Two Of Us

When John Thaw star of The Sweeney and Inspector Morse died from cancer in 2002 a nation lost one of its finest actors. Sheila Hancock lost a beloved husband. In this unique double biography she chronicles their lives - personal and professional together and apart. John Thaw was born in Manchester the son of a lorry driver. When he arrived at RADA on a scholarship he felt an outsider. In fact his timing was perfect: it was the sixties and television was beginning to make its mark. With his roles in Z-Cars and The Sweeney fame came quickly. But it was Johns role as Morse that made him an icon. In 1974 John married Sheila Hancock with whom he shared a working-class background and a RADA education. Sheila was already the star of the TV series The Rag Trade and went on to become the first
woman artistic director at the RSC. Theirs was a sometimes turbulent always passionate relationship and Sheila describes their love - weathering overwork and the pressures of celebrity drink and cancer - with honesty and piercing intelligence. The Two of Us is a remarkable book - a biography of a born actor and a tender often heartbreaking memoir of a marriage. Full of insight and vivid memories it evokes two lives lived to the utmost.