Sheridan quits royal show after dad dies
TROUBLED actress Sheridan Smith has been forced to pull out of next week’s Royal Variety Performance after the death of her 80-year-old father this week.
The 35-year-old star announced the news yesterday through a representative who asked that fans “respect her privacy”.
Her father Colin was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year, leading the actress to temporarily pull out of her widelyacclaimed starring role in the West End musical Funny Girl.
At the time, the Bafta-winner hit out at a troll on Twitter who criticised her for missing the show.
Plaudits
She wrote: “If you just found out your dad had cancer u would not be such a heartless human. Take care, love.”
It was also claimed that she had drunk too much when a show performance was cut short in April.
In May, Sheridan – who won plaudits for playing Cilla Black in a TV bio-drama – took two months off from the show citing stress and exhaustion.
At one point during her break she was rushed to hospital after she collapsed at Champneys Spa, where she was recuperating.
When she returned to the musical in July she wore a pendant bearing the words “My dad, my hero”.
Cancer has struck her family before. Sheridan, who first found fame on TV in the comedy Gavin And Stacey, lost her 18-year-old brother Julian to the disease when she was just eight.
She spoke out about the “hideous” illness when she played breast cancer sufferer Lisa Lynch in the BBC One drama The C Word.
She said: “Of course I’ve been affected by my brother’s death. It makes me value life, cherish my loved ones and be grateful for every day I have with them. Cancer affects one in three of us and every single one of us either knows someone who has been affected by it or has experienced it first-hand.
“And yet it’s treated as a taboo subject. It’s never on telly. We should talk about it.”
Colin and her mother Marilyn had a showbusiness background as Country and Western duo The Daltons.
A young Sheridan often performed with them.
Her other brother Damian, who is part of the band The Torn, also often joined their parents on stage.
Routines
In an interview in 2010, Sheridan described her family as being “a bit like The Waltons”.
She said: “They used to perform seven nights a week and when I was four I joined them on stage doing little dance routines.
“It wasn’t long before I was standing on a stool joining in the singing.”
The Royal Variety Performance is on Tuesday at the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith, west London.
A recorded version will be broadcast on ITV on December 13.
It will be hosted by comedian David Walliams and will include performances from singers Gary Barlow and Sting. Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, will be in the audience.