It’s a true crime case that continues to hold interest: The 1955 hanging of Ruth Ellis, the last woman executed in Britain.

Ellis, 28, was damned for shooting David Blakely, her physically abusive, upper class race car driver lover.

Her story has been told and retold in film, TV, onstage, even in opera.  Now, with Monday’s four-part BritBox saga, “A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story” starring Lucy Boynton, the real, factual case is unveiled.

Boynton, 31, is best known as Mary Austin who married Freddie Mercury in the Oscar-winning biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

For Boynton playing Ellis was especially demanding. “I hope this whole case is a catalyst for conversation. This is the first time that we’re really getting a full scope and full understanding of the trial as it actually played out,” she said in Manhattan on Zoom.

“What’s most intriguing is how many parallels there are with 1955 and Ruth’s environment that still resonate in 2025 with our society.

“Domestic violence statistics, namely. I began this press tour and was horrified by the research — that actually the numbers are getting worse year by year. It’s an epidemic. A national crisis. Here and in the UK.”

Ellis and her older sister Muriel were born into poverty and sexually abused at home starting when they were 10 or 11. At 14, Muriel gave birth to her father’s baby. Ruth left home and school at 14 but for the rest of her life sent money home to her parents.

“That gives context to how hardened Ruth became at such a young age,” Boynton said. “She had no example of what a good man could be. She had known abuse from the very beginning. And every partner that she had was abusive. Horrifically so. Especially (her husband) George Ellis.

“And then she said David Blakely was worse. So she really didn’t have any context for what a positive male presence could be.

“I think that explains why she stayed. That explains why she took full responsibility and accountability for what she did at the trial. Because she didn’t realize how much she didn’t deserve to be on the receiving end of all of that.”

Ellis, with two young children by different fathers, was ambitious. “At that time, there were fewer opportunities for women. Yet she wanted to elevate herself out of the economic circumstances she was born into. She wanted a bigger, better life herself.

“So, she carved it out herself and was the youngest club manager in London. To be a woman and doing that was remarkable.

“Actually, she’s a very modern woman when you think of it. Yes, there are so many elements that will really shock people. But still feel very current.”

“A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story” streams on BritBox Feb. 17