Footage gives an insight into TV star’s life
Cilla: The Lost Tapes
STV, 9pm
CILLA Black spent more than 50 years in the spotlight – she found fame as a singer in the 1960s before becoming one of British TV’S most popular presenters.
So, it’s no surprise that the public felt like they knew her, or that her death in 2015 led to an outpouring of tributes. However, Cilla: The Lost Tapes shows us a previously unseen side to the star.
Narrated by Sheridan Smith, who played Cilla in an acclaimed three-part ITV drama, the one-off documentary draws on the stash of never-before-seen films and behindthe-scenes footage the star’s family discovered in the loft in the years following her death, as well as audio recordings which she made for the ghostwriter of her autobiography.
The video clips include a guided tour by Cilla of her family home in Denham and holiday trips to Fiji, Hong Kong and Australia during the construction of the Sydney Opera House.
Meanwhile, the audio recordings find Cilla reminiscing about her life – and pointing out what a trailblazer she really was. She admits she was always ambitious, saying: “I had a focus in my life apart from getting married and having babies. I wanted to be a star from a very, very early age. I knew from the age of three that I wanted to go into showbusiness.”
And she wasn’t about to let being a woman stand her in way. She says: “Girl Power and all that, well I’m the original Girl Power. For a start I was headlining and I had an all-male bill underneath me and there was nobody doing that. I was the original women’s libber. Trust me, I was.”
It’s an assessment Holly Willoughby, who is one of the group of friends, family and famous fans filmed watching the footage for the first time, would agree with. The This Morning presenter, who also hosted a revamped version of Cilla’s hit show Surprise Surprise says: “There is no doubt that the reason I wanted to get into TV presenting is down to Cilla. She was the only female at the time that was hosting those big entertainment shows.”
Other contributors include Cilla’s great friend Paul O’grady, who reflects on how she was affected by the death of her beloved husband Bobby in 1999. The comedian and presenter says: “She’d never done anything for herself. She’d never used a hole in the wall to get cash out. She didn’t have a clue. Never ordered a taxi for herself, all sorts of things like that, she had to learn. Bobby did everything for her.”
Viewers will also get to hear Cilla discussing her marriage and her grief, while her family also reflect on their relationship. Her eldest son Robert Willis says of his parents:
“We were very lucky that what they were doing was quite high profile but when they were at home, they really loved a very simple, normal family life.”
But her life could have turned out very differently, as we also hear Cilla reminiscing about her friendship with Ringo Starr – and his joking marriage proposal.