Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman
Short description
Albert Pierrepoint follows his father and uncle into the executioner's trade, answering a letter from Pentonville prison and taking up a role his family has filled before him. He keeps the work hidden behind an ordinary life, delivering groceries and returning home to his wife Annie, while privately chasing a reputation as the fastest and most efficient hangman in Britain. His skill brings him to high-profile cases at home and, during the Second World War, to executions abroad. When his identity becomes public, the man who prided himself on discretion turns into a figure the country recognizes, and the debate over capital punishment closes in on him.
Adrian Shergold directed the film, the first of the three features listed for him, from a screenplay by Jeff Pope and Bob Mills, with Christine Langan producing. Timothy Spall plays Albert, Juliet Stevenson plays Annie, and Mary Stockley appears as Ruth Ellis. The cast runs to thirty-three credited performers.
Made in the United Kingdom with backing from the UK Film Council and Granada Productions, the 98-minute drama was released in December 2005. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.4 from around 6,000 votes, and on TMDB a rating of 7.1 from a much smaller pool of 85 votes. The two scores sit close together, suggesting a consistent response from viewers across both.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film tells the story of Albert Pierrepoint (1905-1992), who, despite the title, was not the last executioner in the UK. Pierrepoint retired in the mid-1950s shortly after the execution of Ruth Ellis (see Mike Newell's 1985 film 'Dance with a Stranger'), the last woman to be hanged in the UK. There was no single 'last executioner' per se, because the last two executions before the ban on capital punishment came into effect were carried out in two different cities simultaneously. Both criminals were convicted of the murder of John Alan West and executed at exactly 8:00 AM on August 13, 1964, in Manchester and Liverpool. Nevertheless, death sentences were still being handed down in the UK as late as November 1965.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
