Sheila Hancock says lockdown has taught her UK needs a revolution: ‘We’ve got to make our society work better’

‘It’s no good standing on the step with a torch and clapping, that’s nonsense,’ actor said

Sheila Hancock says that a year spent in lockdown has taught her that the UK needs a “revolution”.

The 88-year-old actor appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour on Tuesday (23 March), marking the one-year anniversary since the UK first went into lockdown for the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking about her own experiences over the last 12 months, Hancock admitted that she’d spent the last year doing “nothing” except come to the conclusion that “we need a revolution”.

Pushed to explain what she meant by host Emma Barnett, the Olivier-award winner continued: “The one thing that I have discovered, which I knew already but I think a lot of other people didn’t, is the vast divisions in our country [and] the gross undervaluation of the people that have got us through this mess.

“We’ve got to do something about it. It’s no good standing on the step with a torch and clapping, that’s nonsense and I never do that. We’ve just got to get down to making our society work better.”

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Saying that she wanted to see a shift away from decisions being made about the country for “political reasons” over welfare of the people, Hancock continued: “Most of the mistakes have been because politicians didn’t want to offend other members of their party. That sort of thing I want to see change.”

Earlier this year, Hancock was made a dame at the New Year Honours for services to drama and charity, during which the actor said she felt “slightly miscast”.