1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,480 # NINA SIMONE: My Baby Just Cares For Me 2 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:04,400 Hello. 3 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:06,880 She just made a lot of people laugh. 4 00:00:06,920 --> 00:00:08,800 I'm looking for my friend. 5 00:00:08,840 --> 00:00:11,760 For a lot of comedians, Victoria Wood 6 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:14,240 is just incredibly jaw dropping. 7 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:16,400 Have you seen it? 'Her talent was boundless.' 8 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:18,160 Have you seen it on the trolley? 9 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:20,040 And she had so much more to give. 10 00:00:20,080 --> 00:00:23,360 She was one of Britain's best-loved entertainers. 11 00:00:24,360 --> 00:00:27,000 There was nobody like her. 12 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:28,760 There was only one. 13 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:31,040 A woman who changed comedy. 14 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:33,520 (COUGHS) Urgh! It's on the cauliflower. 15 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:36,360 Sorry. 'She drew you in.' 16 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:38,760 You identified with what she was saying. 17 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:41,560 You recognised the people she was talking about. 18 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:43,600 Fell about laughing like this... 19 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:45,720 So much more than a comedian, 20 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:48,520 she was an award-winning actor... 21 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:50,320 Victoria Wood... 22 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:51,760 Ow! 23 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:55,400 ..a song writer who created unforgettable musicals... 24 00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:57,920 She was part of the British DNA. 25 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:01,640 ..a star, who did everything with a style that was simply unique. 26 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:03,400 Off I go, then. 27 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:07,560 Inoffensive and yet quite naughty, when she wanted to be. 28 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:11,120 You just think, 'Gosh, what a special person.' 29 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:12,760 Are you from the North? 30 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:16,600 I don't know whether she had any idea of the love. 31 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:18,920 I hope she knew. I don't think she really knew. 32 00:01:18,960 --> 00:01:21,040 I feel so lucky... 33 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:23,080 to have known her. 34 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:27,040 Tonight, we celebrate the life and work of the woman once voted 35 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:29,920 as the person we'd most like as our next-door neighbour - 36 00:01:29,960 --> 00:01:31,960 Victoria Wood. 37 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:34,800 'Meeting Victoria completely changed my life.' 38 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:38,640 Yeah. She is very much missed. 39 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:50,760 London, SW7, 40 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:52,960 the legendary Royal Albert Hall, 41 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,200 one of the most famous performance venues on the planet. 42 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:01,320 The biggest names in show-business have graced this stage, 43 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:05,560 but the record for the longest-ever run of sold-out shows by a comedian... 44 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:08,040 Please welcome...Victoria Wood. 45 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:11,160 ..is held by a star once described 46 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:13,360 as being extraordinary in her ordinariness. 47 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:15,120 Hello. 48 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:18,680 She used to bounce on the stage and just put her arms round the audience 49 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:21,640 of 5,000 people in the Albert Hall. 50 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:24,360 It felt like everything she was saying 51 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:26,080 was so conversational, 52 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:28,960 and she was only really talking to you. 53 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:32,640 I'm different sizes in different shops: 16 in some shops, 18 in some shops. 54 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:34,880 In Gap, I'm only a size 12 cos they're American. 55 00:02:34,920 --> 00:02:38,840 In Marks & Spencer's, I'm only a size three cos they don't want to upset anybody. 56 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:41,240 In Topshop, my hips set off an alarm as I go through. 57 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:43,480 'Bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep.' 58 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:45,480 The size of that building, 59 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:48,160 to entertain people the way she did: 60 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:51,120 she had the audience in the palm of her hand. 61 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:53,200 'You are now being held in a queue. 62 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:55,080 If you have a tone phone, please press 63 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:57,080 for your choice of relaxing listening. 64 00:02:57,120 --> 00:02:59,040 Press one for the Blue Danube, 65 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:00,960 two for the Cuckoo Waltz, 66 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:04,200 three for Tommy Steele having a crack at Phantom Of The Opera.' 67 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,120 There was one moment when I turned round, 68 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:08,800 and I looked up... 69 00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:11,200 Everybody was crying with laughter. 70 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:13,600 You know that laughter that you just can't stop? 71 00:03:13,640 --> 00:03:16,160 I'm in a women's clinic, and I think, 'Well, I never knew 72 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:18,560 there were so many ways for women to fall to pieces.' 73 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:20,480 They've got their bosoms hanging out, 74 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:22,520 pelvic floors dangling. 75 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:27,360 There's a woman with a cervix in a margarine tub like this. 76 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:37,800 And she's going, 'I took it out to wash it. I couldn't get it back in.' 77 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:44,200 Victoria Wood played the Albert Hall almost 50 times, 78 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:48,200 performances that left some fans overcome with emotion. 79 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:51,560 After I'd seen that show, 80 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:53,600 I actually bumped into her in the street, 81 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:55,560 and I broke down and started crying. 82 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:57,480 I felt so silly. 83 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:00,200 But I said to her, 'You were amazing. 84 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:03,400 You were phenomenal,' and I meant every word of it. 85 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:05,160 And I gave her a hug, 86 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:07,240 and I can see her daughter was kind of like, 87 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:09,800 'Who's this woman going over the top?' You know? 88 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:12,960 But it wasn't over the top because it was quite genuine. 89 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:16,400 She was amazing that night. 90 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:19,400 But packing the Albert Hall night after night 91 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:24,480 would be just one of many high points in a career lasting 40 years. 92 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:27,960 I got up and I was just looking at these bags under my eyes here, 93 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:29,880 thinking, 'Shall I try and blot them out 94 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:32,720 or get some raffia and make a feature of them?' 95 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:35,720 And there's a... Please. There's a ring on the doorbell, 96 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:38,280 and it's a taxi driver, looking at me as if I was barmy. 97 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:42,400 I said, 'What's the matter? Have you never seen a woman in Deputy Dog pyjamas before?' 98 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:44,080 She definitely inspired 99 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:47,400 a whole generation of female comics. 100 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:49,920 I flew here on the famous Manchester shuttle. 101 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:53,560 It's rather an OLD aeroplane. I had to go next to the rear gunner. 102 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:58,200 The trouble is you don't get a proper movie because the flying time is so short. 103 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:02,720 You just get one of the air hostesses flicking through the Bunty very quickly. 104 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:06,880 Killer material, and the amazing thing was she did it all herself. 105 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:09,520 She wrote all her own jokes. 106 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:11,720 I just don't understand about caravanning. 107 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:14,720 I don't understand people who can only have a relaxed vacation 108 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:18,480 if they're accompanied at all times by their own washing-up brush. 109 00:05:20,840 --> 00:05:24,320 And caravan sites - I mean, the people who go to caravan sites 110 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:28,080 live in a perfectly normal environment for 50 weeks of the year. 111 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:31,480 Then they suddenly feel obliged to sample life as it is lived 112 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:33,720 in a refugee camp after an earthquake. 113 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:36,280 What she did so brilliantly 114 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:40,800 is just hold up a mirror to real life, really. 115 00:05:40,840 --> 00:05:44,200 I set off in my car down the motorway and I stopped on the hard shoulder, 116 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:47,400 and this police car pulled up. He said, 'Why have you stopped, madam?' 117 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:51,080 I said, 'I was listening to The Archers.' He said, 'I didn't hear that, madam.' 118 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:54,680 I said, 'They're having terrible trouble with the pigs at Grange Farm.' 119 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:57,760 One of the great ingredients of comedy is recognition, 120 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:00,680 and you would laugh because you recognised that situation. 121 00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:04,400 When I was little, there were no party bags, no consolation prizes, 122 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:07,200 none of this - everybody has to go home with something. 123 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:10,160 When you played Musical Chairs, if you were out, you were out. 124 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:12,200 I mean, out in the street. 'Go on!' 125 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:14,720 'It's raining, Mrs Pickering.' 126 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:16,440 'I mean it.' 127 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:19,640 It's just her view of the world and her ear 128 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:23,600 and her extraordinary antennae for people's foibles 129 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:26,920 and their frailty 130 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:30,200 and their pomposity - all of that - you know? 131 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:33,200 She can spot it at sort of 1,000 miles. 132 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:34,960 She'd spot it and hear it. 133 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:36,720 And when you do Pass The Parcel now, 134 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:38,920 you have to put a little prize in each layer, 135 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:41,320 so that each child who unwraps a layer gets a prize. 136 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:44,280 None of that when I was little. You were lucky to get one at the end. 137 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:47,360 You'd unwrap the last thing and go, 'Nothing in it, Mrs Pickering.' 138 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:49,520 'No, that's life, that is. Think on.' 139 00:06:55,280 --> 00:07:00,120 The journey to the Royal Albert Hall and comedy glory began in the 1950s 140 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:01,840 in suburban South Lancashire, 141 00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:05,960 as Victoria revealed on The South Bank Show in 1996. 142 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,520 My house was that one on the end there with the tree and the roses. 143 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:13,640 My main memory of being in this house was being in that bedroom up there, 144 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:15,360 sitting in bed reading books, 145 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:17,720 because I was a compulsive reader even then. 146 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:21,560 Victoria's father Stanley was an insurance underwriter, 147 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:25,640 who wrote sketches in the evenings and played part-time in a dance band. 148 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:29,280 Her mother Nellie claimed to have no sense of humour. 149 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:32,880 I don't remember anybody coming to the house or anything like that. 150 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:35,720 Social life hadn't really kicked into gear. 151 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:39,040 And it never did, cos then we went up to this big house on the hill. 152 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:41,080 And nobody came to tea at all! 153 00:07:42,160 --> 00:07:45,120 From the age of five, I lived in a massive bungalow, 154 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:47,320 a house that had been an anti-aircraft base, 155 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:51,080 that my mother had partitioned, by dragging bits of plywood off bomb sites 156 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:53,480 and lashing them to the top of a minivan, 157 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:56,480 and making rooms out of them. So it had lots and lots of rooms. 158 00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:58,600 There were four of us, four children. 159 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:00,320 We could all have separate rooms. 160 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:02,960 And I had a room with a piano and a television in it. 161 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:06,240 I either watched television or played the piano or read or ate sweets, 162 00:08:06,280 --> 00:08:09,040 and I just did those four things, usually all at the same time. 163 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:11,560 And I've based my career on at least three of them. 164 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:14,720 An early trip to the theatre 165 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:19,600 to see a female comedy pioneer would inspire the young Victoria. 166 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:22,680 Neville, stop being a train, dear, and come and sit down. 167 00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:25,120 Well, get into the station and then sit down. 168 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:27,600 I saw Joyce Grenfell when I was about seven. 169 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:29,360 George... 170 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:31,080 George! 171 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:33,400 Don't do that. 172 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:37,000 That certainly planted the seed of a woman standing on stage alone. 173 00:08:37,040 --> 00:08:40,520 I found that very appealing. As a very sort of isolating person, 174 00:08:40,560 --> 00:08:45,240 I found that appealing - the idea of standing on stage on my own and not being with other people. 175 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:47,280 (SUSTAINED APPLAUSE) 176 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:49,320 (WOLF-WHISTLING) 177 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:54,880 I'm looking for my friend. 178 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:56,920 (LAUGHTER) 179 00:08:57,400 --> 00:08:59,400 Have you seen her? 180 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:02,360 Kimberley! 181 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:06,520 She's really, really tall. She's really, really platinum. 182 00:09:06,920 --> 00:09:08,880 She's had, like, these hair extensions. 183 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:11,560 (GASPS) Took ages to do - took eight hours. 184 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:13,440 Well, four for each armpit. 185 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:16,720 But it wasn't just a lesson about life on stage 186 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:20,640 that the young Victoria learnt from her comedy heroine Joyce Grenfell. 187 00:09:20,680 --> 00:09:22,400 My sisters went to see her backstage 188 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:25,000 and my mother said, 'You can't go. You're too small.' 189 00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:28,240 And she came out to find me, and said, 'Is this Vicky?' 190 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:29,960 Ooh, hello. 191 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:33,080 'If ever I do a show, I always, always go to the stage door 192 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:37,240 and wait until everybody's had an autograph and everybody's said what they want to say, 193 00:09:37,280 --> 00:09:39,640 because I think it's really, really important.' 194 00:09:39,680 --> 00:09:41,960 Be yourself - that's how I am. 195 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:45,880 From an early age, Victoria Wood knew she was born to perform. 196 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:49,560 But could she convince those who could make her dream career a reality? 197 00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:53,200 Victoria Wood - a lovely singer, a lovely, clever song. 198 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:55,000 But I wonder whether or not the music 199 00:09:55,040 --> 00:09:57,040 was just a little lacking in depth. 200 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:07,160 We're hopeless in this country, when you think of other races. 201 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:10,360 The Italians have got opera and the Spanish have Flamenco dancing. 202 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:12,960 What have we got? Weightwatchers. It's hopeless. 203 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:15,040 She was a brilliant writer, 204 00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:19,120 like Alan Bennett, but a woman and with more jokes. 205 00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:21,160 In India, you know, if a man dies, 206 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:23,520 the widow flings herself onto the funeral pyre. 207 00:10:23,560 --> 00:10:26,320 In this country, she just goes into the kitchen and says, 208 00:10:26,360 --> 00:10:28,840 '72 baps, Connie. You slice; I'll spread.' 209 00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:33,240 Victoria Wood may have been a stand-up comedy genius, 210 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:36,680 but that would prove only one string to her bow. 211 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:40,280 She was the full thing, in terms of entertainment and show-business. 212 00:10:40,320 --> 00:10:45,040 Stand-up comedy, acting, song writing. And that was remarkable. 213 00:10:45,080 --> 00:10:49,360 In December 1988, millions of us joined a celebrity audience 214 00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:55,040 to watch this most talented of stars in a performance that would go down in TV history. 215 00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:58,920 # Let's do it, let's do it, share a night of wild romance 216 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:03,280 And an unforgettable rendition of her best-loved song, The Ballad Of Barry And Freda. 217 00:11:03,320 --> 00:11:04,920 # To quote Milton, to eat Stilton 218 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:07,360 # To roll in gay abandon on the tufted Wilton 219 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:10,560 # Let's do it, let's do it tonight 220 00:11:11,560 --> 00:11:13,280 # I can't do it, I can't do it 221 00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:15,840 # I've got other little jobs on hand 222 00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:19,680 # Don't grouse around the house - I've got a busy evening planned 223 00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:21,400 # Stop nagging, I'm flagging 224 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:23,840 # You know as well as I do that the pipes want lagging 225 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:26,320 # I can't do it, I can't do it tonight 226 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:28,800 She wrote, she sang, she composed. 227 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:31,840 Is there no end to this woman's talents? 228 00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:36,320 # Three cheers, it's years since I caught you even semi-nude 229 00:11:36,360 --> 00:11:38,040 # Get drastic, gymnastic 230 00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:40,320 # Wear your baggy Y-fronts with the loose elastic 231 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:44,440 Barry And Freda is the funniest, most brilliant song. 232 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:45,840 # I can't do it 233 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:48,680 She knew what words would spark a laugh. 234 00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:52,720 # I feel silly - it's too chilly to go without my thermal vest 235 00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:54,440 # Don't choose me, don't use me 236 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:56,840 # My mother sent a note to say you must excuse me 237 00:11:56,880 --> 00:11:59,320 # I can't do it, I can't do it tonight 238 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:03,520 It's about a married couple, and I think, every time she played it, 239 00:12:03,560 --> 00:12:07,160 every wife in the audience nudged her husband and said, 240 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:08,720 'She's speaking to us.' 241 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:10,480 # No cautions, just contortions 242 00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:13,680 # Smear an avocado on my lower portions 243 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:16,960 Not only is it funny, but it all fits musically. 244 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:18,600 # I can't do it 245 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:21,120 That's the musician in her - she was all about timing. 246 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:24,800 # I'm harassed, embarrassed - I wish you hadn't picked on me 247 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:26,640 # No dramas - give me my pyjamas 248 00:12:26,680 --> 00:12:28,920 # The only girl I'm mad about is Judith Chalmers 249 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:33,280 It's a superb song, because it just ascends all the time. 250 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:36,880 # Let's do it, let's do it - I really want to run amok 251 00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:40,760 There are so many verses. I don't know how she remembered it all. 252 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:42,320 # Be mighty, be flighty 253 00:12:42,360 --> 00:12:44,960 # Come and melt the buttons on my flame-proof nightie 254 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:49,440 Yes, it just builds and builds, and you think it's going to stop. 255 00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:52,680 No, it goes on and it gets better, and each verse is funnier. 256 00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:54,520 # Let's do it, let's do it 257 00:12:54,560 --> 00:12:56,760 # I really want to rant and rave 258 00:12:56,800 --> 00:13:00,600 # Let's go, cos I know just how I want you to behave 259 00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:02,480 # Not bleakly, not meekly 260 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:04,720 # Beat me on the bottom with a Woman's Weekly 261 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:08,160 # Let's do it, let's do it tonight # 262 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:16,160 Thank you. (CHEERING) 263 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:18,880 The adulation from friends and fans in the audience 264 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:21,880 was in marked contrast to the reception Victoria received 265 00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:25,600 when she first appeared on our screens in 1974... 266 00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:28,720 # You're a star, you're a star 267 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:31,400 ..on the ITV talent show New Faces. 268 00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:37,200 Everybody watched New Faces. It used to get viewing figures of 15, 16 million viewers. 269 00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:41,320 Please welcome Victoria Wood. (APPLAUSE) 270 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:45,760 The 21-year-old had just completed her drama degree at Birmingham University 271 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:47,920 when she made this bid for the big time. 272 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:51,320 # There's a tin in the office cupboard 273 00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:54,720 # Labelled 'Lorraine' 274 00:13:54,760 --> 00:13:56,720 She was that girl who played the piano. 275 00:13:56,760 --> 00:14:01,000 # Because I've gone and got engaged again 276 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:03,560 And had the kind of bob haircut, and was funny. 277 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:05,160 # I wonder what they'll give me 278 00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:06,960 The songs were musically well made. 279 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:09,280 # Money would be ideal 280 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:10,680 And they were witty. 281 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:14,000 # Probably be something practical 282 00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:16,320 # In stainless steel 283 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:17,880 She stood out. 284 00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:19,960 # I hope to get thin for the wedding 285 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:22,720 Victoria's piano skills were something she had picked up 286 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:24,680 in a typically unusual way. 287 00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:27,640 # Because on the day I might fade away 288 00:14:27,680 --> 00:14:30,040 # And be just a veil... 289 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:31,960 I did have lessons, but I couldn't cope 290 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:35,440 with being with a piano teacher. I was too shy. I used to sweat. 291 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:38,040 My hands slipped off the keys - I was so nervous. 292 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:40,080 So, I stopped going to piano lessons, 293 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:44,360 and I thought my parents would be cross if I played the piano, because I'm not having lessons, 294 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:46,080 so I used to play the piano in secret. 295 00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:47,440 # Getting together 296 00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:49,280 When they'd gone, I'd run to the piano, 297 00:14:49,320 --> 00:14:52,080 and when I heard them come back, I'd get off and close the lid, 298 00:14:52,120 --> 00:14:53,920 and the piano would be still steaming. 299 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:57,200 For years I did that, and then they said, 'We know you play the piano!' 300 00:14:57,240 --> 00:15:00,120 And then I started having lessons again when I was 13. 301 00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:02,920 A lovely, lovely singer. A lovely, clever song. 302 00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:04,520 # Help yourself to wine 303 00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:08,880 We need a bit more oomph on piano from her, to help that song along, 304 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:12,440 particularly with all those packed clubs that she'll be playing to. 305 00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:14,560 # I don't think his mother likes me 306 00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:17,160 Competing with Victoria on New Faces 307 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:20,280 was another fresh-faced, blond comedian. 308 00:15:20,320 --> 00:15:22,520 We'd got through heats, both of us, 309 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:25,280 and we were in this kind of viewers' final. 310 00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:28,520 She said, 'I think you'll win.' I said, 'No, I think you will win.' 311 00:15:28,560 --> 00:15:33,520 Les Dennis: 80. Victoria Wood: 77. 312 00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:35,240 But neither of us won in the end. 313 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:38,040 Our winner tonight is Tony Maiden. 314 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:41,000 (APPLAUSE) 315 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:44,080 I wanted to be terribly famous, really, and be a star, 316 00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:47,200 and when I did New Faces, I thought I was terribly famous and a star. 317 00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:48,840 But I wasn't at all. 318 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:51,120 I was stuck in a room in Birmingham, on the dole. 319 00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:52,680 # I'll be back 320 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:54,880 # At social security 321 00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:57,160 # Queuing up to be abused 322 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:00,440 But Victoria Wood's New Faces appearance had been noted. 323 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:05,960 # On a card index, 'a singer, slightly used' 324 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:09,080 # Maybe my degree will come in handy 325 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:13,560 And she was signed up to sing topical songs on the BBC1 show That's Life. 326 00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:18,680 # Qualified me to drink shandy and that's all # 327 00:16:18,720 --> 00:16:21,400 But the '70s wouldn't be just about the songs. 328 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:28,600 By 1979, Victoria Wood was showing signs of an unrivalled versatility, 329 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:31,000 by winning the first of many awards, 330 00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:33,120 as the year's Most Promising Playwright. 331 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:35,960 Your Royal Highness, my lords, ladies and gentlemen, 332 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:38,560 I'd like to say thank you very much for this award. 333 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:43,840 Thank you to the Crucible Theatre and the ICA and my director, David Leland. 334 00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:47,080 I wrote a sketch in a review at the Bush Theatre at Shepherd's Bush, 335 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:49,920 and David Leland was doing a season of new plays 336 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:52,600 at the Sheffield Crucible and asked me to write one, 337 00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:56,560 and because I'd never written a play before, I didn't see a problem with that! 338 00:16:56,600 --> 00:17:02,080 A TV version of this debut play about a talent contest soon followed 339 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:05,400 and gave us the first on-screen appearance of a double-act 340 00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:08,200 that would become one of Britain's favourites. 341 00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:11,520 It was fabulous to do. We just had a laugh all the time. 342 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:13,520 Often at the director's expense. 343 00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:16,600 But I can remember him rushing down and saying, 'Just be funny. 344 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:19,520 It wasn't funny that time.' And we'd look at one another... 345 00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:22,880 We went to see Freddie Garrity once. Freddie And The Dreamers. 346 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:26,120 In his dressing-room. That was like somebody's sitting-room. 347 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:28,160 Had a telly and a bed and everything. 348 00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:31,640 I went off him, though, cos he had a string vest. 349 00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:33,280 Not very nice here, is it? 350 00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:35,480 JULIE WALTERS: 'Talent was wonderful.' 351 00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:37,400 Got to start somewhere. 352 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:42,040 She'd never written anything like that before, and to write it in three weeks, and the songs... 353 00:17:42,080 --> 00:17:44,880 # I want to be 14 again 354 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:48,240 # When sex was just called number ten 355 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:52,000 # And I was up to seven and a half 356 00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:57,720 # Boys were for love and girls were for fun 357 00:17:57,760 --> 00:18:00,760 # You burst out laughing if you saw a nun 358 00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:05,160 I Want To Be 14 Again is just an amazing, gorgeous song, 359 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:07,400 and, you know, she gave that to me. 360 00:18:07,880 --> 00:18:09,880 Who did you say it was, again? 361 00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:12,000 Wood & Walters. 362 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:17,360 In 1982, this promising new duo were signed up to make their own sketch series. 363 00:18:18,520 --> 00:18:21,960 She shared her talent and her time 364 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:25,920 and her stage time and screen time with other people, constantly. 365 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:28,840 We do an astringent, but, really, with pores that big, 366 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:32,320 you'd be better off with a darning needle and some pink wool. 367 00:18:32,360 --> 00:18:35,040 There's no-one like Victoria for generosity. 368 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:39,280 I mean, in everything I've done with her, it's been like that. 369 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:43,120 Every single thing. I've had all the punchlines, virtually. 370 00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:45,560 Having lessons, are you? Professor Hartley. 371 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:48,520 Oh, yeah? You should ask for a refund! 372 00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:51,160 Wood & Walters received a BAFTA nomination, 373 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:53,880 but even better was to come for both its stars, 374 00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:57,920 with a series that delivered some of British TV's greatest sketches. 375 00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:00,400 Mrs Overall, that macaroon you just choked on - 376 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:04,120 I'm going to send the recipe to the Weekly News. Ooh, I am pleased. 377 00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:08,440 Young men will come up to me and quote Miss Babs' lines at me. 378 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:10,280 They remember it better than I do. 379 00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:11,920 Are we off? 380 00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:14,200 I thought that went quite well, didn't you? 381 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:16,320 We're still on air! Oh! 382 00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:28,040 January 1985. The Sinclair C5 electric car is launched. 383 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:31,600 Ronald Reagan is sworn in for a second term as US President. 384 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:37,400 And millions of us tune in to see Victoria Wood's first BBC prime-time sketch series, 385 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:41,400 featuring a cast of actors who would go on to make their names in the show. 386 00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:45,360 At school we would come in, 387 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:47,240 in second year, 388 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:49,800 and all we would talk about is As Seen On TV. 389 00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:52,440 Oh, do you have cork? We have tufted shag. 390 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:57,320 Well, we have to be able to mop, you see, with Dad's habits. 391 00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:03,680 Dicky bladder? 392 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:05,720 No, we call him Dad. 393 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:11,440 In the early 1980s, there were very few, A, females on television, 394 00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:14,360 and B, people speaking in a northern accent, 395 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:17,600 and C, female, northern accent and hilariously funny. 396 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:19,360 You're separated, aren't you? 397 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:21,400 Well, he's living in t'loft. 398 00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:26,640 He's got the lilo and the slow cooker. We don't speak. 399 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:31,160 I thought, 'This is a unique voice that we've not heard before on TV.' 400 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:34,160 Now, that's the blue of our Margaret's shower curtain, there. 401 00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:36,480 Where? Them varicose veins there! 402 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:38,760 She came from leftfield all the time. 403 00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:40,440 You thought, 'Where's that from?' 404 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:42,360 They're a black lace-up, £15.99. 405 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:44,520 Are they? Yes. Can I try them on? 406 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:47,840 On your feet? Yes. 407 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:49,480 All right! Why not? 408 00:20:57,720 --> 00:20:59,360 No, sorry, sorry. 409 00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:01,320 The black ones. They're a flat lace-up. 410 00:21:01,360 --> 00:21:03,480 Beg pardon? Well, those aren't flat. 411 00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:09,800 Flatter now! 412 00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:15,040 She was an unbelievably generous comedy writer in many ways. 413 00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:17,920 Many of her most famous sketches don't feature her. 414 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:23,080 Fortunately, I've just had my TV mended. 415 00:21:23,120 --> 00:21:25,800 Well, I say mended. A shifty-looking youth in plimsolls 416 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:28,400 came and waggled my aerial and wolfed my gypsy creams, 417 00:21:28,440 --> 00:21:31,000 but that's the comprehensive system for you. 418 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:35,160 I love Susie Blake as well, what she wrote for the continuity girl. 419 00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:39,360 Of course, obesity is a tremendous problem for a lot of people. 420 00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:43,080 A lot of weak-willed, self-indulgent guzzlers, that is. 421 00:21:43,120 --> 00:21:46,960 Every week we used to roar laughing at the documentary bit. 422 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:49,440 She always used to do a spoof documentary each week. 423 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:53,040 Are you worried about tomorrow? Well, I am in a way, because, er, 424 00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:56,240 I've never swum such a long way, and some of it's in the dark 425 00:21:56,280 --> 00:21:57,960 and I don't really like the dark. 426 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:00,960 And...if-if I do get to t'French coast, 427 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:03,160 I don't talk French very well, so... 428 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:05,560 I don't do French. I do woodwork. 429 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:08,320 But I know a few bits. Um... 430 00:22:08,360 --> 00:22:10,720 'Bonjour' and 'Aujourd'hui'. 431 00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:13,600 And it was the pauses and little looks and stuff... 432 00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:15,240 ..to camera. 433 00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:17,280 I'll do double prayers tonight anyway. 434 00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:21,120 I remember thinking, 'That's what I want to do!' 435 00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:23,160 # ACORN ANTIQUES THEME 436 00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:30,000 Acorn Antiques was just... just a masterpiece. 437 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:36,480 'I wanted to have a running soap that went from episode to episode.' 438 00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:38,120 Yes, that's much better. 439 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:40,440 If we deliver these antiques on Friday morning, 440 00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:43,200 we can take delivery of these antiques in the afternoon. 441 00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:46,320 There were two things that inspired Acorn Antiques. 442 00:22:46,360 --> 00:22:48,920 One, for the look of it, was Crossroads, 443 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:50,960 which then was on four times a week. 444 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:54,360 That was the first soap to be on every day, from Monday to Thursday. 445 00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:57,640 Make a list of everything. Yes. And another rule is... Whoops! 446 00:22:57,680 --> 00:22:59,880 I know they didn't allow them any editing time, 447 00:22:59,920 --> 00:23:02,400 so they couldn't go back, and if they got in a pickle, 448 00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:04,080 they had to get out of it. 449 00:23:04,120 --> 00:23:06,120 I have something to tell you, Babs. 450 00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:08,160 Shall I go? No, stay. 451 00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:11,840 And please come back, Mrs O. 452 00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:16,640 What I have to say concerns everybody. 453 00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:23,360 She pursued it to the limit that they'll be in the wrong place. 454 00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:25,520 Who's the sole beneficiary now? 455 00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:27,720 That's the problem. 456 00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:31,400 She's trying to back out of the shot. She's forgotten her lines. 457 00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:37,040 I... I was just going to say... 458 00:23:38,120 --> 00:23:40,240 ..somebody had better answer that phone! 459 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:43,280 (PHONE RINGS) Oh. I suppose I'd better answer it. 460 00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:47,400 You answer it! And I'll get you a nice cup of...hot cup of coffee. 461 00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:49,080 You don't have to. 462 00:23:49,120 --> 00:23:51,560 You ARE the sole proprietor of Acorn Antiques now. 463 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:53,280 Hello? 464 00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:55,080 The other thing was Waggoners' Walk, 465 00:23:55,120 --> 00:23:57,160 which was this shocking thing on the radio, 466 00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:00,400 this terrible 15-minute serial where they all talked in cliches 467 00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:02,040 and exclamation marks. 468 00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:04,200 Why don't you tell me all about it? 469 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:06,000 The fact is, Mrs O, 470 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:10,280 my life seems completely grey, bleak and pointless. 471 00:24:10,320 --> 00:24:12,480 So I took the style of Waggoners' Walk 472 00:24:12,520 --> 00:24:15,080 and I mixed it with the look of Crossroads, 473 00:24:15,120 --> 00:24:18,280 and then we added in some people like Mrs Overall. 474 00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:23,720 Well, yes, sometimes that's God's way of getting you to enjoy Gardeners' World! 475 00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:26,880 (GRUNTS) 476 00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:28,920 You see? 477 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:32,840 You're smiling. Things can't be all that bad. Out with it! 478 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:34,600 Ooh! Bloody Nora! 479 00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:37,600 I've never laughed so much in anything. It was such fun. 480 00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:39,320 I could hear the galley, 481 00:24:39,360 --> 00:24:41,680 'If you do that again, we're going to move on!' 482 00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:43,720 We couldn't stop laughing. 483 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:46,560 But there was one classic sketch 484 00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:49,440 that had the show's producer confused when he first read it. 485 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:53,920 Most of the sketches lasted a couple of pages. 486 00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:57,280 This scene came in on one page and I said, 'What's this?' 487 00:24:57,320 --> 00:24:59,320 Ready to order, sir? 488 00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:01,880 Madam? Jane? 489 00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:04,240 Er, yes, what's the soup of the day, please? 490 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:07,680 I'll just go and find out... 491 00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:11,920 'And she said it's a performance piece.' 492 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:17,280 What time's your train? Twenty-five to. 493 00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:19,560 Oh... Well, that's not too bad. 494 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,200 We didn't know whether it would work or not. 495 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:28,080 I guess we thought it'll either work or it won't, 496 00:25:28,120 --> 00:25:29,720 and we'll just go for it. 497 00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:32,880 Timing is all of the essence in that sketch, 498 00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:36,000 and she times that walk back so slowly 499 00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:40,200 that the audience starts to build up expectation 500 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:41,840 of what she's going to say. 501 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:43,520 And then she just said... 502 00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:45,480 Ready to order, sir? 503 00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:47,680 ..in the same way that she said the first line. 504 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:48,920 Madam? 505 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:51,880 Er, yes, I wanted to know what the soup of the day was. 506 00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:54,760 That's right. 507 00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:58,000 No. 508 00:25:58,040 --> 00:25:59,720 I've forgotten. 509 00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:03,280 I'll just go and check. 510 00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:05,320 Won't be one moment. 511 00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:12,280 Every time she does the journey, 512 00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:16,200 you can feel the audience anticipation working up, 513 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:20,920 because they now know what the sketch is all about. 514 00:26:23,360 --> 00:26:25,360 Ready to order now? 515 00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:30,160 Being one of the customers was an agony... (CHUCKLES) 516 00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:33,240 Because how on earth do you keep a straight face 517 00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:34,880 with all of that going on? 518 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:43,600 If you watch carefully, you can see them not looking at each other, 519 00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:47,160 in order to avoid that moment when they're both going to laugh. 520 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:50,000 I had to bite the inside of my mouth 521 00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:53,600 because, in rehearsals, we never, never got through it. 522 00:26:58,520 --> 00:27:00,520 Two soups. 523 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:02,560 Afterwards, I had blood in my mouth. 524 00:27:03,360 --> 00:27:06,240 I don't believe this. These are empty! 525 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:08,280 Waitress! 526 00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:12,880 Oh, God preserve us! Look, we'll have to go. 527 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:16,560 MICHAEL BALL: On paper, nothing is funny about that, particularly. 528 00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:20,840 Given the right handling, it's just comedy genius. 529 00:27:22,360 --> 00:27:24,880 Ooh! You must have been quite peckish. 530 00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:28,240 To take those ordinary things that all of us go through 531 00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:33,120 and make us...laugh is the best gift, isn't it? 532 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:37,360 Celia Imrie and Duncan Preston would both become part of 533 00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:39,040 a select group of actors 534 00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:42,040 who Victoria would call on again and again in the years to come. 535 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:45,680 You may find retractable bollards humorous 536 00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:48,680 but, to my mind, they've revolutionised flexible parking. 537 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:50,720 She put me on the map. 538 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:53,280 Come in for a bit, eh? Well, it's just - What?! 539 00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:57,080 Well, my mum will be putting the chain on quite soon. 540 00:27:57,120 --> 00:27:58,720 Phone her! 541 00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:00,560 I mean, I've grown old with her. 542 00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:02,960 See that? That used to be hair. 543 00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:04,880 Look, Jim... 544 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:08,160 ..this is just a cup of tea. 545 00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:11,160 Hey, that's really profound (!) 546 00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:14,680 She created a wonderful team of us 547 00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:17,920 and it meant that we could work together very fast. 548 00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:20,760 I've never been camping. That's why this is such a thrill. 549 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:22,600 What do you mean, never been camping? 550 00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:24,480 I haven't ever been, sorry. 551 00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:27,760 Jacqueline Thompson, when I met your mother, did she or did she not say, 552 00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:29,840 as an adolescent, you were always in tents? 553 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:31,520 Intense! 554 00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:33,560 I was always intense. 555 00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:35,800 My idea of total happiness 556 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:40,560 was always a script from Vic dropping on the mat. 557 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:44,120 Now Malcolm - what do you think he meant by, 'Lively social life'? 558 00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:47,560 Drink. He wants 'An uninhibited companion'. To drink with. 559 00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:50,800 What do you think he meant by 'Life peppered with personal tragedy'? 560 00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:52,840 Hangovers. 561 00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:55,520 I said to her, 'Look, I don't want to do myself out of a job, 562 00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:57,200 but you've got to stop it.' 563 00:28:57,240 --> 00:29:00,560 What was wrong with the first skirt? It made me look middle-aged. 564 00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:02,600 You ARE middle-aged. 565 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:05,880 I have the same bust measurement as Gina Lollobrigida. 566 00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:08,960 Mm, and the same hip measurement as Patrick Moore. 567 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:15,040 I said to her, 'You are capable of writing something for Meryl Streep and Anthony Hopkins, 568 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:16,880 but you need to get on with it, 569 00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:20,720 because I'd like to be around when you get your first Oscar.' 570 00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:22,440 Her regular cast knew 571 00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:25,800 that a Victoria Wood script would mean guaranteed quality 572 00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:28,040 and guaranteed hard work. 573 00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:31,800 Never more so than during her hit sitcom Dinnerladies, 574 00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:34,080 which we first saw in 1998. 575 00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:36,280 She was a huge perfectionist 576 00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:39,720 and insisted on every single word being right, 577 00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:43,000 because it was all so rhythmic and musical. 578 00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:47,160 Erm, but quite scary though, 579 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:50,080 I mean, really, trying to remember. 580 00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:52,840 Have you ever had a relationship go completely dead on you? 581 00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:55,240 I don't know. Are you having a problem? I am, you see. 582 00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:57,000 Shall I make a brew? Lovely, thanks. 583 00:29:57,040 --> 00:30:00,040 Mikey - you know, Mr Michael - he's awfully sweet and everything, 584 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:03,000 but it's not doing it for me, there's nothing happening really. 585 00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:04,680 What do you want? Oh, I dunno. 586 00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:08,360 Romance, passion, some sort of unbridled physicality would be nice. 587 00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:10,400 Sorry, I meant tea or coffee? 588 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:14,280 Dinnerladies was a bit like being on an ice rink actually, 589 00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:16,720 because we'd do it first of all on the Friday night. 590 00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:21,080 Then Geoff Posner and Victoria would watch it on Saturday morning 591 00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:25,880 and then Victoria would rewrite the bits that perhaps didn't work. 592 00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:29,800 Bren, can I just pop into the toilet a minute with Clint? 593 00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:31,640 Nothing sordid. We're just... 594 00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:33,680 Come on, lover. Ignore us! 595 00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:38,280 There would be cuts and rewrites. It wasn't easy work. 596 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:41,440 It was nice rehearsing it and then you think, 'Argh!' on the night, 597 00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:43,080 you know, scary. 598 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:45,360 If you have a minute, two black coffees. 599 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:50,720 She was never satisfied with it, so she would go away, sometimes, 600 00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:52,440 and she had little kids then, 601 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:57,480 she said one night, I think, she stayed up the whole night writing. 602 00:30:57,520 --> 00:30:59,640 I mean, can you imagine? Excuse me. 603 00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:02,400 I'm Bren's mother Petula Gordino. 604 00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:04,560 And this is Clint. Clint? 605 00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:06,280 My fiance. 606 00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:11,840 Clint's mother's a bit stressed by our engagement, 607 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:14,640 so we're going to Barcelona, let her cool off. 608 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:18,520 I think Clint's going to be very stimulated by the architecture. 609 00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:23,720 But what was this funniest of women onscreen like, 610 00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:25,400 away from the limelight? 611 00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:27,440 When she was in front of a camera, 612 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:31,200 she was quite different from when she was at home. 613 00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:34,520 People project onto me, they project onto any performer 614 00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:36,360 that they see on television. Mm. 615 00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:38,720 They have an idea of what they think they're like. 616 00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:41,640 What do you think they project onto you? That I'm nice. Mm. 617 00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:45,360 I'm not, but that's what they think I am. (GIGGLES) 618 00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:47,120 She was awkward in private. 619 00:31:47,160 --> 00:31:49,960 Even with people who were quite friendly, she was awkward. 620 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:52,880 My husband says they think I'm their best friend, you know. 621 00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:57,680 Victoria was married to magician Geoffrey Durham for 22 years, 622 00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:00,280 until their divorce in 2002. 623 00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:03,080 Their two children - Grace and Henry - 624 00:32:03,120 --> 00:32:05,280 would grew up away from the spotlight. 625 00:32:05,320 --> 00:32:09,320 She actually was almost withdrawn at times. 626 00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:13,080 You know, she was quite an alone sort of person. 627 00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:16,720 I was going to say lonely, that's not true, but she-she was a loner. 628 00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:20,080 Everyone's going, 'She was very private, very reclusive,' 629 00:32:20,120 --> 00:32:22,200 but no, she just got on with her life. 630 00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:25,120 And if people stopped her, she was absolutely lovely, 631 00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:27,200 but she wasn't overly fond of it. 632 00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:29,840 She would much rather not be noticed. 633 00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:31,880 She wasn't looking for attention. 634 00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:33,800 People felt they knew Victoria 635 00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:36,160 because she wrote about the everyday. 636 00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:39,800 She wrote about shops, she wrote about going into bargain stores, 637 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:42,840 about knickers that didn't fit, about being large. 638 00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:44,600 Can I help you? 639 00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:46,760 Erm, just wondered if you had these in a 14. 640 00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:49,360 (LAUGHS) You what? 641 00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:52,280 This is a boutique, not the elephant house! 642 00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:56,200 Hey, Eileen, we've got another fatso in! 643 00:32:57,240 --> 00:32:59,400 People identify with Victoria because she... 644 00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:01,400 you know, sometimes was a bit overweight. 645 00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:03,320 Off I go, then. 646 00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:06,560 She'd sort of say, 'Well, look at me, I'm not perfect,' 647 00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:09,200 and she had an amazing ability 648 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:14,200 to touch other people's sense of insecurity and make it OK for them. 649 00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:18,720 Four! Three, four! Three, four! 650 00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:22,280 Three, four! Three, two... Now! 651 00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:24,120 Now! 652 00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:26,160 (LAUGHTER) 653 00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:30,600 As we counted down to a new millennium, 654 00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:33,760 25 years after that first New Faces appearance, 655 00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:37,400 Victoria Wood was one of the most famous comedy stars in Britain. 656 00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:39,120 Three step. 657 00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:40,760 (LAUGHTER) 658 00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:43,240 But there'd be drama just round the corner, 659 00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:45,480 in yet another twist to Victoria's story. 660 00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:48,880 I didn't expect to see her want to do a straight role like that, 661 00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:52,040 and I think it was a big challenge and she certainly met it. 662 00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:55,000 You make people laugh, you're a lovely dancer 663 00:33:55,040 --> 00:33:56,640 and you can hold a tune. 664 00:33:56,680 --> 00:33:58,480 But, more than that 665 00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:02,640 and I mean this as the mother who carried you and nursed you and raised you, 666 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:04,680 you aren't any good at anything else. 667 00:34:11,480 --> 00:34:14,520 Born and raised in Lancashire, throughout her career 668 00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:18,280 Victoria Wood took her experiences of everyday life in the north of England 669 00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:21,240 and turned them into something everyone could enjoy. 670 00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:23,480 So I come out of t'toilets, right, and he says, 671 00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:26,560 'Scallop face, your skirt's caught up in your knickers at t'back.' 672 00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:29,640 I said, 'I pity you, cos it's t'latest fashion. I read it in a book.' 673 00:34:29,680 --> 00:34:32,920 He says, 'What book?' I said, 'Vogue, that's what book.' 674 00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:35,360 Basically, she had that essence of a... 675 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:39,520 ..what I would call a northern writer 676 00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:42,280 who can say things as they are and make it very, very funny. 677 00:34:42,320 --> 00:34:46,880 'When do you read Vogue?' I said, 'When I'm in hospital having exploratory surgery, that's when.' 678 00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:48,920 So he said, 'Oh.' He didn't. He did. 679 00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:52,080 I love the fact that she allowed herself 680 00:34:52,120 --> 00:34:55,080 to fully celebrate where she came from and everything about it. 681 00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:57,320 # CORONATION STREET THEME 682 00:34:57,360 --> 00:35:01,480 Vic's Coronation Street parody was just genius. 683 00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:07,480 Oh, thank you, Ena. 684 00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:09,600 And good health, everybody. 685 00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:11,880 I'll give you good health, Minnie Caldwell. 686 00:35:11,920 --> 00:35:14,240 Oh, Ena, I'm sure I never meant - 687 00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:17,320 You never do mean, Minnie Caldwell, so think on and look sharp. 688 00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:18,960 Ooh, sup up and shut up. 689 00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:21,520 I've heard enough skriking in this bug hutch 690 00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:24,840 to last me from t'Weatherfield Viaduct to Whit Week Walk. 691 00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:28,400 The language itself, there is a natural poetry in that, 692 00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:32,840 a phraseology which she captured so beautifully in her writing. 693 00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:36,840 OK, I write plays, but do you know what I write 'em for? 694 00:35:36,880 --> 00:35:39,520 The money? People. 695 00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:42,960 The dockers, the railwaymen, the north. 696 00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:47,040 I love it. I love it. I feel passionately about it. 697 00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:50,440 They're choking it to death and I'm saying rage! 698 00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:53,880 Rage against the dying of the light... 699 00:35:54,880 --> 00:35:56,880 ..because they're killing it. 700 00:35:56,920 --> 00:35:58,920 They're letting it die. 701 00:35:59,960 --> 00:36:01,760 My north. 702 00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:04,520 Whereabouts do you live? 703 00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:06,240 Chiswick. 704 00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:08,560 'My north.' (CHUCKLES) 705 00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:11,200 'Where do you live?' 'Chiswick.' (GIGGLES) 706 00:36:11,240 --> 00:36:15,720 By the mid-'90s, Victoria was ready to turn her stories 707 00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:19,480 about life in northern towns into prime-time TV drama. 708 00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:21,520 (ALL HUMMING) # Magic Moments 709 00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:24,040 She got a bit bored with doing sketches 710 00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:26,920 and had other things she wanted to do, which she could do. 711 00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:31,200 Pat And Margaret would see her reunited 712 00:36:31,240 --> 00:36:33,520 with her most famous onscreen partner, 713 00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:36,280 for the emotional story of two northern sisters 714 00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:39,080 whose lives had taken very different paths. 715 00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:40,800 (INDISTINCT CHATTER) 716 00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:43,680 Really, boys, you're very naughty. 717 00:36:43,720 --> 00:36:46,440 The little vignettes that we saw in As Seen On TV, 718 00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:49,400 she realised she could actually turn these into big stories 719 00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:51,320 and hold an audience's attention. 720 00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:54,920 Yes, Margaret Mottershead, motorway waitress, 721 00:36:54,960 --> 00:36:58,120 the sister you haven't seen for 27 years, 722 00:36:58,160 --> 00:37:01,680 now one of the highest-paid actresses in American television. 723 00:37:01,720 --> 00:37:04,360 A very special magic moment. 724 00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:07,040 Here she is, from Glamour, 725 00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:10,040 the glamorous Patricia Bedford. 726 00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:12,080 (CHEERING) 727 00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:19,960 Isn't that our best one yet? 728 00:37:22,320 --> 00:37:25,520 I think that is a brilliant, brilliant film. 729 00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:27,920 And she is wonderful in it. 730 00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:29,960 It's...it's heaven. 731 00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:32,000 It's touching and hilarious. 732 00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:34,040 And tragic. And... 733 00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:36,080 It's really her. 734 00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:38,760 They've an awful lot of catching-up to do. 735 00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:41,120 Which we'll find out all about next week. 736 00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:43,160 Pat and Margaret, the two people, 737 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:45,800 a kind of part of her, a kind of part of all of us, 738 00:37:45,840 --> 00:37:47,840 that's why we find it funny. 739 00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:49,880 Pat. I'm sorry. 740 00:37:49,920 --> 00:37:51,920 Would you excuse me a moment? 741 00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:55,520 Heart-breaking actually. And it was... 742 00:37:55,560 --> 00:37:58,640 wonderful to see her in a completely different light. 743 00:37:58,680 --> 00:38:00,680 Sorry, you've lost me. 744 00:38:00,720 --> 00:38:02,720 So, a one-off payment. 745 00:38:02,760 --> 00:38:04,560 You sign this. 746 00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:08,200 It's just to say we're not related, I haven't got a sister. 747 00:38:08,240 --> 00:38:10,960 You have no claim on Pat Bedford Inc. 748 00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:13,000 That's my company. 749 00:38:14,200 --> 00:38:16,200 I'm not signing this. 750 00:38:16,240 --> 00:38:18,800 What? You have got a sister. 751 00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:20,840 I am your sister. 752 00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:22,880 You know I am. 753 00:38:22,920 --> 00:38:27,040 It's that wish to tell a story is what it is. 754 00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:29,320 And that's all stand-up is, is stories. 755 00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:31,360 And that's all drama is. 756 00:38:33,160 --> 00:38:35,760 It would be another drama 12 years later 757 00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:37,800 and set again in the north 758 00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:41,520 that saw Victoria add to the many awards she had received for comedy. 759 00:38:41,560 --> 00:38:43,560 And the BAFTA goes to... 760 00:38:43,600 --> 00:38:46,360 Victoria Wood. For Housewife, 49. 761 00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:49,520 BRAGG: Housewife, 49 was a triumph 762 00:38:49,560 --> 00:38:52,160 and I was delighted when she won those awards. 763 00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:57,600 The story was based on the real-life wartime diaries 764 00:38:57,640 --> 00:38:59,960 of a housewife from Barrow-in-Furness. 765 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:02,440 SIR LENNY HENRY: Vic was a very serious woman. 766 00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:06,960 And so when I watched her in Housewife, 49 or anything else, 767 00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:09,920 playing a serious role it never surprised me. 768 00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:13,160 'My name is Nella Last. I suffer from...nerves. 769 00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:15,200 I'm very cheery always in company. 770 00:39:15,240 --> 00:39:17,240 I cry all the time.' 771 00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:21,000 She did such a good job on Housewife, 49. 772 00:39:21,040 --> 00:39:26,440 The way she called the diary to a drama was amazing. 773 00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:28,760 Who wants to read what you've got to say? 774 00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:30,680 I don't know who wants to read it, 775 00:39:30,720 --> 00:39:32,720 but I'll tell you why I have to do it. 776 00:39:32,760 --> 00:39:35,040 It's because I have nobody, 777 00:39:35,080 --> 00:39:37,160 I have nobody to talk to. 778 00:39:38,200 --> 00:39:43,480 I don't have a sympathetic, loving, interested friend. 779 00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:45,320 I don't have that person. 780 00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:47,360 I only have you. 781 00:39:50,560 --> 00:39:55,000 In 2011, Victoria Wood was back on our screens in a lighter role, 782 00:39:55,040 --> 00:39:58,560 playing the young Eric's mum in a drama about the formative years 783 00:39:58,600 --> 00:40:01,280 of the northern comedy double act Morecambe and Wise. 784 00:40:01,320 --> 00:40:04,600 Ma... I can see Ma. 785 00:40:04,640 --> 00:40:06,640 And she's not laughing. 786 00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:11,760 Just entertaining the lads. I'll entertain you in a minute. 787 00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:14,320 You can't play cowboys and Indians all your life. 788 00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:16,720 Can't I? Home! 789 00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:19,080 Now. You'll be late for your dance class. 790 00:40:19,120 --> 00:40:22,600 I think Victoria certainly captured my grandmother Sadie. 791 00:40:22,640 --> 00:40:24,680 She certainly got the essence of the woman 792 00:40:24,720 --> 00:40:27,560 and particularly the northern woman of that generation. 793 00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:30,200 Hang on. (SPITS) You've got breakfast on your chin. 794 00:40:30,240 --> 00:40:32,120 People are looking. Yeah, well... 795 00:40:32,960 --> 00:40:35,560 People always will look at that kind of a face. 796 00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:39,360 Bye, Mum. 797 00:40:42,040 --> 00:40:44,040 I'll say hello to Dad for you. 798 00:40:45,680 --> 00:40:47,960 Victoria Wood was a brilliant actress. 799 00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:50,000 Therefore she could play anything. 800 00:40:50,040 --> 00:40:53,880 She could play high comedy and she could be very serious. 801 00:41:18,680 --> 00:41:22,400 Victoria's last big project in 2014 802 00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:24,440 was a musical set in Manchester. 803 00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:27,680 In this TV adaptation of the stage hit, 804 00:41:27,720 --> 00:41:29,720 she utilised all her skills. 805 00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:32,640 I particularly adored That Day We Sang 806 00:41:32,680 --> 00:41:34,800 and I remember watching it and thinking, 807 00:41:34,840 --> 00:41:36,840 she's writing a romantic comedy. 808 00:41:36,880 --> 00:41:39,080 What would you say was your main memory 809 00:41:39,120 --> 00:41:41,640 of being in the Manchester Children's Choir? 810 00:41:42,640 --> 00:41:44,640 That it was joyful. 811 00:41:44,680 --> 00:41:51,120 # Sacred to ease and happy love... 812 00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:53,200 Sorry, are you crying? 813 00:41:55,360 --> 00:41:57,360 It's... Sorry. 814 00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:00,440 I haven't heard it since... 815 00:42:01,600 --> 00:42:03,600 It's very... 816 00:42:03,640 --> 00:42:05,640 Sorry. 817 00:42:05,680 --> 00:42:07,680 Just that day. 818 00:42:07,720 --> 00:42:09,720 Remembering that day. 819 00:42:10,760 --> 00:42:12,760 Sorry. 820 00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:16,800 It's perfect that the last major piece of work of hers that we have 821 00:42:16,840 --> 00:42:20,160 is incorporating every one of her voices. 822 00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:24,480 # Nymphs and shepherds come away... 823 00:42:24,520 --> 00:42:26,960 To write something musical... 824 00:42:27,000 --> 00:42:30,040 # All those years at the back of the queue 825 00:42:30,080 --> 00:42:32,080 # Don't seem real 826 00:42:32,120 --> 00:42:35,200 # All those dreams that were never on view 827 00:42:35,240 --> 00:42:37,240 # Will reveal 828 00:42:37,280 --> 00:42:40,040 # All we felt that we didn't deserve... 829 00:42:40,080 --> 00:42:42,800 ..full of humour, full of pathos and northern. 830 00:42:42,840 --> 00:42:47,360 # Hand in hand we can summon the nerve 831 00:42:47,400 --> 00:42:52,280 # To feel love... 832 00:42:52,320 --> 00:42:55,440 SIR LENNY HENRY: A fantastic evocation of a period. Great songs. 833 00:42:55,480 --> 00:42:57,720 And she can literally say, 'I did all of that.' 834 00:42:57,760 --> 00:43:02,960 # Till those dreams 835 00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:06,000 # Come true 836 00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:09,800 # Nymphs and shepherds come away 837 00:43:09,840 --> 00:43:14,200 # Nymphs and shepherds, Nymphs and shepherds come away 838 00:43:14,240 --> 00:43:21,440 # Ah-aaaah! # 839 00:43:25,600 --> 00:43:28,680 It was her vision. I think we were gonna see more of that... 840 00:43:28,720 --> 00:43:30,720 if she'd lived. 841 00:43:32,360 --> 00:43:34,520 On Wednesday April 20th, 842 00:43:34,560 --> 00:43:37,120 Victoria Wood died of cancer. 843 00:43:37,160 --> 00:43:39,880 She was just 62. 844 00:43:39,920 --> 00:43:41,840 The first lady of British comedy 845 00:43:41,880 --> 00:43:45,280 and the first British woman to make it as a stand-up comedian, 846 00:43:45,320 --> 00:43:47,960 Victoria Wood was both a trail-blazer 847 00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:50,720 and a genius of gentle joke telling. 848 00:43:50,760 --> 00:43:53,960 It was a terrible shock, terrible shock, 849 00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:56,000 because... 850 00:43:56,040 --> 00:43:58,360 I doubt many people knew that she was ill. 851 00:43:59,840 --> 00:44:05,480 I've never had so many people come up to me and just say... 852 00:44:05,520 --> 00:44:07,520 "God, you must be sad." 853 00:44:10,160 --> 00:44:12,160 It happens when you die, doesn't it? 854 00:44:12,200 --> 00:44:15,320 You really find out what the world thinks. 855 00:44:16,560 --> 00:44:19,600 RICHARD CURTIS: Victoria's legacy is all around us. 856 00:44:19,640 --> 00:44:24,120 She started female comedy for our generation. 857 00:44:24,160 --> 00:44:26,920 JAMES CORDEN: What a thing to leave behind, 858 00:44:26,960 --> 00:44:31,800 that you made a whole nation just laugh. 859 00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:38,400 Every single sketch, play and sitcom, 860 00:44:38,440 --> 00:44:40,880 she wrote entirely on her own. 861 00:44:40,920 --> 00:44:44,320 I don't know anybody else that's created that amount of work 862 00:44:44,360 --> 00:44:47,720 of such high quality so consistently. 863 00:44:49,240 --> 00:44:52,440 We are beyond privileged that she shared so much with us. 864 00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:54,880 But I mourn what all of us have missed out on, 865 00:44:54,920 --> 00:44:56,920 what she would have given us. 866 00:44:57,960 --> 00:44:59,960 She was in her prime, I think, 867 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:02,000 and it's a terrible loss. 868 00:45:03,560 --> 00:45:05,560 My abiding memory 869 00:45:05,600 --> 00:45:08,000 is as a great, great friend. 870 00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:14,000 She was unlike anyone. 871 00:45:14,040 --> 00:45:16,040 Beyond unique. 872 00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:18,080 She is very much missed. 873 00:45:18,120 --> 00:45:20,320 Yeah, she went too soon. 874 00:45:23,640 --> 00:45:25,640 'And the BAFTA goes to... 875 00:45:25,680 --> 00:45:27,680 Victoria Wood.' 876 00:45:27,720 --> 00:45:30,600 'I think I've been really lucky, I have to say. 877 00:45:30,640 --> 00:45:33,240 I think I slipped through a crack somewhere.' 878 00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:38,200 This is The Swish Of The Curtain by Pamela Brown. 879 00:45:38,240 --> 00:45:40,320 This is my favourite book as a child. 880 00:45:41,200 --> 00:45:44,480 "She took the heavy statue and turned to the applauding audience. 881 00:45:44,520 --> 00:45:47,920 She curtsied, then looking up to the familiar faces in the gallery, 882 00:45:47,960 --> 00:45:50,360 kissed her hand. The applause grew deafening 883 00:45:50,400 --> 00:45:53,880 and gradually the people rose in their seats still clapping. 884 00:45:53,920 --> 00:45:56,440 The theatre stood and cheered and stamped... 885 00:45:57,400 --> 00:46:00,080 ..while Lyn bowed and smiled for an eternity." 886 00:46:01,040 --> 00:46:03,040 Marvellous. 887 00:46:03,080 --> 00:46:05,080 (APPLAUSE) 888 00:46:05,400 --> 00:46:09,120 'You might think that the reality is only a disappointment after that, 889 00:46:09,160 --> 00:46:11,960 but really it's not been. It's as good as this.' 890 00:46:36,760 --> 00:46:39,080 subtitles by Deluxe