Loveable and forthright character that she is, Sheila lays it on the line and it’s all from the heart, which is why her prose is passionate and interesting. The fact that I agree with her sentiments adds to my pleasure here.

I confess I’ve not read any of her three previous efforts but, after digesting this diarised account of her latter years, I can certainly handle a bigger dose of Sheila. In December 2017 in the Diary entry Sheila’s Aunt Billie had been moved into a hospital and was apparently fading fast. Billie had fought hard to stay in her flat after her fall. When Sheila went to the hospital the next day her ninety three Aunt Billie quietly had let go of her grasp on 18th December. Sheila remembered she had spent the most happiest days of her childhood in her Auntie Bill and Uncle Roy’s minuscule flat on the Rue d’Amsterdam. The journal starts in 2016 and carries through into 2022. In her introduction she writes that she hoped the book would be "a gentle record of a fulfilled old age. An inspirational journey. It hasn't turned out like that. As I wrote it, my own and the wider world descended into chaos." I am a fan of Sheila’s work, and the work of her late husband John Thaw, and she’s always been a presence on British screens, so I was excited to read this. She doesn’t shy away from telling her own opinions and that’s missing in todays world when everyone is so scared of saying the wrong thing.

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The much-loved actor candidly shares the fear, joy and frustration she has found in her ninth decade' Guardian, Books of the Year 2022 Absolutely brilliant book and certainly reflects many of the feelings I and my friends felt (and are still feeling) during Covid and even now. I love Sheila's writing as she has such a command of language and seems to find exactly the right way to describe the awful things that happened, the stupid things our so-called leaders actually said to us and how, in general, people are usually good to each other in dire circumstances. We are, after all, a very resilient people.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review. As Billie was in a ward of her own Sheila sat with Billie day and night singing to her and saying a childhood prayer to her, one that I truly loved, that was one my favourite parts in the book for loving the prayer. 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. She is kind and doesn’t have a bad word when speaking of people she knows and has met over the years. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and laughed out loud at her references to various politicians.

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In my opinion, I did feel there was too much ranting about politics and Brexit for my taste, but it’s clearly a passionate topic for her. I would have preferred more about her as a person and her life and career, but maybe she’s done that in her previous books. It’s very much a rambling, like we’re being invited into her world for a chat. I realised that maybe I wasn’t as much of a wordsmith as I thought I was, as she uses a lot of words that I didn���t understand and had to look up, so prepare yourself for feeling like an English language novice. Old Rage would probably make a better audiobook than a physical book. It is an outpouring…sometimes a rant, sometimes a reminisce, fuelled by emotions and memories..I could hear Sheila’s voice throughout and I would love to hear her actually reading this..

That she is a caring human being with an innate sense of fair play there can be no doubt. That there aren’t more like her in the world is sad. It's a memoir, a good one too. I did not know who she was until she was on Graham Norton. She was delightful. In the book, her view of the world is refreshing, not dead certain but tempered with the confounding burden of experience. Home alone, classified as 'extremely vulnerable', she finds herself yelling at the TV and talking to the pigeons. But she can at least take a good long look at life – her work and family, her beliefs (many of them the legacy of her wartime childhood) and, uncomfortable as it might be to face, her future. I didn't like how it was written in a diary style, it just felt ploddy. "And then I did this, and then I did that"type of thing.It was so honest and to the point -Sheila just says things as they are and is not afraid to be opiniated and to share those views -and this was so refreshing and I really resonated with this! I may not have agreed with all her views - I did agree with nearly 95% of them - but I relished the fact that - as Sheila says - in this age of cancel culture, she was still able and willing to share her views - its as it should be! Was really looking forward to this book as I love Sheila's straight talking and not phaffing and this didn't disappoint! Sheila has also been made a dame (a proper one), an accolade she took in her stride while reflecting on the type of society that created such things, which leads me to mention that her political views are expanded upon here. Let’s just say that Boris Johnson and some of his cronies, along with Trump, were not, and never will be, on her Christmas card list. Ever dipping into her lengthy career is another frequent thing in this book. Names familiar and less familiar all get mentions into how their paths crossed and the impact those others have had on the arts.

I right away looked up the movie "Edie" which gutted me in the first few minutes (if you watch nothing else see Edie's confrontation with her midlife daughter) and what came after was awfully sweet.

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