FUNNY GIRL's Sheridan Smith to Star in New Drama Series CLEAN BREAK

Deadline reports that Sheridan Smith, who is set to reprise her role as Fanny Brice for a National UK tour of the hit musical FUNNY GIRL, will lead an upcoming six-part drama series titled CLEAN BREAK for ITV.

Produced by Sister Pictures, the series will follow "an ordinary working class woman who is caught between two worlds - the everyday life of a devoted and loving mother and the darker, dangerous world of insider trading."

Smith will portray office cleaner Sam, described as "one of an invisible army of CLEANERS on a zero-hours contract who clean in the early hours. She struggles with an online gambling addition and is also in danger of losing custody of her two daughters and needs to get her life back on track. Sam soon realizes that she has access to lucrative Stock Market information which, if used correctly, could be the answer to all of her prayers."

The series will be directed by Lewis Arnold from a script by Mark Marlow. Commented Sister Pictures Jane Featherstone, "It's such a pleasure to be making a show for ITV about contemporary Britain with a strong and complicated female lead character."

Sheridan took almost two months off from her critically acclaimed performance as FUNNY GIRL'S Fanny Brice due to stress and exhaustion last year. She will kick off the national tour in Manchester this February. The actress, who has two Olivier awards for her stage roles in Legally Blonde and Flare Path, was made an OBE last year. According to the BBC, she has described the part of Fanny as her "dream role".

Photo credit: Johan Persson