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Dame Sheila Hancock has said that she fears the prospect of dying with Nigel Farage as Prime Minister.
The actress and national treasure appeared on this week’s Have I Got News For You in an episode recorded prior to the local election results being revealed.
With Steph McGovern hosting, 93-year-old Dame Sheila starred as a guest alongside comedian and Waterloo Road star John Richardson.
As the first round kicked off, Dame Sheila and team captain Ian Hislop were presented with footage from the local elections.
This included an image of Reform UK leader and former I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! contestant Farage, 62.
It was as the panel discussed the controversial right-wing party’s growing popularity that Dame Shiela admitted she’s ‘frightened’ that she might live long enough to die with Farage in power.
After suggesting that Farage doesn’t know ‘what human beings are,’ Dame Sheila shared her fears for the country’s future.
‘I’ve got to the age now that I probably won’t be here much longer,’ she continued.
‘And I’m so frightened [that] I’m going to die when he’s Prime Minister. I can’t die when Farage is Prime Minister!’ she exclaimed.
‘OK, well that’s something to look forward to,’ joked Hislop, before reassuring her: ‘And he’s not going to be Prime Minister just because they win seats in a local election.’
Dame Sheila went on: ‘I have a feeling that the country is so bewildered at the moment and so desperate for a change of any sort – and this is always so dangerous.
‘It happened in countries all around the world. I’m not going to mention Germany because… but it did happen there,’ she finished.
Born in 1933, Dame Sheila rose to fame in the early 60s after starring as Carole Taylor in the popular BBC sitcom The Rag Trade.
Dividing her time between stage and screen, the actress, singer and West End star also appeared in episodes of Doctor Who, Inspector Morse and Jackanory, as well as the films Buster (1988) and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008).
In 2021, she was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for her services to drama and charity.
The actress was married to actor Alex Ross from 1955 until his death from oesophageal cancer in 1971.
Tragically, her second husband – Inspector Morse star John Thaw – suffered the same fate, also dying of oesophageal cancer in 2002.
The pair shared two daughters together, including Dame Sheila’s daughterfrom her marriage to Ross.
This isn’t the first time the Great Canal Journeys star has addressed the prospect of her own demise.
She previously described how she’s unafraid of ‘cancel culture’ due to her ever-advancing years.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain in 2023, she said: ‘What I say to my grandchildren is, “I don’t give a damn what gender people are, it is honestly irrelevant whether they’re trans or whatever, I will address them whatever they like, but I’ve got to be able to express opinions.”
‘And they say, “Oh nana, you can’t say that, you’ll be cancelled.”
But, as she told hosts Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley, this didn’t concern her.
‘Quite honestly, when you get to 90, you’re going to be cancelled by life,’ she said, adding: ‘You might as well risk it.’
Have I Got News For You airs at 9pm on Friday on BBC One.
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