Written by Ben Felsenburg
Only at the most rarefied level of fame do stars attain first-name- only recognition, and not many viewers are going to tune into Sheridan (ITV, Sunday, 9pm) expecting to see the life and adventures of the much-missed theatre critic son of Robert Morley. Starting out from the rank and file of television bit-part players – catching particular attention in The Royle Family and Gavin & Stacey – Sheridan Smith has taken an ever upward trajectory until now she occupies a place on the showbiz pantheon unmatched by any other British star today.
She’ll make you laugh, she’ll make you cry, on stage and screen, and has the precious right stuff to follow in the footsteps of the great names, whether taking the part that Barbra Streisand first made her own in Funny Girl or playing Cilla Black for ITV. Now, she has a record out too, with her big belting voice giving the standards Mad About the Boy, Addicted to Love and The Carpenters’ Superstar the Sheridan treatment. Expect the album to sell by the bucketload, the Christmas gift you can buy for relatives of all ages. Time too for a one-woman show, an hour of song and comedy and a frank discussion with Alexander Armstrong as she looks back over a life that so far has been
a switchback ride between glitz and glamour and turbulence and tragedy.
Whether the fearsome Sheridan Morley would have given his namesake a withering or gushing notice we’ll never know: but it’ll be rave reviews all the way from her millions of fans.
