Sally Morgan, known as ‘the nation’s favourite psychic’ is touring the UK once again with her perennially popular live show. Psychic Sally is equal parts personality and medium – and that’s not to underestimate either element of what makes her so entertaining. She’s an experienced and consummate performer on stage and screen, and also a best-selling author. We were excited – and a little nervous – to meet her for a one-on-one chat to discuss what its like to share star billing with the spirit world.
What can audiences expect from your show?
Well, hopefully they do their homework, and they know that they're coming to see a medium. Most people would like what we refer to as a message, but it's information that I give out.
They can expect… hope. Hope is good, when a loved one passes, not everything disappears. Our brain and heart give off electricity – an electrical pulse. That's why they give you an electric shock to bring you back [when] they put the pads on. There's no doubt about it: our body dies – it disappears, it rots, whatever. But the energy is [still] palpable, because the people that loved us, keep that energy alive.
Obviously, you've got a few hundred people in a theatre, so not everyone's going to get a message in two hours. It's absolutely impossible, but they realise that. What else? Laughter, a bit of crying, emotions and what I call wonder moments when somebody goes, ‘Oh, I think that's for me’. Expect the unexpected.
So most people come in the hope of getting a message rather than just to be entertained?
Well, it is a show, and it is entertainment because I am very true to my personality – I have to be, it's the only way I can stand in front of a large audience. To be very honest, I'm accused of being a comedian and not a medium, but you have to see the funny side of life. There are moments of great seriousness and moments of incredible soberness, but you can literally go from where you're laughing with someone about what a loved one said, to a moment of complete compassion.
Is your ability to connect and ride along with the emotions in the room innate or something you’ve learned over the years?
I've never been aware of perfecting a skill set, I think that the whole foundation has always been there. I feel very lucky that when I was born there wasn't social media and there wasn't the vocabulary that can go with this work. I don't even think there was the word psychic – I never used that as a young girl. So that enabled me to do the factory floor, really, and then I had no idea I was going to be launched in the way that I was. I have had to be very responsible with my work because of the profile that I have.
And how do people tend to respond to that profile?
People have expectations of me and when I don't meet those expectations –because I'm not woo-woo –they try and say that I'm pretending and I'm not. Who I am is who I am. I don't fit into their pre-conceived ideas of a medium or a psychic.
What would really surprise people to know about you?
How ordinary I am. You can ask me anything, I'm very open. I don't think I hide. There are a few areas of my life that I will not talk about because of the privacy of other people.
So the surprising thing about you is that you're not an enigma.
I'm not an enigma. I'm very proud of the fact that for 16 years I have been able to fill theatres up. You come to a show, you are going to get my personality.
There are some negative reviews out there, how do you feel about them?
I'm not a stupid person, everyone has a right to their own opinion.
But do you read them?
A lot of it is pure lies. People will say they've been to a show, and they'll describe something that never happened. You can't stop that on the internet: it's like trying to hold back the tide. So you have to remain who you are and carry on with your work. I don’t give them oxygen.
Do you believe in God – do you have religious faith?
Yes, I believe in God. I was brought up Church of England but the older I’ve become, I believe in God; in a divine energy. I think that divine energy knows that my church is within me. I think our church is the decisions that we make, what we define as right or wrong (and we're all different), compassion and kindness and empathy. Trying to be the best version of ourselves that we can. That’s my religion.
I believe in live and let live, and I try not to judge others. I practice that every day. Don't ever judge a book by its cover, because people do that with me all the time, even now. They're normally young, and I look at them and think, when I'm dead and buried, you are going to go back and say, ‘Why did I think that of her?’. Because I'm not that person that you think I am.
Tickets for Psychic Sally at the Kenton Theatre, Henley-on-Thames on 24 November are available here: thekenton.org.uk
For full tour details, visit sallymorgan.tv
