Original subtitles

You are due to hang at 9:00 tomorrow morning...

...22 hours from now.

Do you wish to make a new statement

about the murder of David Blakely,

one that may materially affect your legal situation?

Yes.

I had been ill for two weeks.

The miscarriage?

David had been so sorry.

Are you watching me sleep?

Listening to you snore.

I don't snore.

I want to be woken up by your snoring the rest of my life.

Soppy little fool.

Is your stomach still painful?

It's fine. Doctor says it's healing well.

Good.

'Cause I'm taking you out tonight.

- Mm. - Clean slate.

No more fighting. No more...

Cinema cleaning girls?

She was an usherette.

I do have some self-respect.

Neither one of us has been perfect.

But from now on,

we're going to be a boring old married couple,

you in a housecoat, me in slippers.

And occasionally we'll talk of how young,

foolish we used to be.

Promise?

Yes.

See you tonight.

Be ready at 8:00.

Findlaters' residence.

Is David there?

No.

Hello?

And who was that girl?

Look. David isn't here, all right?

I got Desmond to drive me to the Findlaters'.

Wait here.

- I want to speak to David. - He's not here.

His car's outside.

I know he's in there with some girl.

- That's our nanny. - You did this, didn't you?

You threw her at him.

- David! David! - He's left you, Ruth.

- You won't see him ever again. - You're lying.

I have only ever told you the truth.

You've never wanted to hear it.

He can't just walk away... with everything in ruins.

I know you need someone to blame

for the way your life has turned out.

You know, I had you down as a dangerous sort of woman,

a predator who set a trap for a naive boy.

But I was wrong.

You're just... a mess.

A wretched, ungovernable, emotionally incontinent mess.

A whirlwind of shabby destruction

bringing everyone else down with you.

My job.

My savings.

My daughter.

My unborn child.

All gone because of him.

He does not get to walk away without saying a word.

He doesn't! I have to speak to him!

- David! - There's nothing to say.

Then I want my key back for Egerton Gardens.

- I want my key back. - I'll have it sent to you.

You cannot do this! You can't do this!

David!

David, I know you're in... David!

I felt I had to do something...

...anything... to make him listen.

Ruth? Ruth!

- David! - That's enough.

- David! - That's enough!

- That's enough. - He's in there with a girl.

He's laughing at me!

Does he have a key to Egerton Gardens,

the place I rented for you, your new start?!

Has he been there all along?

What are you looking at?

- David! David! - Get in the car, Ruth!

In the car, Ruth!

I had to go back the next day.

I was determined to make David speak to me.

Their plan, what they had wanted all along...

to get David away from me, without looking back,

without acknowledging what he had done to me... it'd worked.

Are you all in? Are you all in?

All night I sat there

and thought about the last two years.

When I had first met David, I was managing a successful club.

I had two beautiful children.

I had money in the bank, admirers...

...a lovely flat.

And now all I had was a bedsitting room.

No money. No job.

And a man who swore he loved me one day

and then beat and abused me the next.

A man who was relieved when I lost the child he fathered.

I thought, and I thought.

All the things he had said to me,

all the things he had done to me.

And I just felt pure rage.

I don't know what to do.

- I'll make you some coffee. - I don't want any coffee.

Well, tea, then!

I don't want any fucking tea!

I just... wish he was dead.

I wish he was dead.

I wish he would jump in the lake and drown

and I could just be free.

We could be free.

I just want to be done with all of it.

Do you?

Whose idea was it to get the gun?

I wouldn't know how to use it.

I wouldn't know how to aim it.

I'll show you.

I need the permanent undersecretary of state.

He's at Ascot.

Well, get him bloody back from Ascot.

What message should I give?

Tell him Ruth Ellis isn't going to hang tomorrow.

Mrs Ellis is accusing Desmond Cussen

of conspiracy to murder?

Yes.

The execution will have to be postponed

while he's interviewed.

If charges are brought against him,

Ruth Ellis will be the principal witness.

She will be needed to give evidence.

And that's to say nothing of her own conviction,

which can now be regarded as unsafe.

She was drunk. She was influenced by this man.

I anticipate a retrial at the very least.

You are not in fact a... criminal lawyer, Mr Mishcon.

You are a divorce solicitor?

Yes.

Well, the undersecretary is on his way back from Ascot.

I will brief him,

and doubtless he will wish to speak to the home secretary.

But the execution will be postponed

while all this is investigated?

I can give no such assurance.

Not on the strength of this alone.

Then what would you need?

We can do nothing until Cussen is interviewed

at the very least.

We must have some corroborating evidence.

Until then, I'm afraid... these are just words.

Then call Scotland Yard and instruct them to find him now.

As I say, I will inform my superiors.

We have 16 hours until she is due to die.

You're right. I know little of criminal law.

But I know how long it takes to divorce someone.

Six months minimum

between the decrees nisi and absolute

to ensure the grounds are correct,

that the marriage is truly unsalvageable.

Because a divorce is an absolute that cannot be undone.

Your government passed that law.

And you give this woman, between conviction and killing her,

22 days.

Call the bloody police.

Cussen left his office 20 minutes ago.

He's on his way home.

You said it yourself, sir. She pulled the trigger.

Doesn't matter where she got the gun.

You did everything right.

Let's go.

Thank you for coming back.

I know I wasn't the most gracious hostess last time.

I deserved it.

You're many things... but you are no coward.

I wasn't when there was no hope.

Now I'm bloody petrified.

Do you remember

when you and Vicki came to visit me in hospital

and you brought gin and a gramophone?

Matron told us not to turn the place into a bordello,

but by midnight, she was absolutely smashed

and dancing with us.

I remember Vicki flashing the geriatric ward.

And three of them proposing to her.

We sat up on the roof and watched the sun come up.

I wish we could do that tomorrow morning.

Before Mr Pierrepoint.

Well, the hangman can sod off back to his pub.

Your statement changed everything.

You do know what his pub is called?

- Mm? - Help the Poor Struggler.

No!

Joy told me.

Listen.

I can try to find Desmond...

get a confession and take it to the police.

We don't have to.

DCI Davies has been at the Home Office

getting a rocket up his arse.

They're going to find Desmond, Jackie.

He's going to be arrested and charged... tonight.

So, you want to know

if I have anything else that might help you.

As you can see, I am in no fit state to help anyone.

But you knew.

You clearly knew about the gun.

I made certain suppositions which have proved to be true.

And you told her to stay quiet?

You advised her to lie, to perjure herself in Crown Court?

I was bound by client confidentiality,

as I still am.

Mrs Ellis made me swear not to say anything.

You may say I made the wrong decision, and perhaps I did.

My aim was to show that she was provoked,

not that she'd conspired with anyone,

premeditated the whole thing.

Well, that was very convenient for Desmond Cussen

that you took that route.

Did you make a deal with him?

Certainly not, my friend.

I suppose my problem is that I'm not brave enough

to stand up to all of them all, to s... to stand up to it.

- It? - The English machine.

The whole... thundering weight of it.

Are you talking about a conspiracy?

Nothing so vulgar.

The machine is bigger than any one man.

It's bigger than any...

gentlemen's club or courtroom or police station.

It is concerned with self-preservation above all.

And it is ruthless, you may say, to the point of savagery,

to anyone who threatens it.

And Ruth threatens it in every possible way.

And that is why the machine is determined to get her.

It has been from the start.

Oh, you're drunk, man.

And this is dangerous nonsense.

This is the law, the justice system,

the finest in the world.

And you say I'm talking nonsense?

I was like you, you know.

I thought I was one of the good ones,

fighting the machine.

Until I realised I'm just a cog being ground in it.

If you know something that could help her,

we have hours to save her life.

It's too late.

- That's Pierrepoint! - That's the hangman!

- Murderer! - How do you sleep at night?

Where's all your shame at?

Pierrepoint! Come back!

You bastard!

Why didn't you say anything

about Desmond Cussen before?

It seemed traitorous.

Until I realised he'd betrayed me worse.

He promised to look after Andre?

Nothing. Not a visit.

Not a single penny.

What does Andre know?

He's been told you're in Italy modelling swimsuits.

The MP, Mr Rogers, and his wife, they've been very kind.

Offered to take him to the country for a few days.

Get him away from all this.

But now we might not need to.

They tannoyed the undersecretary of state at Ascot.

The press heard it.

Reporters camped out at the house...

one from bloody New Zealand.

Evening papers all saying the same thing...

a last-minute reprieve.

And there's been money sent in by well-wishers.

Enough for you and Andre to get away somewhere.

A new life!

Well, you'll never need to work again.

Talk shows, after-dinner speeches.

You're a flaming celebrity.

Evans! Bentley! Ellis!

Evans! Bentley! Ellis!

There's hundreds of them!

Evans! Bentley! Ellis! Evans! Bentley! Ellis!

Hundreds of people have gathered this evening

outside Holloway Prison in support of Mrs Ruth Ellis,

who is due to hang tomorrow morning

for the murder of her lover, David Blakely.

A nightclub hostess, Mrs Ellis was sentenced to death

at the Old Bailey on the 21st of June this year

for killing Mr Blakely.

Lawyers for Mrs Ellis claim that new evidence has surfaced

Implicating an unnamed person

and placing them at the scene of the crime.

Her newly appointed solicitor, Mr Victor Mishcon,

has submitted new evidence to the Home Off...

This heat, it's hellish.

Let's get out of London.

Pack some things.

It's 9:00. Twelve hours until she hangs.

Why aren't you out looking for Desmond Cussen?

She shot him in the back, right?

Point-blank range. An innocent bloke.

Could've been any one of us.

She deserves to bloody swing for it.

Oh, shut up, Peter.

We looked for him, all right?

There's no answer at Cussen's flat,

and we've driven round the West End for hours.

I've been given two men and half a day

to search the whole of bloody London.

Does it really seem like anyone wants him to be found?

Lucia, where is he?

Upstairs.

Thanks.

Desmond... Do you know how I can find him?

You know me, Jackie. I'm no grass.

No police. They've given up.

Please tell me, Morris.

Is he with one of your girls?

She should have asked me.

To take care of him... Blakely.

I'd have taken pleasure in it.

Ruth is in there, waiting to die...

while you're here, enjoying yourself.

Towel.

Hurry up!

Got reporters chasing me night and day.

Customers deserting me.

And you want me to grass up one of the only punters I got left?

Ruthie wanted everything... the big job,

big, posh bloke, big rock on her finger.

She went too far. Took too much.

She ruined all of us.

I know you're not a bad man.

But you've done some bad things...

to Ruth...

...to me.

This is your chance to fix it, all of it.

Help me find him. Please.

Open the door, Desmond.

There's no police here.

You've been here all along.

I've come here as a friend to ask you to do the right thing.

The police know you helped kill Blakely.

You may not have pulled the trigger,

but he is dead because of you.

She's lying... to save her own skin.

I don't blame her, but I...

had nothing to do with any of it.

You have one chance to save the woman you loved.

She never loved me.

Is that why you did it?

To punish Ruth and David together?

You knew she would be arrested.

She came to you when she was desperate.

You could have helped her. You should have helped her!

But instead you gave a broken woman a loaded gun.

You know they haven't even told Andre yet

about what is happening to his mother?

But soon they will have to.

They will have to tell him that she isn't in Italy,

modelling swimsuits...

...but that she's dead.

Hanged.

And he won't even be able to visit her grave

because she will be buried with murderers in the prison pit.

What you have done to that child is unforgivable.

I told Ruth he should have been at her mother's that day.

Was Andre there?

Did... Did he see something?

Make sure he gets this.

We're leaving.

Wait.

Hey! W...

Don't.

He's gone.

Of course he has.

I told the police, but he could be anywhere by now.

He talked about Andre.

Was Andre there when Desmond gave you the gun?

Did he see Desmond give it to you?

Right hand on first, left hand supporting.

Legs shoulder-width apart.

Elbows straight, not locked.

Now, this little blade is the sight.

Get that on your target, then squeeze the trigger.

Most importantly, don't hold your breath

or you'll tense up... and you won't hit the target.

Breathe.

In and out.

Nice and calm.

I can't do it.

Yes, you can.

You see?

I told you to wait in the car. Go back! Now!

How much does he know?

He knows enough.

He's a witness.

The police need evidence to support your statement.

We thought only Desmond could give that.

- But Andre could. - No. I won't.

I will not use him like that. I will not ask that of him.

I think he knows you are here.

Of course he does.

He's a smart boy.

He doesn't believe that nonsense about swimsuits in Italy.

Then let him talk to the police.

If he gives a statement to the police and it fails...

...he will blame himself.

But you still have a chance... if you ask him to do this.

He needs to tell them and the police what he knows tonight.

I won't be long.

You will look after him? You promise?

Whatever happens?

I swear it.

Are you quite well there, dear?

Yes, she's quite all right, thank you.

Are you all right?

I don't know.

I'm here. I'm with you.

I love you.

I know.

I don't think I can.

Of course you can.

Four bottles of light ale, please.

Oh, and two packets of cigarettes.

- Come on. - Because we're having a party

- round the corner. - Leave the poor girl alone

It would've been rude not to invite her.

Leave the poor girl alone.

David.

David!

Jesus C... Ruth, what are y...

No.

Christ. She's got a fucking...

Go and get help! Go and get help!

She killed him!

I won't be long.

Why did you have to kill him?!

Yes?

I took down your statement this morning.

It appears that another version was recorded, too,

by the, er, the... the prison officer who sat with us.

In his version, you ask Cussen for the gun.

I didn't say that.

I'm asking myself... w-why they're focused on this version,

why they might be favouring it.

'Cause they want it all to be over...

the protests, the noise, the fuss,

the newspapers, the petitions,

all these people talking about what a mess it is.

It's an embarrassment, and they want it over and done with.

They were looking for a reason to ignore what I told them,

to say that Desmond's part doesn't matter.

And they found it.

They can't ignore it. There are legal procedures.

Mr Bickford was right all along.

He said they wouldn't let me get away with it, and they won't.

Right.

No matter what anyone says or does now...

it won't do anything.

They are determined to put an end to this, and they will,

tomorrow at 9:00 a.m.

I want you to call my parents and say that Andre is to go away

with the MP, Mr Rogers, and his wife, as planned.

You don't want him to make a statement to police?

No. I want him out of London and away from here immediately!

Please do it now.

Pray with us!

Our Father, Who art in heaven...

...hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread...

...as we forgive those...

Mrs. Ellis?

Make them stop. Quiet.

I just... want it to be over.

- Ruth, come with me. - For thine is the kingdom...

Up we get. Up we get.

- Up we get. - ...forever and ever.

Amen.

I thought you might like

to finally take your beer privileges.

Is this allowed out here?

No. But what can they do to you?

Thanks.

Not done much.

You might not believe this,

but the last few weeks have been some of the best of my life.

You've all been so kind to me.

Calling me Mrs Ellis, three square meals a day.

All those jam puddings.

No screaming, no fighting,

no men knocking on my door in the middle of the night.

I've really rather liked it here.

Can you put me through to the governor of Holloway Prison?

Mrs Ellis.

You've come to tell me there's not going to be a reprieve.

It's quite all right.

It's quite all right. Promise.

What time is it?

2 a.m.

Seven hours, then.

Would you like to sit up together?

I have some brandy in my office.

Actually, I'd quite like to get some sleep,

if you don't mind.

Thank you.

Philip Allen.

I want to speak to the home secretary.

I insist on speaking to him personally.

The home secretary has made his position very clear.

And what is that position?

He says if she isn't hanged tomorrow, she never will be.

I have practised law for 20 years.

And until today, I would not have thought it possible

that it should be used by Englishmen in this way.

As a fig leaf for an act of pure savagery!

No more prison smocks, then.

Can't say I'm sorry.

Hardy Amies.

Spent my entire first wage from Carroll's on it.

It's lovely.

My mother was horrified.

Said I should've made do with rayon like everybody else.

Probably should've made do with a lot of things.

Little house in Basingstoke, job in a typing pool,

week in Bognor with a fat husband once a year.

I couldn't.

I wanted everything I could get out of this life, every drop.

And I don't regret it.

Not a single moment.

Jacqueline?

I'm sorry. I tried.

They won't let me run the story in the newspaper.

You need evidence of what Cussen did?

I need something.

When all this is over, you talk to Andre, her son.

How lovely.

Thank you, Joy.

Sorry.

It will calm you.

No, thank you.

Charity Taylor.

I'm so sorry, Mrs Ellis.

I just need a moment with the undersheriff.

There's been a call from a Miss Holmes,

claiming to be the home secretary's office.

A reprieve. I've tried to verify it.

No one there knows anything about it.

A hoax?

It must be. Mustn't it?

This Miss Holmes...

I've tried two private secretaries.

No one's heard of her.

Thank you.

I won't be needing these any more.

One minute to, ma'am.

We can't make her wait. It's torture.

I mean, it... it's got to be a hoax.

Proceed.

It's all right, lass.

It's all right.

Follow me.

Don't worry, lass. I won't hurt you.