The unfolding of Sheridan Smith

If you can see pictures of her crushed Range Rover, Sheridan Smith is really “happy to be alive”. The 40-year-old actress is said to have slipped off a road onto a tree in Little Sampford, Essex, on a stormy Saturday night – thankfully she escaped with only “cuts and bruises”.

These images are just the latest in the current unfolding of star Cilla and Cleaning Up, who appeared on Jonathan Ross ’show that night to promote her new Christmas single with Gary Barlow. According to reports, she was “upset” behind the scenes after the show was filmed because of the “misogynistic” atmosphere that made her “completely angry”.

ITV issued a statement insisting: “We always treat our guests politely and respectfully.” But the incident – like many of those she has been involved with in recent years – has left many wondering if the singer and actress is once again battling the demons she has been trying to put to bed for years.

The mother of one child has spoken openly about her vulnerability in the past and admitted to suffering a physical and mental breakdown in 2016. And it was to the vulnerable that Smith came when I interviewed her for The Telegraph in 2014 for her cropped portrayal of cancer patient Lisa Lynch on the BBC show The C-word. Also beautiful, warm, funny and of course insanely talented, but imbued with self-doubt that infused almost every aspect of our conversation – from personal and physical to professional – that she resolutely wanted to hide.

When the Bafta, Emmy and Olivier-winning actress, Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler in Old Vic in 2012, was sold out after the sale of the stage adaptation of Legally Blonde, she told me that “she knew it was a bit of a shock to people. .I knew people thought it was going to be catastrophic. But I also had people like Kevin Spacey who believed in me, so I forced myself and I did, you know? At least that’s what I tried. “

This was a characteristic understatement of the show, which critics described as “admirable”, “unstoppable” and “extraordinary”. And while researching the role of the young Cille Black in the ITV drama of the same nameSmith admitted that she wanted to: “I was half as strong as she was at my age. But I think, really. I’m not saving lives, am I? “