Hancock discovers many reasons for joy and optimism - and you're quite likely to find yourself nodding in agreement with her. In my opinion, I did feel there was too much ranting about politics and Brexit for my taste, but it’s clearly a passionate topic for her. She reflects on her past, how she got where she is However, what stands out is her commitment to being a positive influence in the world from involvement in arts programs in schools, to workers rights and human rights. Old Rage” is in no way a metaphorical title: this is a brutally honest and fiercely funny book by a lady who has pretty much seen it all, and may yet have some life left in her. Having just gone through the Covid Pandemic on my own myself I did find it a bit depressing but her spirit is still going strong.

Let’s just say that Boris Johnson and some of his cronies, along with Trump, were not, and never will be, on her Christmas card list. Names familiar and less familiar all get mentions into how their paths crossed and the impact those others have had on the arts. Today is particularly piercing on this score, the death of Denis Waterman, Thaw’s co-star in The Sweeney, having just been announced.

But every page of Sheila Hancock's new memoir shimmers with laughter, defiance and profound insights into life as an old RAGE pensioner ― Mail on Sunday --This text refers to the hardcover edition. Witnessing and then accepting the decay of your physical self as you age is a brutal reality and it's captured well in Sheila's diaries. View image in fullscreen Hancock in her Gucci leather jacket, once owned by her late husband John Thaw. Hancock, who kept wondering why the producers hadn’t cast Judi Dench until she found herself lying in a freezing cold sleeping bag 2,000 feet up on the side of a mountain, believes she is the oldest person ever to have done this – though as she admits in Old Rage, the short flight in the helicopter that retrieved her from the summit was, in the end, far more terrifying than the climb. So why, at 89, having sailed past supposedly disturbing milestones – 50, 70 even 80 – without a qualm, did she suddenly feel so furious?

In Old Rage, she asserts that The Wildcats of St Trinian’s, in which she starred in 1980, is one of the worst films ever made, and that appearances as Senna Pod in Carry on Cleo and as a version of Margaret Thatcher in a “weird” episode of Doctor Who will “not get me listed on anyone’s roster of great performances”. Have to say I skipped through some of her real rants but being an avid reader, I have never given up on a book in my 73 years. During The Sweeney, John began to make a bit of money, and at that time we went to Rome, and we went to Gucci, and we bought this jacket for him.And then there is the revelations of a personal life lived through family bereavement, illness and crisis. I spent all my time with a tooth prop in my mouth, a device that was supposed to help with your vowels. Sheila doesn’t mince words in giving her opinions on the state of world and national affairs, while at the same time coping with advancing age (which doesn’t please her either). It all kicks off with an insight into her recent film “Edie”, where an old lady, her husband having passed away recently, decided to go and climb Suilven. Views about Brexit, universal education, decent pay for NHS staff…punctuate memories of the author’s life, her family, her life on stage and the actors and mortals she has met along the way.

There are references to the aches and pains of aging, falls and other illnesses, but above all this is the journal of a woman fiercely engaged with life. When Sheila went to the hospital the next day her ninety three Aunt Billie quietly had let go of her grasp on 18th December.Sheila Hancock, one of Britain's most highly regarded and popular actors, received a Damehood for services to drama and charity in 2021.