”It’s easier because I’ve done the therapy”: Sheridan Smith shares how she's found peace in her life

Having lost her father and brother to cancer and dealt with stress and panic attacks, Sheridan Smith is no stranger to pain and grief. And in an exclusive interview with Good Housekeeping, she explained how she channels that emotion into her roles – but also how she’s managed to find the ‘off’ button and, ultimately, peace in her life.

“I love my job, especially when I get to be part of telling amazing stories. Maybe I do use [my grief] in some of my roles,” she says. “More so with my brother’s death. Possibly. But not consciously. Maybe acting is a way of letting all those emotions spill out.”

Sheridan was just eight when her 18-year-old brother died of cancer; when she was in her mid-30s, her father, Colin, also died of cancer. Around the time Colin was ill, Sheridan struggled with her workload. In 2015, she was starring in a West End production of Funny Girl as Fanny Brice, a role made famous by Barbra Streisand, when producers announced she was to take a two- to four-week leave of absence due to stress and exhaustion.

A decade on, Sheridan finds things easier, she explained, thanks to therapy, among other things. “I have found it quite hard to go home at night and turn the acting button off,” she says. “It’s easier these days because I’ve done the therapy. And now I’ve got [my son] Billy, so I come home to our own little world.”

That doesn’t mean, however, that Sheridan gives any less of herself to the parts she plays. “I do try to give [my] heart,” she says. “Maybe it’s because I had no formal acting training and have never been taught how to act. I don’t know anything other than how to feel the emotions of a person. I try to put myself in their shoes.”

Now renowned for her ability to portray profound pain and grief, Sheridan’s next role tackles another harrowing subject. Due to arrive on our screens this August, Sheridan will star in ITV’s I Fought The Law as the real-life Ann Ming, who campaigned tirelessly to overturn the double jeopardy law in order to bring her daughter’s murderer to justice. The role, she shared, has been her toughest yet.

“I Fought The Law is probably the hardest job I’ve ever done, partly because I wanted to do Ann Ming’s story justice,” she says. “She’s a little firecracker of a woman who took on the establishment and won. She’s my hero.

“How had this little lady from up north gone and changed an 800-year-old law?” she continued. “I was thrilled to be asked to play her and couldn’t wait to meet her. Her story hit especially hard as I’m a mum myself now.”

As for what’s next, it seems a return to comedy might well be on the cards. Having worked with the likes of Caroline Aherne, Dame Maggie Smith and Sue Johnston, Sheridan told GH that she misses comedy – and there’s one person she’d love to do something funny with: her friend, Fleabag star Andrew Scott. Why? Because, “He’s got funny bones and I laugh till I cry when we’re together.” Here’s hoping we see them on our screens together soon…

I Fought The Law airs on ITV1 and STV and streams on ITVX and STV Player this autumn, followed by a documentary about Ann Ming’s historic campaign

Read the full interview in Good Housekeeping’s September issue, on sale now