Using a .38 caliber Smith & Wesson revolver, actress Lucy Boynton recreates one of the most famous crime scenes in British history, playing the last woman sent to the gallows.
In exclusive pictures from upcoming ITV drama Ruth, the Bohemian Rhapsody star is seen playing former nude model and escort Ruth Ellis while she meets her lover, racing driver David Blakely, played by actress Laurie Davidson, kills.
The drama’s producers decided to return to the exact location where Ellis killed her boyfriend on April 10, 1955 to film the scene.
These photos of Boynton and Davidson were taken outside the Magdala pub in north London – where Ellis fired five shots at Blakely, with one bullet ricocheting off the pavement and wounding a passer-by.
With her bleached hair and column red lipstick, the actress is seen taking long strides towards Blakeley before firing the gun at close range.
Actress Lucy Boynton (pictured) was seen recreating one of the most famous crime scenes in British history
The “Bohemian Rhapsody” star is filmed in the role of former nude model and escort model Ruth Ellis
In the scene, Boyton’s character kills racing driver David Blakely, played by actress Laurie Davidson (pictured center).
Ruth Ellis (pictured right) was convicted of murder at the Old Bailey and hanged at Holloway Prison in July 1955
Visitors to the Magdala today can see what appear to be bullet holes in the pub’s wall – although locals say they were actually made in the 1990s by revelers with a drill after a drunken lock-up.
As The Mail on Sunday revealed last month, Boynton, who starred as Freddie Mercury’s former fiancée in the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, will portray Ellis as a victim of physical abuse in the four-part TV drama.
Call The Midwife and Baptiste screenwriter Kelly Jones, who wrote the screenplay for Ruth, is believed to have focused on the turbulent relationship between Ellis and Blakely – Ellis had a miscarriage after her lover, who was engaged to another woman, had punched her in the stomach while she was pregnant.
Ellis is said to have remarked: “Are you going to call the police, Clive?” to a friend of Blakely’s after she fired the shots that killed her lover, and then said to the police officer who arrested her: “I’m guilty, I am.” “I’m a little confused.”
She was convicted of murder at the Old Bailey and hanged at Holloway Prison in July 1955.
Her execution is believed to have led to the abolition of the death penalty in the United Kingdom.
“The story of Ruth Ellis is fascinating,” Boynton said after landing the role. “I look forward to offering a new perspective to both familiar audiences and those unaware of her influence on British history.”