Epworth star Sheridan Smith felt '˜pressured' to return to stage after her father was taken ill.

Doncaster actress Sheridan Smith has said she felt '˜pressured' to return to the stage after her father was taken ill.
Sheridan SmithSheridan Smith
Sheridan Smith

The actress pulled out of Tuesday’s performance of Funny Girl The Musical in London and initially planned to perform on Wednesday – but later missed the show and would ‘take each day as it comes’, the production said.

In a now-deleted tweet, the actress wrote: “You have no idea what I’m getting pressured into.” She also said the production did not care about her dad.

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A spokesman for the production said: “Our priority at this time is to Sheridan and her family. Sheridan’s primary concern is quite rightly her father’s wellbeing, and we support her wholeheartedly.

“We would never ask nor expect an artist to perform in this situation, and ask that you respect her and her family’s privacy at this time.”

The actress, aged 34, shared with her Twitter followers that she had received bad news.

She added: “Hate missing shows but pappa needs me x”

The Cilla star also responded to disappointed theatre-goers with offers to arrange and fund the tickets herself.

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In her absence, the production went ahead with the actress’ understudy, Natasha J Barnes.

Sheridan’s parents still live in the village of Epworth, near Doncaster, and are well-known performers in clubs in Doncaster.