Nigel Havers says it was ‘extraordinary’ to play grandfather for new ITV drama

By Carla Feric, Press Association Entertainment Reporter

Nigel Havers has spoken about how “extraordinary” it was to play his own grandfather for a new ITV historical drama.

A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story chronicles the final months of the last woman to be hanged in Britain, and asks whether she deserved capital punishment, having been convicted of killing her abusive partner.

The actor and presenter, 74, stars in the four-part series as the judge presiding over the high-profile, 1950s’ murder trial – Justice Cecil Havers – who was his real-life grandfather.

Havers spoke about how it felt to be on set and in costume, portraying his grandfather, on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Friday.

He said: “The oxygen was sucked out of the set when we filmed it. It was extraordinary – the tension.”

Havers also said he was “very affected” by Ellis’s case, adding: “It was a most unfortunate thing. There was a great cry at the time to stop capital punishment. I think they rushed this (case) through, in a way.

“I knew about it from a very early age. My grandfather told me about it and how upset he was. He wrote to the Home Secretary asking him to not go ahead with the hanging, and it was ignored.”

Havers, known for starring in Chariots Of Fire, continued: “It was all about provocation. The whole case rested on that. (Ellis) was asked repeatedly whether she was provoked, and she said no, she intended to kill him.

“Today, she would never have been found guilty of murder, but you can’t go back in time and change history like that.

“My grandfather said to me that had he been her, he would have done the same thing.”

The series is based on the true story of Ellis, who was hanged for shooting and killing David Blakely in 1955, after a turbulent, violent relationship.

After seeing a clip of the TV drama, Havers appeared visibly emotional, and presenter Kate Garraway told viewers she saw him “welling up”.

He said: “I just think, I mean, thank God we don’t have capital punishment.

“As my grandfather said, and my father, when you’re doing a case of murder,  the atmosphere of the court, you know that if you’re found guilty you will be hanged, there’s so much at stake.

“Thank God we don’t have that, but I just feel it was most unfair thing to happen. I would love to go back in time and change it, but the law was the law then, and that’s what happened.”

My grandfather said to me that had he been her, he would have done the same thing

Havers was accompanied on the morning news programme by Laura Enston, Ellis’s granddaughter, who is leading a campaign with her siblings to secure a posthumous pardon for their grandmother.

She said: “I think a pardon would be huge for my family.

“We have lived under the long shadow of this case and ultimately we’re looking for a formal acknowledgement that she should never have been hung.”

– A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story is available to watch on ITVX