Ruth Ellis

A good episode depicting the highly opposed death penalty conviction of Ruth Ellis of her estranged lover. The re-enactments were the most sophisticated of the series and paired well with the story.

Writer William Simpson and Director Daniel Kontur deserve particular credit for two decisions. With the first they include extensive imagined re-enactment featuring not the principals to the crime but a woman passionately opposed to Ellis's hanging and an indifferent train passenger whom she seeks to sway to her thinking. As a result of the second decision - to have them explore non-confrontationally both sides of an emotive argument - we join the everyman passenger in learning historical detail without the feeling of being spoon fed, and we think through the pros and cons alongside him. The understated yet emotionally charged acting of Sophia Del Pizzo and Simon Wright in these scenes is also enjoyable and to be commended.

(P.S. That's a high star rating from me.)