Actress Lucy Boynton says society has become ‘desensitised’ to domestic violence

By Casey Cooper-Fiske, PA Entertainment Reporter

A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story star Lucy Boynton has said society has become “desensitised” to domestic violence.

The 31-year-old plays Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain in 1955, after she shot dead her abusive racing driver boyfriend David Blakely (Laurie Davidson) in the ITV drama, and told the PA news agency that she was disappointed she could not say “this would never happen again”.

Asked by PA if she thought things would have been different if Blakely and Ellis’s relationship took place today, Boynton said: “I think we definitely have more resources.

“And I think things like social media create a sense of community where, even if you yourself aren’t engaging with it, it is made available to you, statistics are made available to you, which can immediately, hopefully make someone feel less alone.

“There are more resources to help people, the statistics are horrific, and there’s a statistic about a man or a person who commits domestic abuse is more likely to then go on and commit greater crimes and violence.

“So we see domestic violence as a stepping stone that first thing, the very fact that has happened is grave enough, and I think because it is so common, we are desensitised to it.

“It is seen as a kind of inevitable existence, inevitable presence, and we all know the statistics that are thankfully made available to us around like football events, where if your team loses, domestic violence goes up by 38% and another 11% the following day.

“I don’t know how we live with that.

“Thankfully, there are now more organisations that do target that and try and help women.”

The actress also spoke about working with Mr Bates Vs The Post Office star Toby Jones, who plays Ruth’s lawyer John Bickford.

She told PA: “He operates with such kind of pragmatism and authority, because he’s vastly intelligent and incredibly good at what he does.

“And so there is this sense of kind of steadiness being in a scene with him, there’s so much trust, and I think I can kind of relax a bit knowing that he’s the kind of litmus test and barometer for quality.

“So if he’s reacting well to something, then I know we’re on the right track, and also just to act opposite someone like that, and then get to talk to him between scenes.

“He’s a gift of a human being and fun, so it was that kind of levity in really, really dark scenes, and kind of a guide as well.”

A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story starts on ITV1 at 9pm on Wednesday March 5th.