IN DEFENCE
TOBY JONES on playing Ruth Ellis’ dogged solicitor John Bickford
TOBY JONES on playing Ruth Ellis’ dogged solicitor John Bickford
‘Ruth Ellis is notorious as the last woman to be hanged [in the United Kingdom], but few people know the circumstances,’ says Toby, 58. ‘And the speed of the case [the trial took two days, the jury delivered their verdict after 14 minutes, and Ruth was executed 22 days later] was startling.’ ‘John Bickford tries to get Ruth to use the domestic violence she’d suffered as a mitigating factor but she won’t until it’s too late. They opt for a different defence but Bickford ends up compromised. He st...