Created by Kelly Jones and based on Carol Anne Lee’s biography, “A Fine Day for Hanging,” BritBox’s “A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story” is a gutting, engaging historical crime drama revolving around an ambitious woman hindered by abuse, misogyny, trauma and her desire to be loved. A foreboding tale, Lucy Boynton is brilliant as Ruth Ellis, a young mother convicted of killing her abusive lover and who would become the last woman to be hanged in the United Kingdom.

Capital punishment is still a polarizing topic in the United States. However, the practice has been long outlawed in various places across the globe. “A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story” explores why an otherwise upstanding citizen might be driven to commit such a heinous act and how a country condemned her for it. The series opens on July 13, 1955, the day Ruth is executed for murdering race car...