Sheridan Smith Speaks Out

Sheridan Smith is one of Britain’s most celebrated screen and stage performers, known for acclaimed roles in Cilla, The Teacher and I Fought The Law. But her success has been marked by a difficult period that continues to shape her perspective on fame and resilience.

That chapter emerged nearly a decade ago during her West End run as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, when she missed several performances amid stress, exhaustion and her father Colin Smith’s terminal cancer diagnosis.

The situation later became the subject of intense public attention following a moment at the 2016 BAFTA Television Awards, hosted by Graham Norton, where a joke alluding to theatre “technical difficulties” was widely interpreted as a reference to Smith’s absence from the show. Sitting in the audience, the actress was left deeply embarrassed, later acknowledging her struggles with alcohol and anti-anxiety medication during that period.

Now 44, Smith has revisited the incident with renewed candour, describing the lingering shame she felt and her desire to take ownership of what happened. In an interview with The Times, she reflected: “You’re embarrassed. I felt ashamed, and I still sometimes feel it, like, ‘Oh, I wish that part of my life hadn’t happened.’ But it did.”

What was not known publicly at the time was the seriousness of the medical crisis that followed that awards night. Smith collapsed and was rushed to A&E after suffering five seizures that caused her to stop breathing, a life-threatening episode later linked to abruptly stopping prescribed medication.

Four years later, Smith spoke candidly about the episode in her ITV documentary Sheridan Smith: Becoming Mum, describing the BAFTAs as a breaking point during a period of intense pressure and dependency, and marking a shift in her openness about mental health.

Her experience also sits within a wider theatrical context. Taking on Fanny Brice inevitably drew comparisons with Barbra Streisand, while her portrayal of Cilla Black reinforced her reputation for embodying entertainment icons. Smith has since suggested that growing awareness around wellbeing in the arts has made the industry more compassionate.

Now continuing to balance career success with frank reflection, the actress is set to appear on Saturday Kitchen on Saturday, January 24.