1 9 8 5 – 1 9 8 7 (UK)
13 x 30 minute episodes
This BBC2 monologue and sketch showcase for former New Faces winner Victoria Woods featured a formidable repertory cast including Julie Walters, Patricia Routledge, Maureen Lipman and Celia Imrie.
The whole series was comedy as not often seen on TV – clever and original, with Wood’s pictures and music coupled with a genuinely quirky personality.
With Susie Blake as a condescending continuity announcer, Julie Walters as the crabby Mrs Overall (queen of the coconut macaroons and homemade sherry), as well as a series of ratbags in cafe queues, the show was the obvious winner of the 1985 Best Comedy BAFTA.
The best soap opera of 1985 was undoubtedly Acorn Antiques. With the cast continually fluffing their lines, the set in constant danger of collapse and the cameraman seeming to have had one too many in the pub at lunchtime, Acorn Antiques was a joyous disaster, inexorably reminiscent of the halcyon days of Crossroads.
Wood’s other TV offerings included a transfer to BBC1 with Victoria Wood (1989) and Victoria Wood – Live In Your Own Home (1995). She also wrote, starred in and co-produced the comedy gem, Dinnerladies (1998).
Victoria Wood died on Wednesday 20 April 2016 at her North London home after a short battle with cancer. She was 62.
Herself
Victoria Wood
Mrs Overall
Julie Walters
Miss Babs
Celia Imrie
Mr Clifford
Duncan Preston
Continuity Announcer
Susie Blake
Kitty
Patricia Routledge
