Sheridan Smith '˜pressured to return to stage' after father's illness

The Lincolnshire-born actress pulled out of Tuesday’s performance of Funny Girl The Musical and initially planned to perform – but is now set to miss the show and “take each day as it comes”, the production said.

In a now-deleted tweet, the actress wrote: “You have no idea what I’m getting pressured into. They don’t give a **** about my dad!”

A spokesperson for the production said: “Our priority at this time is to Sheridan and her family. Sheridan’s primary concern is quite rightly her father’s wellbeing, and we support her wholeheartedly.

“We would never ask nor expect an artist to perform in this situation, and ask that you respect her and her family’s privacy at this time.”

The actress, 34, shared with her Twitter followers on Tuesday: “Had s*** news 2day,sorry I can’t make the show for u loyal fans,if u ask they give u tix to the Savoy!”

Funny Girl is playing at the Menier Chocolate Factory theatre but will transfer to the Savoy Theatre on April 8.

She added: “it’s one, hate missing shows but pappa needs me x”.

The Cilla star also responded to disappointed theatre-goers with offers to arrange and fund the tickets herself.

On Wednesday, she tweeted: “People think I pulled out of funny Girl, not just yet.I mssed 1 show last night, back to finish this week @MenChocFactory then we’ll see”.