FIRST LOOK: Sheridan Smith to play Lisa Lynch in heartwrenching drama The C Bomb
SHE was prepared to do anything for her role as Lisa Lynch in hard-hitting drama The C Word, and Sheridan Smith has revealed she was 'devastated' by Lisa's sudden death two years ago.
Sheridan, who has taken the lead in The C Word, coming to BBC1 later this year, explained she wasn't as strong as Lisa - who died aged 33 in March 2013.
Speaking after a screening of The C Word - a drama based on Lisa's life - Sheridan said: "I admire her and I want to be her.
"Look at me sobbing here, I’m not as strong as her. But you can admire someone and go wow. She’s amazing, she’s inspirational and I hope for everyone she will be."
Lisa was diagnosed with breast cancer aged just 28 and died five years later. The writer was 18 months into her marriage when she was diagnosed and she shot to fame writing a blog about the disease, called Alright Tit.
Speaking about her preparation for the role, Sheridan explained her reasoning behind shaving her head and plucking out her eyebrows.
She said: "It’s just hair, it grows back, it’s the least I could do.
"The eyebrows were the ones. You can’t shave or thread them because they can grow back all weird and as an actress that might be a bit weird, so I had to pluck them and that was quite painful."
The C Word producer Simon Lewis spoke highly of Sheridan's determination to get everything spot on. He said: "She’s being a trooper about that, she had her hair shaved every day because by four o’clock in the afternoon she had a five o’clock shadow."
Lisa underwent a mastectomy followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy after a five centimetre tumour in her breast was spotted by her husband.
In 2009, Lisa was told she had the all-clear from her mammogram and prepared to get on with life. But, just under two years later in 2011, the cancer returned and it was terminal.
In October 2012 Lisa and her family were told the cancer had spread to her brain and she had months to live. Lisa died aged 33 just five months later.
Her family are fundraising for the Trinity Hospice in south London. A friend of Lisa's, named Lorna, has written a fitting tribute to her friend and the work Sheridan has undertaken on the Alright Tit blog.
She said: "There's no denying Sheridan will do a sterling job and the awareness it will raise, not only of Lisa but for breast cancer in general is going to be amazing.
"It's such a legacy for Lisa, and I know the social media reaction is going to be incredible."
