‘I look like a bag lady now!’: Dame Sheila Hancock, 87, declares she’s ‘in her element’ when wearing ‘filthy corduroys and a terrible old jumper’
Dame Sheila Hancock has said that she is completely in her element when looking like a ‘bag lady’.
The actress, 87, said she hated shopping ‘from the depths of my soul’ but made an exception for ethical second-hand clothes shops.
Speaking on the podcast My Wardrobe Malfunction, Sheila said her daily outfit was now ‘filthy old corduroys’, a ‘terrible old jumper’ that belonged to her late husband John Thaw, and a woolly hat knitted decades ago.
Fashion: Dame Sheila Hancock, 87, has said that she is completely in her element when looking like a ‘bag lady’
She said: ‘I look like a bag lady now and I am in my element … I went into Topshop once and thought I was going to die.’
Sheila was made a Dame in the New Year Honours list for her services to drama.
During her illustrious career Sheila has appeared in several hit shows including a role on EastEnders, where she played Barbara Owen for a year from 2000 to July 2001.
Other productions she has been involved in include movies The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas and 3 Men And A Little Lady.
Keeping it comfy: Speaking on the My Wardrobe Malfunction podcast, the actress said: ‘I look like a bag lady now and I am in my element’ (pictured in 2017)
More recently, Sheila had a starring role in 2018 theatre show Harold & Maude and has also been in Sister Act The Musical, Cabaret and the 1978 production Annie.
As well as working in film and theatre, Sheila has written three books including The Two of Us which was about her marriage to Inspector Morse actor John Thaw.
Sheila and John met in 1974 when she was the star of TV series The Rag Trade and they were married for 29 years before his death from cancer in 2002.
The actor survived just eight months after being diagnosed with oesophageal cancer and died at the age of 60.
Love: Sheila added that her daily outfit is now ‘filthy old corduroys’ and a ‘terrible old jumper’ that belonged to her late husband John Thaw (pictured together in 1998)
Speaking after his death, Sheila revealed that she begged her husband not to die, pleading with him not to leave her.
The actress said the love they shared was so strong that it bordered on ‘obsessive’, and said that neither she nor John could ever imagine being apart from each other.
Sheila made the admission to Radio Times magazine as she compared her and John’s love to tragic lovers Cathy and Heathcliff in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights
Sheila said: ‘If you have ever known that obsessive love, which sometimes makes it difficult to be together but impossible to be apart, you can identify with the relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff.’
And last month, Sheila said the idea of death ‘weights heavily on her’ as there’s so much more than she wants to do.
The actress, was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis three years ago and is now mostly in remission.
But as she demonstrated her morning exercise routine to combat the symptomatic stiffness, she told Gyles Brandreth, 72, on Great Canal Journeys that she may only have a matter of months to live, Radio Times reported.
She said: ‘This wasn’t to do with my illness – although you can die of it and I do have to think about that – but just at my age, you’re unlikely to live many more years and that weighs heavily if, like me, you’re greedy to learn new things.’
She added that because of her work ethic, there’s so much that she hasn’t done as she said she has ‘been postponing living all my life!’
‘I’ve been postponing living all my life!’: Last month, Dame Sheila said the idea of death ‘weights heavily on her’ after rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis three years ago