Award-winning actress and author Sheila Hancock chats to Lorraine about why Brain Tumour Research is so close to her heart

After Sheila Hancock's grandson Jack was diagnosed and successfully treated for a brain tumour, she decided to take part in launching a £7m fundraising campaign for Brain Tumour Research.

Today's campaign sees a group of 18 brain tumour charities coming together with high hopes of addressing the serious under-funding of research into the UKs biggest cancer killer of children and adults under 40.  As well as Sheila, the campaign is also being championed by the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow MP.

Centres of Hope

They aim to open seven centres of excellence (Centres of Hope) to get seven times closer to a cure.  The regional centres will be dedicated to laboratory-based brain tumour research.  Each centre of excellence will require ongoing funding of £1m per year.

Jack

Sheila's grandson Jack was diagnosed with a brain tumour at the age of 4: "We were incredibly lucky that Jack's tumour was low grade and he lives a normal, healthy life now."

Jack is son of Sheila's daughter Melanie Thaw from her first marriage to Alec Ross. 

He made a complete recovery after surgery at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital in 2001: "But it was a terribly worrying time. I remember thinking: 'if Jack pulls through I'll never worry about stupid things again'. I changed my whole perspective."  

Brain Tumour Research

Jack's diagnosis spurred Sheila to become a patron of Ali's Dream and to start to look into brain tumour research and she was astonished at the lack of money being put in:"Well it is the most under-researched cancer and hugely under-funded. We want to raise £7 million to open seven research centres over the next three to five years. We need the money to help understand the behaviour of brain tumours for better diagnosis and treatment."

Theatrical biography

  • Worked in repertory during the 1950s and made her West End debut in 1958 in the play Breath of Spring.  She then appeared in Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop production of Make Me An Offer in 1959.
  • Other early West End appearances included the revue One Over the Eight with Kenneth Williams in 1961, and Rattle of a Simple Man in 1962.
  • In 1965, she made her Broadway debut in Entertaining Mr Sloane.
  • In 1978, she played Miss Hannigan in the original London cast of the musical Annie and two years later she played Mrs Lovett in the original London production of the musical Sweeney Todd.
  • In 2006, she played the role of Fraulein Schneider in the West End revival of the musical Cabaret at the Lyric Theatre.  She won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role In A Musical.

Television biography

  • Her first big television role was playing Carol in the BBC sitcom The Rag Trade in the early 1960s.
  • She also played the lead roles in the sitcoms: The Bed-Sit Girl, Mr Digby Darling and Now Take My Wife.
  • Other television credits include Doctor Who, Kavanagh QC (opposite her husband, John Thaw), EastEnders, The Russian Bride, Brighton Belles, Bedtime, Fortysomething, Bleak House, New Tricks and The Catherine Tate Show.

Film biography

Sheila has appeared in numerous films: The Girl on the Boat  (1961), Carry On Cleo  (1964), The Anniversary  (1968), Take a Girl Like You  (1970), The Wildcats of St Trinian's (1980), Buster (1988), Love and Death on Long Island (1997), The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008).