Nigel Havers

I suppose I did because it's a controversial story. And the fact that she was the last woman to be hanged. And it was my grandfather who put the little black cap on, as you know, when you pass sentence, the death penalty. That's what the judge has to do. My father was very against capital punishment. So it was part of my growing up, really.

No, no shame, just pity. Because my grandfather spent the entire time in court with her in the witness box, trying to persuade her to say something that she never did say.

Correct. She kept saying, no, no, I knew what I was doing, I intended to kill him.

I was offered this role out of the blue and it was just extraordinary. I was so excited and I immediately rang my brother and said, this is what I've been offered. He said, that's just wonderful to play Grandpa, it's just fantastic.

Dann habe ich zu meiner Tochter gesprochen, die Elisabeth Butler-Sloss genannt ist, und sie hat gesagt, dass man sich sicher macht, dass man alles, was um sie herum passiert, lesen kann, und dass man das tut, was mein Großvater tat, nämlich kopische Noten zu machen. Er war ein großer Nottaker im Gericht. Also habe ich all das gemacht, und dann habe ich das Transkript gelesen.

Und die Worte, die ich in der Show spreche, sind genau die Worte, die er bei der Trial gesprochen hat.

We filmed in a make-believe court. There was a jury and a council and suddenly we were in a real court. And there I was, passing the death penalty. And the oxygen was just sucked out of the room. It was just extraordinary. You could hear a pin drop. I was devastated, giving this verdict. I felt terrible.

You know, I always say, I maintain that I'm not a method actor in any way, but somehow that day I was a sort of method actor. After filming it, did you feel... I burst into tears. It was extraordinary. I felt very sorry for my grandfather, because he was extremely upset. And he wrote a letter to the Home Secretary at the time and said, this woman must not be hanged.

And the Home Secretary ignored it.

As far as my aunt is concerned, and what she told me, was that he financed one of the children and supported them. That's how strongly he felt.

Indeed. Funnily enough, towards the end, I think after sentence, it was just over a month before she was hanged. And she changed her mind and she said, can I go back to court and say I didn't premeditate? I mean, she tried. She thought about it. Mind you, I suppose one would. Sitting in a prison cell, waiting to be executed, is probably the most appalling thing any human being could go through.

And... The actor Nigel Habers on playing his own grandfather, the judge who sentenced the last women to hang in the UK.