Cilla Black gave blessing for biopic of her amazing life

Sheridan Smith says Cilla Black’s seal of approval swung her playing the Liverpudlian star.

Mrs Biggs star Sheridan takes the title role in ITV’s new three-part drama, simply called Cilla.

The germ of the idea of a telly biopic came when Sheridan was filming the tale of Great Train robber Ronnie Biggs, also penned by top writer Jeff Pope.

“It had been in Jeff’s mind for a while and we were talking about it in Australia,” says Sheridan.

“Then he approached me about it and I jumped at the chance. Obviously they then had to see if Cilla wanted that and she was really behind me.

“We went to dinner and I was so nervous. When you’ve grown up watching someone on telly you just hope they’re going to be as nice as they come across. And she was. She gave me her blessing and I just hope she likes it.”

The drama follows Cilla from her days as a teenage typist to becoming the highest-paid performer on British television with shows such as Blind Date and Surprise Surprise.

She worked as a cloakroom attendant at Liverpool’s famous Cavern Club, birthplace of The Beatles with whom she ended up having the same manager, Brian Epstein.

Those heady early days are recaptured in recreations of the Cavern and Abbey Road studios. Cilla’s vocals are all down to Sheridan who did all the singing herself.

“We did all the songs live on set,” she reveals. “I had some singing lessons leading up to the filming because Cilla has a very distinctive sound.

“She has two voices a really soft voice and then a singing voice from the back of the throat when she does those big ballads.

“The first episode is more the rock ’n’ roll stuff at the Cavern where she belted the songs out because the audience was screaming so much.”

The drama highlights Cilla’s relationship with Epstein, who died tragically young, and Bobby Willis, who became her manager and then husband.

“I didn’t know the full story about Bobby and how he’d been there right from the beginning,” says Sheridan. “Even though they had their ups and downs they became inseparable.”

Having been around for five decades, everyone has a different view of Cilla.

“My own first memory is on Blind Date,” adds Sheridan.

“I knew she had been a singer and had done Alfie but I certainly wasn’t aware of just how much she had achieved in her musical career. I bought all her albums and put all the songs on my phone.”