Star’s family to watch Doctor Who’s 1960s-themed tribute to late singer
CILLA Black’s son says he can’t wait to watch the new series of Doctor Who after learning it will feature a tribute to his late mother.
The series, starring Ncuti Gatwa, returns to BBC1 next Saturday with two episodes, including The Devil’s Chord which is set in the 1960s and has been described as a homage to The Beatles.
Much of the episode is set at Abbey Road studios, where The Beatles recorded most of their songs.
In one scene the Doctor and his companion Ruby Tuesday (Millie Gibson) interrupt the recording session of a talented young singer called Cilla, played by Josie Sedgwick-davies.
Cilla’s son Robert Willis told the Mirror: “What a lovely tribute to feature my mother in the new series of this iconic show.
“My family and I are very much looking forward to seeing the episode.” The episode’s writer Russell T Davies is a Cilla fan and chose her song Love Of The Loved when he compiled My Sounds for the BBC, a list of songs that soundtrack his writing.
Speaking about the episode previously, Russell called it “big and bold”.
He said: “We’re not sneaking into the 1960s, we’re arriving big time. The Beatles were an important part of it and that was fun casting them.”
The Fab Four are played by George Caple (Paul), James Hoyles (Ringo), Philip Davies (George) and Chris Mason (John).
Cilla became a friend of The Beatles while she worked as a cloakroom assistant at The Cavern club. She was signed up by The Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein and recorded many of her hits at Abbey Road, including Anyone Who Had a Heart and It’s For You, the latter written by John Lennon and Paul Mccartney.
She died in Spain in 2015 age 72. Cilla has been portrayed in other shows including an ITV biopic starring Sheridan Smith in 2014.