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 Central drama series on the topic, called "Intimate Contact". Central also first reported on the Ethiopian famine in July 1984 with the documentary "Seeds of Despair". In the same year, the company completed production on one of its more controversial programmes "Question of Leadership", a four-part series directed by Ken Loach about trade unions' responses to government actions. The IBA was concerned it breached balance guidelines, while the unions criticised it as defamatory. Even after several re-edits, the series was never transmitted, which was described as political censorship. Central also played a major role in the ITV network's infrastructure – not