Love, loss & sharp elbows
Jeff Pope doesn’t make life easy for himself. The award-winning scriptwriter gave television audiences Mrs Biggs, which told the story of her rascal of a husband, Ronnie, and the effect of his role in the Great Train Robbery on the lives of her and their three sons.
On the big screen, he then collaborated with Steve Coogan for the story of Philomena (so luminously played by Judi Dench), a poor Irish girl whose baby son was effectively sold by an order of nuns to a wealthy American couple.
And now comes Cilla, an account of the early years of the biggest-selling female pop star in the UK during the 1960s and the woman who went on – via Surprise Surprise! and Blind Date – to be the highest-paid female entertainer on British television. The three-part drama is to be screened on ITV 1.
What links all three projects, apart from Jeff himself, is that the subject of each piece of work is still very much alive. How much easier it would be to choose an historical figure that would allow for a little more artistic leeway when it came to telling their story. But Jeff has deliberately consulted each of his three subjects, a high-risk strategy that has so far paid off in spades because it’s resulted in three exceptional dramas.
Take Cilla: how did she view the prospect of seeing her early life (the TV film ends in 1967 with the death of Brian Epstein, played by Ed Stoppard) flashing before her very eyes? ‘She was very frank,’ says Jeff, ‘It took her a little while but, in the end, she was absolutely open and honest.
‘She was also insistent that we went into areas where she didn’t come across that sympathetically. She didn’t want the whole thing to be viewed through rosy spectacles. She was very upfront, for instance, about how determined, how ambitious she was and how sharp her elbows were because they had to be in those days. She was a woman in a man’s world; the only female singer to make it big outside Liverpool.’
One of Jeff’s initial fears was that, for someone who had been so successful for so long in the field of light entertainment, would this biopic be too left field for her? ‘I’d worried she’d want to smooth everything out and present a wonderful face to the world. But no, the opposite, in fact.’
Apart from Cilla, her adored husband and manager, Bobby Willis (played by young Welsh actor, Aneurin Barnard) inevitably features prominently in the story. Bobby succumbed to cancer in 1999 so couldn’t be consulted for his take on the early years. But the couple’s eldest son, Robert, now his mother’s manager, was on hand to offer insights and indeed acted as an executive producer on the project.
‘I particularly remember Robert telling me at one stage,’ says Jeff, ‘how his father had said to him that behind every great woman was a great man. That was most unusual back then. And yet, Bobby was quite happy to carry Cilla’s handbag. I really believe that he got as much pleasure out of her career as she did. But his part in her success was crucial.
‘Bobby had lost his mother young and he took on her role, cooking and cleaning and washing and ironing for the family. He liked looking after people and he liked looking after Cilla. Nor did she pull any punches. She knew exactly where she wanted to go and what she had to do to get there.
‘I don’t mind if people are surprised that, at certain points in her career, she comes across as ruthless. Because that was the truth as she told it to me. I don’t think she’d have had one 10th of the career she had without that innate determination. That was how she had to be. But her towering achievement was only possible because Bobby took all the problems away from her so she was free to do what she wanted to do.’
For all Cilla’s cooperation, for all the brilliance of Jeff’s script, this is an undertaking, however, that rises or falls in the hands of the actress chosen to play the eponymous central role. ‘I count myself as extremely lucky,’ he says, ‘to have worked with Sheridan Smith at this point in her career. She’s reached a peak and stayed there. She was my first, my only choice to play Cilla.’
They had worked together on Mrs Biggs. ‘So I knew how great an actress she was but I wasn’t sure how good she was at singing.’ He needn’t have worried. ‘It was a brilliant decision to have Sheridan sing live on set because it meant she wasn’t only thinking about the song; she was thinking about where the character was at the relevant point in the story. It gave the performance of the songs that indefinable, extra edge. Now, I want to work with her all the time!’
The object of all this praise turns a becoming shade of pink. ‘Quite early on,’ she says, ‘I made up my mind that I didn’t want to impersonate Cilla. That would do her a disservice disservice and anyway I’m an actress. I was given a research pack that contained every bit of footage, every interview she’d ever given from 1964 onwards. And there was any amount of stuff on YouTube.
‘I had a few singing lessons in advance and yes, I did all my own singing but again I didn’t try and copy her vocal style. I tried to interpret it accompanied by her mannerisms – the way she touches her hair, what she does with her hands, how she doesn’t open her mouth wide when she sings, and so on.’
She also, heart in mouth, went to see Cilla before the cameras started turning. ‘Jeff, Aneurin and I had dinner with her and Robert. I didn’t know whether meeting her would make me more or less apprehensive about playing her. But she really put me at my ease. She was totally supportive, behind me all the way.’
For his part, Aneurin was anxious about the meeting and Cilla’s reaction to an actor who was going to play her beloved husband. ‘But she was lovely. Her first words to me were: “Hello Bobby.” I took that to be a tip of the hat that said: “Yes, please, you can play my late husband.” And it turned out to be one of my favourite roles of my career.’
These are words echoed by 33-year-old Sheridan. ‘Perhaps it’s inevitable but the longer you immerse yourself in someone’s history, the more obsessed you become with them. As a result, when I went to dinner with her, I was really nervous, babbling away. I’m such a huge fan.
‘On top of everything else, I really admire her strength. She’s much more of a tough cookie than me but then I think she had to be. So I felt the pressure of getting my portrayal right but it was an honour, too.’
And the reaction of Cilla herself to the finished film? ‘I’d underestimated how stressful this exercise proved to be,’ says Jeff. ‘She made a joke about the project, saying that this sort of thing normally happens only after someone’s kicked the bucket. Up until recently, she’d only seen little bits. Now she’s seen all of it and the emotion of watching her and the love of her life as they embarked on their incredible journey was massive.’
Chances are it will have the same effect on TV audiences.
Cilla will be broadcast on ITV1 this month.
On the big screen, he then collaborated with Steve Coogan for the story of Philomena (so luminously played by Judi Dench), a poor Irish girl whose baby son was effectively sold by an order of nuns to a wealthy American couple.
And now comes Cilla, an account of the early years of the biggest-selling female pop star in the UK during the 1960s and the woman who went on – via Surprise Surprise! and Blind Date – to be the highest-paid female entertainer on British television. The three-part drama is to be screened on ITV 1.
What links all three projects, apart from Jeff himself, is that the subject of each piece of work is still very much alive. How much easier it would be to choose an historical figure that would allow for a little more artistic leeway when it came to telling their story. But Jeff has deliberately consulted each of his three subjects, a high-risk strategy that has so far paid off in spades because it’s resulted in three exceptional dramas.
Take Cilla: how did she view the prospect of seeing her early life (the TV film ends in 1967 with the death of Brian Epstein, played by Ed Stoppard) flashing before her very eyes? ‘She was very frank,’ says Jeff, ‘It took her a little while but, in the end, she was absolutely open and honest.
‘She was also insistent that we went into areas where she didn’t come across that sympathetically. She didn’t want the whole thing to be viewed through rosy spectacles. She was very upfront, for instance, about how determined, how ambitious she was and how sharp her elbows were because they had to be in those days. She was a woman in a man’s world; the only female singer to make it big outside Liverpool.’
One of Jeff’s initial fears was that, for someone who had been so successful for so long in the field of light entertainment, would this biopic be too left field for her? ‘I’d worried she’d want to smooth everything out and present a wonderful face to the world. But no, the opposite, in fact.’
Apart from Cilla, her adored husband and manager, Bobby Willis (played by young Welsh actor, Aneurin Barnard) inevitably features prominently in the story. Bobby succumbed to cancer in 1999 so couldn’t be consulted for his take on the early years. But the couple’s eldest son, Robert, now his mother’s manager, was on hand to offer insights and indeed acted as an executive producer on the project.
‘I particularly remember Robert telling me at one stage,’ says Jeff, ‘how his father had said to him that behind every great woman was a great man. That was most unusual back then. And yet, Bobby was quite happy to carry Cilla’s handbag. I really believe that he got as much pleasure out of her career as she did. But his part in her success was crucial.
‘Bobby had lost his mother young and he took on her role, cooking and cleaning and washing and ironing for the family. He liked looking after people and he liked looking after Cilla. Nor did she pull any punches. She knew exactly where she wanted to go and what she had to do to get there.
‘I don’t mind if people are surprised that, at certain points in her career, she comes across as ruthless. Because that was the truth as she told it to me. I don’t think she’d have had one 10th of the career she had without that innate determination. That was how she had to be. But her towering achievement was only possible because Bobby took all the problems away from her so she was free to do what she wanted to do.’
For all Cilla’s cooperation, for all the brilliance of Jeff’s script, this is an undertaking, however, that rises or falls in the hands of the actress chosen to play the eponymous central role. ‘I count myself as extremely lucky,’ he says, ‘to have worked with Sheridan Smith at this point in her career. She’s reached a peak and stayed there. She was my first, my only choice to play Cilla.’
They had worked together on Mrs Biggs. ‘So I knew how great an actress she was but I wasn’t sure how good she was at singing.’ He needn’t have worried. ‘It was a brilliant decision to have Sheridan sing live on set because it meant she wasn’t only thinking about the song; she was thinking about where the character was at the relevant point in the story. It gave the performance of the songs that indefinable, extra edge. Now, I want to work with her all the time!’
The object of all this praise turns a becoming shade of pink. ‘Quite early on,’ she says, ‘I made up my mind that I didn’t want to impersonate Cilla. That would do her a disservice disservice and anyway I’m an actress. I was given a research pack that contained every bit of footage, every interview she’d ever given from 1964 onwards. And there was any amount of stuff on YouTube.
‘I had a few singing lessons in advance and yes, I did all my own singing but again I didn’t try and copy her vocal style. I tried to interpret it accompanied by her mannerisms – the way she touches her hair, what she does with her hands, how she doesn’t open her mouth wide when she sings, and so on.’
She also, heart in mouth, went to see Cilla before the cameras started turning. ‘Jeff, Aneurin and I had dinner with her and Robert. I didn’t know whether meeting her would make me more or less apprehensive about playing her. But she really put me at my ease. She was totally supportive, behind me all the way.’
For his part, Aneurin was anxious about the meeting and Cilla’s reaction to an actor who was going to play her beloved husband. ‘But she was lovely. Her first words to me were: “Hello Bobby.” I took that to be a tip of the hat that said: “Yes, please, you can play my late husband.” And it turned out to be one of my favourite roles of my career.’
These are words echoed by 33-year-old Sheridan. ‘Perhaps it’s inevitable but the longer you immerse yourself in someone’s history, the more obsessed you become with them. As a result, when I went to dinner with her, I was really nervous, babbling away. I’m such a huge fan.
‘On top of everything else, I really admire her strength. She’s much more of a tough cookie than me but then I think she had to be. So I felt the pressure of getting my portrayal right but it was an honour, too.’
And the reaction of Cilla herself to the finished film? ‘I’d underestimated how stressful this exercise proved to be,’ says Jeff. ‘She made a joke about the project, saying that this sort of thing normally happens only after someone’s kicked the bucket. Up until recently, she’d only seen little bits. Now she’s seen all of it and the emotion of watching her and the love of her life as they embarked on their incredible journey was massive.’
Chances are it will have the same effect on TV audiences.
Cilla will be broadcast on ITV1 this month.