TV tonight: Sheila Hancock is on sparkling form in a brilliant interview
Amol Rajan welcomes the actor, singer and author. Plus: a double dose of Jimmy Carr. Here’s what to watch this evening
July 2022
Give rebranded Actors Centre back to actors, say Mark Rylance and others
London venue with long history of offering training and networking has become Seven Dials Playhouse
May 2022
Sheila Hancock: ‘Don’t let them tell you you’re old’
At 89, the beloved British actor is still striving. In fact, she’s just published a new memoir, Old Rage, in which she lays bare her anger and anxiety over work, life and love…
November 2020
From the Guardian archive
Sheila Hancock: ‘I’m wildly left wing, but I’m also a terrible chauvinist’– archive, 1974
27 November 1974: The actor reveals how she was embarrassed but delighted about getting an OBE
July 2020
Will they work again? Fears over insurance for older actors after coronavirus
'The nearest to God we get': stars pick the Beethoven work they cherish
April 2019
This Is My Family review – terrifically funny musical is a triumph
James Nesbitt and Sheila Hancock star in Tim Firth’s touching comedy about a dysfunctional group of relatives
May 2018
Edie review – the height of tedium
A mountaineering drama in which Sheila Hancock strikes up an unlikely friendship with a young man lacks chemistry
Sheila Hancock on Edie: 'There aren't many actors still around who can leap up and down'
For her latest film, the 85-year-old actor had to scale one of Scotland’s most spectacular mountains. But, as her career attests, she’s not afraid of a challenge
Edie review – one last Highland fling with Sheila Hancock
Hancock lifts this drama about an older woman’s last-gasp adventure hiking in Scotland, but it’s familiar terrain
February 2018
Harold and Maude review – a honking seal can't save this clunky adaptation
There’s witty live music and convincing performances by Sheila Hancock and Bill Milner but this staging of the cult movie feels coy and dated
June 2017
Music is at the very heart of one East End school
Letters: Gallions primary school has successfully integrated music into the curriculum to help teach pupils life skills, imagination and perseverance, writes Sheila Hancock
January 2016
Grey Gardens review – splendidly odd couple of the Kennedy circle
Observer New Review Q&A
Sheila Hancock: ‘Dying or going senile – that’s my role nowadays’
September 2015
Do Something brainy
'I'm awful, I'm awful': writers spill the secrets of their diaries
What is it like to read your diary later in life? Sheila Hancock, Tracey Thorn and Rae Earl share their stories
August 2015
Sheila Hancock on Jack Gold: he was the director my husband John Thaw loved and respected above all others
Books blog
Tips, links and suggestions: what are you reading this week?
June 2015
End discrimination against older drivers
Letters: What evidence is there that at 80 drivers escalate the danger to themselves and others?
October 2014
Meet the author
Sheila Hancock: ‘I’m used to getting inside the skin of a person I don’t know’
The actress and author talks to Kathryn Bromwich about writing her first novel, inspirational teachers and fighting apathy
January 2014
Musicals we love
Musicals we love: Annie
Continuing our series on favourite shows, Alfred Hickling explains why he's a big fan of the little girl who bounces back from hard knocks
