Closer (UK)

‘I cried when I read the script’

Sheridan Smith, 37, stars as the daughter of a stroke victim – who goes on to develop dementia...

- SHERIDAN SMITH:

Tell us about your character… She’s a single mum of two girls. She’s still married to her ex, but they’ve been through a messy break-up and you can tell it’s awkward for her. In the opening minutes, Jenny’s mum Mary [Alison Steadman] suffers a stroke. She goes on to develop dementia… What research did you do? A number of my friends have had parents and grandparen­ts with dementia and speaking with them taught me a lot about it. Alison Steadman was also hugely helpful – she’d done a lot of research herself, so a lot of the time I’m purely reacting to her performanc­e. What made you want to take on this role? Jimmy Mcgovern has written the script. He’s a genius and when I realised what it was about and I read it, I cried all the way through. It really moved me and I thought it was a really important story to tell. Lots of people will be going through the same situation. Were there any particular­ly challengin­g scenes? At the start, when Jenny’s mum has the accident, Jenny’s out looking for her and she doesn’t know where her kids are. I’m getting all panicky just thinking about it! I was really shaking after that scene, and I was crying a lot. It took me a while to calm down afterwards. I really enjoyed the whole drama.

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