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 latter's death in 1967.

The song fails to break the Top 30, but Brian then insists that Cilla change direction and take a gamble on a cover of a Dionne Warwick ballad entitled Anyone Who Had a Heart.

[2][3][4][5] For the role, Smith had to learn the two singing voices that Black used, a loud belt she originally used to make herself heard in the noisy Cavern Club and a softer one she used in a recording studio.

[11][12][13][14][15] The Telegraph wrote: "Smith sang her heart out, catching perfectly the bluesy belter within the girl next door, but rather than rushing her to fame, the action unfolded slowly enough to show her falling at the first hurdle as she became crippled with nerves singing for Brian Epstein.

It's one of those extraordinary performances, like Julie Walters as Mo Mowlam, when an actress does more than play a real character; she becomes her, to the extent that it's hard for the viewer not to forget they're not actually watching a young Cilla Black.

The 8.6 million rating achieved for the first episode made the programme one of the most popular dramas to be shown on UK television in 2014 The series was released on DVD on 6 October 2014.

The production was scheduled to tour again from September 2020 with Sheridan Smith reprising the role of Cilla from the TV series, however it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.