox
  • Series Premiere Date: Feb 17, 2025
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8

Critic Reviews

  1. Variety
    Reviewed by: Aramide Tinubu
    Feb 21, 2025
    90
    The entire show is rapidly paced and full of information, but the second half of “A Cruel Love” is the more compelling. .... Moving beyond Ruth, the series is even more riveting when it looks toward the societal standards of the time.
  2. i
    Reviewed by: Julia Raeside
    Mar 7, 2025
    80
    As a period piece, it’s polished and beautifully shot, but as an agent of change, the jury is still out.
  3. The Independent
    Reviewed by: Phil Harrison
    Mar 5, 2025
    80
    The excellent lead, Lucy Boynton, is equal parts insolent charisma and wary vulnerability, a woman so accustomed to withstanding life’s hard knocks that she finds it difficult to let her guard down under any circumstances. If the story has a moral centre, it is provided by Toby Jones’s John Bickford. Jones is as superb as ever, albeit in the kind of role he’s perhaps in danger of finding himself stuck in for good.
  5. The Telegraph
    Reviewed by: Anita Singh
    Mar 5, 2025
    80
    It’s a thought-provoking drama powered by a strong central performance from Lucy Boynton.
  6. The Times
    Reviewed by: Carol Midgley
    Mar 5, 2025
    80
    All four episodes are available but the last is the most affecting. Particularly the scenes that show Ellis spending her final weeks in Holloway prison.
  7. Decider
    Reviewed by: Joel Keller
    Feb 21, 2025
    80
    While we wish there was a bit more of Ruth Ellis’ backstory at the beginning of A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story, it’s still an intriguing story about the last woman executed in Great Britain, with a fine lead performance by Lucy Boynton.