Shannon Matthews: Last News

A documentary about Shannon Matthews abductor Michael Donovan airs tonight. He kept the sedated youngster under his bed in a fake kidnapping that left the nation shocked and sickened.

When the news broke that little Shannon Matthews was missing nobody imagined that her mum had staged the incident.

The family of the man who kidnapped Shannon Matthews say if cops had listened to them they would have found her right away.

ITV drama No Return, made her think a little harder about what she'd do in that situationThe tale follows devastated mum Kathy, whose 16-year-old son is arrested in Turkey after being accused of sexually assaulting another boy.And after reading the "powerful" script, Sheridan was left in floods of tears.She explained: "I've never been to a read-through like the one for this. It was so powerful."I mean, I cried all the way through."I read it and was gripped - I had to know what happened."It gave me that jelly belly feeling of 'what would you do in that situation?'"She added: "They’re just ordinary people in an extraordinary situation and Kathy was an amazing lead role."The TV star continued to tell The Mirror that it's completely different playing these kind of roles now she's a mum herself."Playing roles before I had Billy to playing ones now I’ve had him, is totally different," she said."People had said you can’t understand the protectiveness and the overwhelming fear when you have a child and, he’s not even two yet, but I feel it."I hope it will resonate with the audience, they’ll be feeling all the angst as well."It’s every parent’s worst nightmare.

She’s one of Britain’s busiest stars so we may not be surprised to see Sheridan Smith back on our screens, but that doesn’t mean we’re any less excited. Her latest project, The Teacher, sees her take on the role of flawed staff member Jenna. She’s popular with the kids, but as her chaotic private life begins to catch up with her, Jenna’s accused of sleeping with a pupil.

There was relief on the Coronation Street cobbles as Joseph Brown was returned to his dad Chesney Brown.

Shannon Matthews and her siblings have been granted lifelong anonymity preventing their new identities from ever being revealed.