Cilla (miniseries) Cilla (miniseries) Cilla is a British drama television miniseries about the early career of Cilla Black. It was broadcast in three parts on ITV, and began on 15 September 2014 with Sheridan Smith playing the starring role. Smith was highly praised for her performance. Following Cilla Black's death in August 2015, the series was broadcast again on ITV between 4–6 August 2015, as well as repeats on ITV Encore. The series is based around Black's hometown of Liverpool and follows her rise to fame from 1960 amateur appearances in clubs, her relationships with Bobby Willis and Brian Epstein to the
ITV Encore attributed the closure of the channel to poor ratings, in part due to its Sky exclusivity, and an over-reliance on repeats. ITV Encore closed at midnight on 1 May 2018 as part of Sky's major EPG reshuffle. The last programme shown on the channel was "Agatha Christie's Poirot" The Plymouth Express. Its Sky EPG slot was taken by Sky Two. The idea of replacing the television channel with an online service is similar to a direction BBC Three took in 2016. ITV Encore broadcasts some of ITV's most successful drama series of recent years. Since January 2015, ITV Encore also