How sad is this?

Absolutely Fantastic

I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Sheridan Smith is British, she's sassy, she's - when required - very 1960s mod. Most noticeable 'flaw': she doesn't have the famous Cilla Black crooked front teeth... Sheridan can also sing, taking in account that it's not her profession. Still her vocals are the big problem in this TV biop. For me, and everyone else who is very familiar with Cilla Black's records, Smith's vocals are almost painful. The real Cilla had a clear and truly phenomenal voice. Soft and tender one moment, the next belting out like a fog horn. Her enemies called her a 'nasal screech', but it's for sure a voice no one can imitate easily. The 'Alfie' recording session with Burt Bacharach almost admits it. It's true that Burt Bacharach was a perfectionist and probably demanded from all the singers he worked with to do take after take after take, but in this scene he seems to think "Cilla Who again? Give me Dionne and Dusty any time." Well, Cilla Black was more than up to her 1960's contemporaries. Listen to the authentic Alfie recording session as can be found on YouTube. It may have been her 3rd or 30th take, but she leaves you breathless. What a voice, what an emotion. (A question for the director or costumer, though. In the Alfie studio session scene, Sheridan sports Cilla Black's new hair style for 1966. Why not the quite iconic Mary Quant dress as well?) It must be very difficult to find actors who look like famous people as they were in their younger days. I found Brian Epstein too handsome and well-mannered. George Martin and Ringo Star fared better, and the actor who played Cilla's boyfriend aka roadmanager and future husband Bobby Willis is the spitting image of the real one. But when I fail to recognize Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Pete Best at all, it's both confusing and distracting.What leading lady Sheridan Smith lacks in vocal similarities, she more than makes up in looks and charisma. She is Cilla Black as I remember her from the 1964-1965 TV appearances. In fact, it's Sheridan who gloriously saves the 3-episode series 'Cilla' from being a major drag. And had the vocals been play-backed, I would have awarded this with a 10.

Miss S.Smith does a nice impression of Cilla Black and in fact sings rather better than the original in a competent enough if not inspired series celebrating Miss Black's fifty years as an entertainer. Starting out as a raunchy R & B singer she joined Svengali Brian Epstein's stable and changed to an anodyne M.O.R. artiste and ultimately a family TV favourite - the classic path followed by such as Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard before her and many others since. In later years she has become a bit of a cliché figure with her scouse accent broadening to the point of self - parody,but she gave every song her all and was a celebrity before the word became a curse. The mis - en - scene is familiar to anybody who has watched TV or seen a British kitchen sink drama over the last 60 years,oop north,outside privies,mums in aprons,dads in sleeveless pullies,back to back housing.. .....this very familiarity is now a comfort and Miss Black so much a part of our culture that it almost writes itself. The first episode is a bit glum and ends on a down note that might have broken a lesser woman but Cilla has guts and,at least in her case,talent - as they say - will out. She never seems particularly happy and I wondered at the end whether she might have preferred to have remained a pecunious but artistically fulfilled R&B singer rather than having to churn out "Anyone who had a heart" for fifty years - but I'll guess we'll never know.

I was at school in the 1950's and 1960's and yes I also noticed a number of inaccuracies, but this was not the point of the programme. There are plenty of historical books and websites out there if that is what you want. The programme is all about capturing the hopes and dreams of young musicians during a very exciting period in popular music, and this it does perfectly. Any references to the Beatles are in the context of the story itself and are not intended to be an detailed account of their movements. If any of the inaccuracies had detracted from the storyline then I am sure that Cilla herself would have objected to it. So just sit back and enjoy the programme and avoid any unnecessary nitpicking.

This is what I have been missing for a long time. Here we have a real drama that is totally down to earth English and something we can all relate to in one way or another.It is convincingly authentic in its atmosphere of post war Liverpool with the bomb sites and obvious lack of material things,but a feeling that things are about to get a lot better. A few dodgy accents does not detract from the work the producers and cast present us with.Sheridan Smith is pure class AND She performs all the songs herself. This young lady has a great future ahead of her. This could well move on to Londons West End and be big success. Well done ITV for giving people what they want.