She was the jobsworth who upheld petty rules in the face of humanity and common sense in the gritty award-winning Tyneside-based film, I, Daniel Blake.
But then the by-the-book Job Centre worker who deemed the movie’s unwell central character fit for work, found herself sitting on the other side of the desk.
Actress Sharon Percy McGregor was forced to sign on when she struggled to find work after being made redundant from a charity role.
Go here for the very latest breaking news updates from across the North East
The incongruity of sanctioning the unemployed on the silver screen to joining the job queue herself, wasn’t lost on the 50-year-old.
Looking back, she said: “That’s real life for you. That’s what happens. Nobody could have written that, I don’t think. It is such a bizarre turn of events.
“After I, Daniel Blake I was unemployed. I was a single parent with two kids, and actually signing on at the Job Centre, which is the ironic thing, being on the other side of that having just played that role in I, Daniel Blake and then actually finding myself a job seeker. It was so surreal, it was absolutely bizarre.
“It was a really hard time. I didn’t have the qualifications I needed for many of the jobs available, and it felt like starting from scratch and like I was just surviving.”
Sharon was still doing the odd acting role – she has appeared in Vera – but as a lone parent she said: “I had to think about what I could do as I wasn’t going to be able to do castings every other week and go throughout the country with two little kids.
“I had to think what I would be able to do to maintain some sort of life for my children whilst teaching them the importance of going to work and things like that. So, I thought, right, I’ll retrain.”
Now, in a twist of fate, Sharon is working as an employment advisor with North Tyneside Council having retrained and gained qualifications in English and maths in her 40s.
She is helping launch a pioneering new service in the borough to support others into employment, training and volunteering.
Working Well North Tyneside will offer a one-stop-shop to make it easier for people to access employment and skills support - from the latest information on the jobs market to building confidence.
As well as employment advisors like Sharon, there will be information on hand to address the wider barriers to employment including finance, debt, housing, and physical and mental health.
It will be delivered by the council from a new hub in North Shields, in partnership with the NHS, Department of Work and Pensions, and the community and voluntary sector.
More hubs will be rolled out across the borough.
In real life Sharon, who lives in Cullercoats, North Tyneside, with her husband of two-and-a-half years, Martin, and two daughters Eden, 14, and Venus, 11, couldn’t be further removed from Sheila, the bureaucratic work coach who puts every obstacle possible in the way of I, Daniel Blake’s central characters as they try to get the help and support they need to turn their lives around.
The 2016 Ken Loach drama – which won a plethora of top accolades, including the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and plaudits for its realistic depiction of what life on benefits can be like for many – focuses on Daniel, a Newcastle widower recovering from a heart attack, and his young single mother friend, Katie.
Raised in Byker, in real life Sharon is a passionate charity worker, who supports the work of local food banks.
Her dad was a single parent of two children. The family struggled financially at times and Sharon said going into working on I, Daniel Blake “I was very, very aware of the difficulties many people have because I endured a lot of those issues myself as a child.”
She had no idea when filming started just how unsympathetic a character Sheila was. “You don’t really know much about who you are playing in a Ken Loach film. You get the lines, you learn them, you turn up on the day, and you don’t know how that fits in with the bigger theme of the story.
“You don’t get the whole script, so I didn’t know that my character was the baddie until I watched it at the premier. I knew Sheila was straight laced and did everything by the book, but I didn’t know in what context.”
Sharon admitted to being shocked when she first saw Sheila on the big screen.
“I was taken aback, I was like ‘Oh my God!’ The decisions that that woman makes are ultimately the downfall of Daniel Blake, and how his life pans out.”
Her life is now very different from the hard line approach taken by her character. And she says her cinematic alter-ego hasn’t impeded her in her new role. “People know how lovely I am in real life!”
“I absolutely love my job and helping to give people that confidence to go after their dreams is so rewarding.
“It’s definitely all about individual support – not about sanctions and box-ticking like the role I played in the film.
“We want people to feel they can come in, have a cuppa, talk to us and know that we’ll listen and understand. We’re not robots – we’re people too and have all been on our own journeys to get where we are.”
She added: “I could never have imagined that a few years later I would be helping people to find work in real life as an employment advisor.
“We are here to have a face-to-face conversation with people about what they need and provide support to help them achieve that. We want to encourage, inspire, and motivate so that they believe in themselves.
“I think with Covid, that face-to-face interaction has been lacking with everything going online or on the phone. It will do people the world of good to come in and see a smiley face, such as myself.”
Smiling wasn’t something Sharon did much of in I, Daniel Blake. What does she think Sheila would think of her current job? “I think she’d be aghast!,” Sharon laughed.
Representatives from the Working Well North Tyneside partners will be at the Beacon Shopping Centre, North Shields, between 11am-3pm Monday-Friday until March 18.
People can pay them a visit to find out more about the new service and help shape its development.
