Sheila Hancock's Highland Fling

Veteran actress climbed a mountain at the age of 83 for her new film

After her controlling husband dies, an elderly woman embarks on a trip to fulfil her longtime dream of climbing a mountain in the Scottish Highlands.

EDIE, which opens in cinemas this weekend, was a feat of endurance for the 85-year old actress (83 when she made the movie), who has long-time connections with Chiswick. It also brought up feelings about mortality, old age, and life.

"Old people have low expectations of themselves. And they're constantly told, 'Be careful, don't fall', or 'That's dangerous', you know, all those sorts of things.

"To be with a group of people who really didn't care about my age, when we were filming, well at my age, that's marvelous." she says.

The film tells the story about Edie, a woman who has sacrificed a vast amount of her life to being a dutiful child and then a dutiful carer/wife. Now widowed, she finds out that her daughter has plans to put her in a care home, but Edie has one last adventure in her. Emboldened by a photograph on a postcard, she decides to set off to climb Mount Suilven in Scotland despite having no experience in climbing.

Sheila said that at first she thought she wouldn't have to actually climb the mountain but it became clear after lunch with the Director that they wanted her to do it. "I went home and thought, 'I'm 83, what am I talking about?'

The filming was done in stages but involved Sheila hiking over a huge area of wilderness including bogs and snakes. She was out in rain and storms, and not only hiking but rowing across a lake. "It was terribly exhausting."

Eventually, Sheila says she came to a precipice and was told that if she started to climb, she would have to go through with it, there was no turning back.

"I looked at all the young crew, clambering along weighed down with heavy equipment and I thought 'I can't let the down. And then everybody said, we only did it because you did it, so we were all desperate not to let each other down."

While filming took place nearly two years ago, Sheila says she does not think she could do it now. She told Woman's Hour on BBC Radio Four recently that she felt 'old age has suddenly arrived', and that she sometimes forgot her lines during her West End appearances recently.

She says she has already chosen a care home as she does not wish to be a burden to her daughters.

May 29, 2018