Sheridan Smith as Cilla Black

Sheridan Smith as Cilla Black

Sheridan Smith says wearing fake teeth helped her to master Cilla Black's accent.

The 33-year-old actress is portraying the legendary entertainer in the upcoming TV mini-series 'Cilla' and she's revealed she was struggling to get her Liverpudlian accent right until she started wearing fake teeth similar to Cilla's own.

Speaking at a Q&A for the ITV drama at London's Soho Hotel, Sheridan said: "I just had to whack my teeth in and I was away. I had it easy. The voice was the hard part.

"They [the fake teeth] change the shape of your mouth so they really helped with the accent and the, 'Thurr [there] and curr [care]', you know the way that she speaks from the mouth, so the teeth really helped."

The Mrs. Biggs star met with the former 'Blind Date' host herself - who had a successful music career prior to becoming a TV presenter - in preparation for the role, and confessed she had to master not one but two singing styles.

Speaking about how she sang all of Cilla's songs herself in the three-part drama, she explained: "When she was singing in the Cavern Club [in Liverpool during the early years of her career] - Cilla told me this herself as well - because it was so loud you would just whack it out, those rock and roll songs.

"And then when she'd get in the studio with headphones on she realised she had this little soft voice as well so that's why she started doing ballads as well and that was kind of fun to play around with ... The soft voice and then the kind of Cilla honk."

'Cilla' premieres on September 15 at 9pm on ITV1.

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