Dame Sheila Hancock says Jesus Christ would have been cancelled if he were alive

Dame Sheila Hancock believes that Jesus Christ wouldn’t have “lasted a minute” in the 21st century, as he would have been “cancelled”.

The Olivier Award-winning actor is opening up about her journey from Catholicism to the Quaker faith in BBC One’s My Life at Christmas with Countryfile’s Anita Rani. The documentary will also follow her experience of losing two husbands to cancer.

Speaking about her journey with faith she said, “The Catholicism is gone. I don’t believe in that at all”, in an interview with The Telegraph.

Quakers do not practice Catholic rituals such as the sacrament, opting for services that centre periods of silence and reflection instead.

Although Hancock says she values the “prayerful silence” of Quakerism, the life of Jesus is still very important to her. But she believes he would have been the victim of cancel culture on account of his honesty.

“Christ wouldn’t have lasted a minute because he said exactly what he thought, he’d have been cancelled,” she said.

“I do believe, with all my heart, that you’ve got to say what you believe and take the risk of getting into trouble.

“But it’s easy for me to say that, because I don’t have a career that I have to be careful of. I’m gonna be gone soon.”

The 91-year-old British actor, who was made a DBE in 2021, told the BBC’s Amol Rajan last year that she’s not afraid to speak her mind against the backdrop of cancel culture because “I’m shortly going to be cancelled by death anyway”.

“If I say something outrageous and I’m cancelled, I’m shortly going to be cancelled by death anyway,” she told the University Challenge host. “It gives me a sort of ‘oh dear I don’t care, because I’m going’.”

One of the UK’s most respected actors, Hancock’s career spans seven decades and includes stage, TV and film credits such as The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas,Edie, Carry on Cleo, and Entertaining Mr Sloane.

She began her acting career after graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada) in London where Hancock was “one of the very few working class people”.

My Life at Christmas with Anita Rani is on BBC One on Sunday at 10.30am