Shirley
Drama (1 x 70')
** Ruth Negga winner of IFTA for Best Actress **
Shir Genius ... Ruth Negga is sensational as Shirley Bassey - The Mirror
Ruth Negga as Dame Shirley Bassey was a massive hoo-haa - The Times
A fantastic one-off biopic - The Sun
An enjoyable gallop with a taut script from Shelagh Stephenson and good performances all round - The Observer
A powerhouse performance by Ruth Negga - The Daily Mail
Biopic of Shirley Bassey, charting the singer's early career, from her humble roots in 1930s Wales - where she was born the youngest of eight children to a mixed-race couple - to the start of her rise to international stardom in the 1960s.
Ruth Negga (Misfits) stars, with Lesley Sharp, Charlie Creed-Miles and Henry Lloyd-Hughes.
Shirley dreams of success when a London agent plucks her from singing in the clubs and grooms her into a solo performer fit to take on the world. But the future star is hiding the fact that she is an unmarried teenage mother, and reluctantly hands her daughter over to her elder sister while she works night and day to achieve her dream.
UK Broadcaster
BBC Two
Transmission Dates
29 September 2011
A Prospect Cymru Production