Old Rage

THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER | WITH EXCLUSIVE NEW MATERIAL

‘I want to be Sheila Hancock when I grow up’ – Lorraine Kelly
‘Wise, witty, kind and true’ – Sunday Times
‘A sparkling memoir as funny and insightful as it’s moving’ – Daily Mail
‘A captivating memoir’ – Mail on Sunday

In 2016, Sheila Hancock sat down to write a book about a serene and fulfilled old age. This is not that book.

In Old Rage, one of Britain’s best-loved actors opens up about her tenth decade. Funny, feisty, honest, she makes for brilliant company as she talks about her life and takes an uncompromising look at a world so different from the one of her wartime childhood. And yet – despite age, despite rage – she finds there are always reasons for joy.

‘The much-loved actor candidly shares the fear, joy and frustration she has found in her ninth decade’ Guardian, Books of the Year 2022
‘Sheila Hancock reflects upon her life and career with all the winning candour and warm-heartedness we have come to expect from the legendary actress’ Waterstones

Author Biography

Sheila Hancock, one of Britain’s most highly regarded and popular actors, received a Damehood for services to drama and charity in 2021. Since the 1950s she has enjoyed a career across film, television, theatre and radio. Her first big television role was in the BBC sitcom The Rag Trade in the early 1960s. She has directed and acted for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. Following the death of her husband, John Thaw, she wrote a memoir of their marriage, The Two of Us, which was a number one bestseller and won the British Book Award for Author of the Year. Her memoir of her widowhood, Just Me, also a bestseller, was published in 2007, followed by her bestselling novel Miss Carter’s War. She lives in London and France.