Sheridan Smith’s best TV performances as her ‘sadistic’ new show shocks viewers

Sheridan Smith is wowing TV fans again – here are her best performances (Picture: ITV)

Sheridan Smith is officially back on British TV – this time as the leading star of ITV’s new true crime drama, I Fought the Law.

I Fought the Law is based on the true story of Ann Ming, who fought to overturn an 800-year-old law after the murder of her daughter Julie Hogg.

The ‘sadistic’ series, given 10 out of 10 by some fans, has left viewers feeling shocked and saddened by the true-to-life events depicted on screen.

Sheridan Smith stars as Ann during her fight for justice, and many have praised her performance as one of her very best from her years working in TV.

It’s not the first time that Sheridan’s acting has been celebrated, with the Lincolnshire-born actress now a reliable and regular face in British comedies and dramas.

We’ve looked back over some of her best ever acting displays from down the years, from her earliest days on TV right up to some of her most recent work.

The Royle Family

The Royle Family gave Sheridan one of her first major roles (Picture: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

While The Royle Family didn’t give Sheridan Smith her first major role, it was arguably the TV show that gave her career the biggest push in the early days.

First appearing in the season two finale in 1999, Sheridan played Emma Kavanagh, boyfriend to Ralf Little’s character Antony Royle (or Lurky, as he was known to his dad Jim).

Emma entered the Royle household for the first time on Antony’s 18th birthday, with the family having to navigate around the fact that she was a vegetarian.

She then appeared again in the season three finale in the year 2000, as well as the first Royle Family Christmas special, with her storyline resulting her and Antony having a baby together.

However, later Christmas specials showed that Antony and Emma’s relationship had ultimately broken down – Sheridan was already acting in other roles at the time.

Two Pints of Lager & A Packet of Crisps

Two Pints of Lager was a beloved comedy in the early 2000s (Picture: BBC Archives)

Sheridan’s appearances on The Royle Family in 1999 and 2000 were followed by her casting in a brand-new sitcom, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps.

The 2001 sitcom, which also starred Will Mellor and her Royle Family co-star Ralf Little, followed the lives of five 20-somethings in Runcorn, Cheshire.

Sheridan starred as Janet Smith in the sitcom that put sex, beer, cigarettes, and takeaways at the forefront of British comedy at the start of the new millennium, and sent its cast to stardom.

Two Pints continued running as a series until 2011, but Sheridan had already left by that point to pursue other opportunities, departing after 73 episodes in 2009.

Her co-star Ralf Little had left three years earlier, while Will Mellor stayed until the very end, starring in all 79 episodes of the hugely popular 00s sitcom.

Inside No. 9

The subversive comedy series Inside No.9 featured Sheridan in 2015 (Picture: BBC/Sophie Mutevelian)

A few years after the end of Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, Sheridan took a step into more subversive comedy with her one-time appearance on Inside No 9.

In 2015, Sheridan starred as Christine in the episode titled The 12 Days of Christine, which saw her character’s life ‘unravel’ after bringing a man home from a party.

As the story continues, memories of Christine’s life play out in unusual ways, while strange hallucinations threaten to break her sanity.

The standalone episode is considered one of the strongest of the entire Inside No 9 series, with IMDb user John Birch calling it ‘the most outstanding 30 minutes of TV in 2015’.

Sheridan’s episode is considered a big stylistic departure from Inside No 9’s usual brand of comedy, focusing on drama instead, and was celebrated by fans and critics alike.

The Moorside

She led the Shannon Matthews drama The Moorside (Picture: Stuart Wood/ITV/BBC)

In 2008, nine-year-old Shannon Matthews went missing from her home in Dewsbury, Yorkshire. Just over three weeks later, she was thankfully found alive and well.

However, Shannon’s return unearthed a family conspiracy that revealed her kidnapping had been a plot devised by those closest to her in order to defraud the legal system of reward money.

The story dominated the news in 2008 and, nine years later, the BBC unveiled Sheridan Smith as Julie Bushby, neighbour and friend to the Matthews family.

The Moorside was praised by critics for unearthing and revealing parts of the story that remained unknown, even years after the investigation had concluded.

Sheridan in particular was described by one writer as ‘fiercely convincing’, with viewing figures jumping over 10 million after the second and final episode.

The C Word

Sheridan played Lisa Lynch in the BBC’s TV film The C Word (Picture: BBC/Stuart Wood)

The C Word was formed from a series of blogs posted by Lisa Lynch, a cancer patient who gave her followers a candid view of what it’s like to live with the disease.

Lynch sadly died in 2013, shortly before the BBC had finished adapting her blogs into a TV film starring Sheridan Smith alongside Paul Nicholls and Stephanie Vogt.

In 2015, shortly before its broadcast, the BBC described The C Word as a ‘defiant, ballsy, and surprisingly funny story of life, love, and cancer’.

Lynch was involved with the production of the film and is said to have asked the BBC whether Sheridan could portray her. An IMDb reviewer said: ‘Sheridan gives a moving portrayal of a newlywed fighting the disease with honesty, bravery and some humour.’

The performance earned her a Bafta nomination in 2016 for best leading actress, while The C Word itself was nominated for best single drama.

Gavin & Stacey

Sheridan popped up as fan favourite Rudi in Gavin & Stacey (Picture: BBC)

‘Who killin’ ’em in the UK? Everybody wanna say you ‘kay? Reluctantly, ‘cos most of these press don’t [mute] with me. Estelle once said to me, “Cool down down, don’t act a fool now now…”‘ Ah, you know the rest.

Sheridan Smith popped up in the second season of the hit 2000s sitcom Gavin & Stacey as Rudi Smith – James Corden’s Smithy’s sister – and immediately livened the place up.

She subsequently appeared in seven more episodes of the series and even managed to find a place among the case of the series finale over Christmas 2024.

Fans had hoped Rudi would make an appearance in the 2019 Christmas special that ended on an almighty cliffhanger, which viewers had to wait five years to see the conclusion of.

When asked in 2019 whether she would appear in that year’s hour-long episode, Sheridan simply declared ‘I wish’, indicating she wasn’t going to be involved.

Before the big finale last year, fans were wondering if Sheridan was going to make one last appearance as one of the funniest sisters in 21st-century British comedy – and their prayers were answered.

Cilla

Sheridan won a Bafta for her Cilla Black performance (Picture: ITV)

Cilla was a three-part drama commissioned by ITV in 2014, which followed the life and professional career of Cilla Black throughout the 1960s.

The programme was completed and broadcast a year before the Anyone Who Had a Heart singer sadly died aged 72, leaving behind a firm legacy in British popular culture.

Sheridan was widely praised for her performance by TV critics, and she was rewarded for her work by winning the 2015 Bafta for best leading actress.

The series itself won four Baftas, and Sheridan was even nominated for best international actress at the Emmys in America, showing just how much her star had risen over the years.

Cilla was watched by almost 10 million viewers during its original run and was broadcast for a second time following the singer and TV presenter’s death a year later.

Watch all of I Fought the Law on ITVX now. Watch Part 3 on ITV, 9pm Sunday.

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