HAVING A BABY ’Tisthe See son tobejolly
Actress is going to town for little Billy after the festive season was tainted by losing her dad, writes RICK FULTON
TV favourite Sheridan Smith has revealed her first child has brought back the magic of Christmas.
The 39-year-old actress and singer had a breakdown after the death of dad Colin to cancer in December four years ago.
She found it hard to celebrate the festive season and had a public struggle with alcohol and anxiety.
But this year, she can’t wait for her first Christmas with son Billy, who’ll be seven months, and fiance Jamie Horn.
Sheridan said: “Our first Christmas with our son. It’s going to be amazing.
“I loved Christmas loads before my dad passed and then the last few years I’ve not celebrated as much.
“Now, it’s like you find the joy in it again through your children. So I am going to go full hog.
“I just can’t wait to celebrate Billy’s first Christmas. He won’t remember much of it but it doesn’t matter. It makes you enjoy Christmas again when you’ve got a little one.”
Sheridan is going to bring back one of her dad’s traditions for her son.
She said: “I remember something my dad used to do when I’d write my letters to Santa. Back then we had a coal fire.
“He used to put coal on his fingers and hold the paper that I’d written on. I would be amazed by it. I’d be like, ‘Santa, he’s held my letter! Look, his fingerprints! Look at the size of Santa’s hands!’ My dad had big hands.
“I’m gonna keep that magic that my dad did and make Billy’s Christmases as special.”
Giving birth in May and having a solid relationship with Jamie has breathed new life into Sheridan, seen as one of the most gifted actresses of her generation.
As well as winning two Olivier Awards for Legally Blonde and Flare
Path, she won a best actress BAFTA for Mrs Biggs and has starred in telly favourites such as Cilla, The C Word and Moorside as well as comedy gems The Royle Family, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps and Gavin & Stacey.
This Christmas, she’s teamed up again with David Walliams to star in Sky One’s After Ever After: Jack and the Beanstalk and next year will be a judge on Stars in Their Eyes reboot Starstruck and go on a UK tour of Cilla – including the Edinburgh Playhouse – in October.
Sheridan is a massive fan of comic and kids’ author Walliams.
She said: “David’s always been like my big brother, really. Through everything I’ve been through, he’s amazing and we’ve had such a laugh on everything from Mr Stink to Ratburger, and I think he’s a genius. “He’s the modern Roald Dahl. “When I got the call about this job I messaged him saying thank you and that I was so excited,” said Sheridan.
“He replied, ‘Oh, Su Pollard must not have been available.’ He’s always
winding me up. It’s a great relationship. He’s been a good friend.
“You don’t get to do jobs like this very often where you get to just have good fun and run around and be silly.
“It’s what we need, especially at the moment.”
The 60-minute Christmas special begins where the fable ends.
The Giant, played by David who co-wrote the film, is concussed and has fallen to earth with no way back to his house in the sky. Jack, played by newcomer Eddie Karanja, has to think of a plan and save the Giant from the angry villagers as well as confronting the market trader who sold him the beans – Dodgy Dave played by The Inbetweeners’ Blake Harrison.
Sheridan’s character is a giant killer called The Woman with No Name who has a glass eye and an eye-patch which she uses as a catapult.
She said: “I love getting to dress up and be daft and David’s stories are always brilliant and have got a lot of heart.
“I don’t know why – I kinda regretted it afterwards – but I said to David, ‘Can I do a West Country accent?’ And David said, ‘Trust your instincts’, so he let me do what I wanted, basically.”
It’s a role that saw Sheridan embrace method acting, declaring that at one point the crew began shouting: “Stop eating the mud, we’ve made chocolate.”
She said: “I was just getting all into it. I thought, ‘ Well, I’ve gotta commit now’ and it was basically just straw and mud, so I just ate it. I’d committed.”
With her disfigured eye and pirate-like accent, Sheridan is a cracking festive baddie.
She hopes she can give a new generation of young fans a scare – like the Child Catcher did in the 1968 film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Sheridan said: “I had ni g h tma res af t e r watching that film.
“It’s interesting how many people remember that character considering Robert Helpmann who plays him is actually only on screen for about 10 minutes.
“That’s all I really remember about that film. So scary. Kids like to be a bit frightened.
“They like a little bit of that kind of gore and darkness.
“David seems to have that balance perfectly in his stories.”
After Ever After : Jack and the Beanstalk is on December 23, Sky One, at 8pm.