When Sheridan Smith agrees to take on a role as a single mum whose own mother is diagnosed with dementia, you know you’re in for a performance that will blow your away. The result is Care, the outstanding BBC drama that sees the I Fought the Law star take on her most heartbreaking role yet as Jenny – and eight years after it first aired, Netflix has snapped it up.
Sheridan’s character, Jenny, is estranged from her ex-husband and raising her two daughters alone, but her mum, Mary’s (Alison Steadman) help - with childcare as much as anything - is a lifeline for her. So when Mary develops dementia after a stroke, Jenny finds herself facing excruciatingly painful choices and battling with a care system that’s seemingly beyond repair.
While we patiently wait for Care’s imminent arrival on Netflix, here’s everything you need to know about the drama, including the full plot, cast and when you can watch it.
What is Care about?
The 90-minute drama stars Sheridan as Jenny, a mother of two who finds herself raising her girls alone after the departure of her husband, Dave. Her one lifeline is Mary (Alison Steadman), Jenny’s widowed mother, whose help with childcare means that Jenny is able to hold down her full-time job at the supermarket. When Mary suffers a devastating stroke and develops dementia, however, their world is instantly shattered.
Jenny finds herself torn between her own life and the wellbeing of her mother and must decide on the best way forward for both her and her family. When Mary is placed in a care home, her new carers lose her on her first night, forcing Jenny to take matters into her own hands. But as any carer will know, it’s far from simple.
It’s an incredibly powerful drama that had a huge impact on Sheridan herself. “When I realised what the script was about and I read it - I cried all the way through it. It really moved me,” she told the BBC.
What to read next
“I thought it was such an important subject matter. It’s a really important story to tell. Lots of people will be going through the same situation. They’re just a real family and it could happen to anyone, up and down the country. It’s very important. That’s what Jimmy is great at - he always tackles a subject that needs to be discussed.”
She added that one of her hardest scenes to film was at the very beginning of the drama. “One of the more challenging scenes was the scene at the start, when my character Jenny’s mum has the accident and Jenny’s then out looking for her and her daughters,” she explained.
“Jenny only hears the crash on the phone, so she doesn’t actually know what’s happened. She jumps in the car and she doesn’t know where her kids are… Gosh I’m getting all panicky just thinking about it! I was really shaking after that scene, and I was crying a lot.”
Who’s in the cast of Care?
The cast of care includes:
- Sheridan Smith (The Moorside, I Fought the Law) as Jenny
- Alison Steadman (Gavin & Stacey) as Mary
- Sinead Keenan (Little Boy Blue) as Claire
- Kevin Doyle (Downton Abbey) as the Chairman
- Anthony Flanagan (Betrayal) as Dave
- Keri Quinn (Hope Street) as Hilary
- Lois Chimimba (Coldwater) as Nurse Brown
- Elizabeth Rider (True Things) as Helen
Is Care any good?
Yes, it’s a poignant, heartbreaking drama that will keep you absorbed right up until the end credits. If the subject is close to you, which it will be for many, it won’t be the easiest watch, but Sheridan’s performance is as good as we’ve come to expect from her. She captures the emotional and physical challenges of those caring for loved ones in gut-wrenching detail, which makes for an incredibly powerful drama.
How can I watch Care?
Care will be available to watch on Netflix from Tuesday 31st March.
What other Sheridan Smith dramas can I watch now?
For an equally absorbing watch, we’d recommend The Moorside. The two-part series tells the true story of Shannon Matthews who went missing in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, when she was nine years old. Sheridan plays Julie Bushby, the woman on the Moorside estate where Shannon and her mother, Karen, lived, who organised daily search teams to find Shannon. The Moorside is available to watch now on ITVX. We’d also recommend Four Lives, another true story drama in which Sheridan stars as the mother of Anthony Walgate, one of the four young gay men murdered by Stephen Port between June 2014 and September 2015. It’s another heart-wrenching watch thanks to Sheridan’s standout performance. All three episodes of Four Lives are available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.
