0:00:02 > 0:00:07*
0:00:16 > 0:00:20# Freda and Barry sat one night
0:00:20 > 0:00:24# The sky was clear The stars were bright
0:00:24 > 0:00:27# The wind was soft The moon was up
0:00:27 > 0:00:30# Freda drained her cocoa cup
0:00:30 > 0:00:34# She licked her lips She felt sublime
0:00:34 > 0:00:39# She switched off Gardeners' Question Time
0:00:39 > 0:00:42# Barry cringed in fear and dread
0:00:42 > 0:00:47# As Freda grabbed his tie and said
0:00:47 > 0:00:51# "Let's do it, let's do it Do me while the mood is right
0:00:51 > 0:00:55# "I'm feeling appealing I've really got an appetite
0:00:55 > 0:00:58# "I'm on fire with desire
0:00:58 > 0:01:03# "I could handle half the tenors in a male-voice choir..." #
0:01:03 > 0:01:09This woman is a genius. If I know she's on, I always watch... Me and thousands of others.
0:01:09 > 0:01:13# This fashion for passion Turns us into nervous wrecks
0:01:13 > 0:01:15# No derision - my decision -
0:01:15 > 0:01:22# I'd rather watch The Spinners on the television - I can't do it I can't do it tonight. #
0:01:22 > 0:01:27Victoria Wood just makes me laugh. I've been to see her four times.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31You come away so happy cos you've laughed so much.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35# This folly is jolly Bend me over backwards on my hostess trolley
0:01:35 > 0:01:38# let's do it Let's do it tonight
0:01:38 > 0:01:41# I can't do it, I can't do it
0:01:41 > 0:01:44# My heavy-breathing days are gone... #
0:01:44 > 0:01:48Victoria's a SET of breakthroughs, a D-Day army landing.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52At the heart of it are her powers of observation.
0:01:52 > 0:01:57She's who you'd least like to have behind you in the supermarket queue.
0:01:57 > 0:02:03She'd be noticing everything in your trolley and reading your character.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05She's a terrific social observer.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07- Hi!- Hi!
0:02:07 > 0:02:12Victoria Wood is Britain's most versatile entertainer.
0:02:12 > 0:02:17The only comedian to sellout 15 nights in a row at the Albert Hall,
0:02:17 > 0:02:24she's won acclaim as a musician, actress and playwright. And she writes all her own material.
0:02:24 > 0:02:30This month she's in her first sitcom - set in a factory canteen - called Dinner Ladies.
0:02:30 > 0:02:38- The women are the central characters?- Five women and two men. - But the humour's often very "female",
0:02:38 > 0:02:41and the men are mystified alongside.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44'Did you see that film on Sunday?'
0:02:44 > 0:02:47- On Sky? - No, real telly. Dirk Bogarde.
0:02:47 > 0:02:52On Sky the film was about this woman whose husband died in this avalanche.
0:02:52 > 0:02:57She finds his sperm in the freezer - gets pregnant with a turkey baster.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01LAUGHTER ON TV CLIP
0:03:05 > 0:03:12She's been distraught cos they'd had no children... Should've cleaned her freezer sooner.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16Now, it's set in the north, >
0:03:16 > 0:03:22- absolutely the home of your humour. - Mmm.- But you're now a southerner.
0:03:22 > 0:03:28- You've...- I'M not a southerner.- You ARE. You've lived here seven years.
0:03:28 > 0:03:35I know! You can live ANYWHERE. I carry my heart with me wherever I go. I carry my LANGUAGE with me.
0:03:35 > 0:03:40'Do you? Or do you have to keep going back to refresh your ear?'
0:03:40 > 0:03:46- 'No, I don't. Cos I talk like that meself.' - SHE LAUGHS
0:03:46 > 0:03:49Victoria was born in Lancashire in 1953,
0:03:49 > 0:03:52and spent most of her childhood
0:03:52 > 0:03:56in a house on a hill near Ramsbottom.
0:03:56 > 0:04:01A solitary child, she was quietly determined from an early age.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04'I thought about becoming famous.
0:04:04 > 0:04:09'That was the first thing I thought. I think I was about four then.'
0:04:13 > 0:04:17- Got any jokes for this sketch yet?- Nope.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20'I suppose I was about...12
0:04:20 > 0:04:27'when I thought about singing songs or telling jokes or something.'
0:04:27 > 0:04:34I hadn't articulated it as wanting to be a stand-up comic - more as wanting to be a comic actress
0:04:34 > 0:04:41in films or on the stage. At home I was working at the piano and writing funny lyrics.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45I WAS edging that way and didn't know.
0:04:45 > 0:04:53By the time I was 17, I remember saying to my friend Lesley, "I want to be a one-woman entertainer."
0:04:53 > 0:04:55But I didn't know how you did it.
0:05:00 > 0:05:08By the time Victoria had made up her mind she wanted to get into show biz, she was in the sixth form
0:05:08 > 0:05:15at Bury Grammar School for Girls. Her humour had made her popular amongst her classmates -
0:05:15 > 0:05:17but not, sadly, with her teachers.
0:05:17 > 0:05:23A teacher's nightmare. She didn't apply herself if she wasn't interested.
0:05:23 > 0:05:28Frustrating for THEM, I see now, cos she was a bright kid,
0:05:28 > 0:05:33and wouldn't really try. She'd hide away in the music practice room,
0:05:33 > 0:05:39play piano and sing and while away the time rather than doing her homework.
0:05:39 > 0:05:46Having been clever at junior school, I went to grammar school and EVERYBODY was clever.
0:05:46 > 0:05:54Instead of saying, "I'll be MORE clever", I just sunk underneath. "I won't compete, won't do homework.
0:05:54 > 0:06:00"I won't wear clean shirts or wash my hair..." Just SANK below the surface.
0:06:00 > 0:06:07I wouldn't be an adolescent again if you bumped me pocket money up to 3/6d! You're going along happily...
0:06:07 > 0:06:1010, 11... Suddenly the dial inside clicks
0:06:10 > 0:06:15from "fun" to "grease". Everyone at school had really greasy hair.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18Made sealskin look dry and unmanageable.
0:06:18 > 0:06:23At the age of 15, Victoria stumbled across a youth theatre group
0:06:23 > 0:06:28that had taken over the top floor of a junior school in Rochdale.
0:06:28 > 0:06:35"The sun came out for me the moment I walked through the door," she commented years later.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38It wasn't just like an amateur dramatic society.
0:06:38 > 0:06:45It was a big, empty school with a big, empty space where people were creative.
0:06:45 > 0:06:52It didn't MATTER if you had spots or you were fat, 15 or 45. There were lots of people doing things.
0:06:52 > 0:06:57Bring a play - somebody would read it. You could do lighting. ANYTHING.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01When she first saw it, she was quiet.
0:07:01 > 0:07:09But when she became involved in activities, that quietness went, and flair and energy were soon apparent.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13She was very quick-witted, and could pun and use language well.
0:07:13 > 0:07:19The stuff she was improvising had the acute observation of life you see now.
0:07:19 > 0:07:26While others had faith in her abilities, Victoria herself was totally lacking in self-confidence.
0:07:26 > 0:07:31Her feeling of inadequacy increased when she left school in 1971
0:07:31 > 0:07:35to study drama at Birmingham University.
0:07:35 > 0:07:42"I partly want to go for the education - and also for the social life. Just the words 'on campus',
0:07:42 > 0:07:45"they have such an exciting sound."
0:07:45 > 0:07:53'I didn't have any O levels so I really was fortunate in getting any sort of offer from any university.'
0:07:53 > 0:07:58Some of it was really good. And it was nice to be in a bunch of people.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00But it played to my own insecurity,
0:08:00 > 0:08:08my feeling that I wasn't as good as everybody else, that I wasn't as good-looking and I wasn't as clever.
0:08:08 > 0:08:13- Your zip's undone!- Oh!
0:08:13 > 0:08:16That settles it. Back on the old diet.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21'I ducked out completely. I didn't go to lectures or do any work...'
0:08:21 > 0:08:25- You're not really fat to me. - Oh! My hero!
0:08:25 > 0:08:30'I went and I wrote plays, or found pianos and played - all the time.'
0:08:30 > 0:08:34I started to make little inroads, I suppose.
0:08:39 > 0:08:45At 21, still a student, Victoria won a place on the ITV talent show New Faces -
0:08:45 > 0:08:48then at the height of its success.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54# There's a tin in the office
0:08:54 > 0:08:57# Cupboard
0:08:57 > 0:08:59# Labelled "Lorraine"
0:08:59 > 0:09:04# Because I've gone and got engaged
0:09:04 > 0:09:05# Again. #
0:09:05 > 0:09:12She got through to the all-winner's final, but failed connect with the public in the same way
0:09:12 > 0:09:18as Marti Caine - or a 16-year-old impressionist called Lenny Henry -
0:09:18 > 0:09:21 and her career was slow to take off.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25# I ought to get thin for the wedding... #
0:09:25 > 0:09:32The show used to get lots of calls. There was very little comment about her - although she'd won the show.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34And we'd had no calls from any agent.
0:09:34 > 0:09:39Only one person - a guy I happened to know -
0:09:39 > 0:09:46said he liked her. I said, "Well, talk to her." They talked, and they got together, but it didn't work out.
0:09:46 > 0:09:51No-one knew where to put her. You couldn't give her a stand-up show,
0:09:51 > 0:09:59she didn't seem like an actress, you couldn't cast her. They knew she had talent. Harnessing it was a problem.
0:09:59 > 0:10:06Somebody said, "You'll never work. You are sophisticated cabaret, and there IS no sophisticated cabaret.
0:10:06 > 0:10:11"You'll never get to play a big audience." I thought, "I WILL."
0:10:11 > 0:10:15# We used to do things before sex was a habit
0:10:15 > 0:10:20# Send anonymous letters to next-door's pet rabbit... #
0:10:20 > 0:10:26Being a regular guest on That's Life, the biggest show on British TV,
0:10:26 > 0:10:33kept Victoria in the public eye, though her fee was so low she had to go on drawing the dole.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37More important in the long-term was her first meeting
0:10:37 > 0:10:42with the man who would become her personal and professional partner -
0:10:42 > 0:10:47comedy magician Geoffrey Durham - The Great Suprendo.
0:10:47 > 0:10:52I say the magic words - piff puff poof...and there is a real...
0:10:52 > 0:10:55sugar lump.
0:10:55 > 0:11:02Just out of That's Life, I went to visit a friend in Leicester who was in a theatre company with Geoffrey.
0:11:02 > 0:11:09"We need a piano player for two weeks for this cowboy show in Southampton. D'you want it?"
0:11:09 > 0:11:11"Yeah!" Cos it was 20 quid a week.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15And that was when we met...
0:11:15 > 0:11:19And we sort of got together then...
0:11:19 > 0:11:25And from that moment on...we've BEEN together. And that was 1976.
0:11:25 > 0:11:30After the success on New faces she did have a period in the doldrums.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34Things got going when she met Geoffrey Durham.
0:11:34 > 0:11:41I think, without him, it's possible she wouldn't have such a big career. She'd be famous and successful.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45But his contribution shouldn't be underestimated.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49MUSIC: "Happy Days Are Here Again"
0:11:49 > 0:11:53That was a fantastic stroke of luck, to meet him. I was only 23.
0:11:53 > 0:11:58I'd had relationships, but I wasn't IN one at that time.
0:11:58 > 0:12:05I couldn't have met a better person for me. I could work stuff out with him. He came to all my first jobs.
0:12:05 > 0:12:12He'd iron my costume. I drove for him when he was being The Great Suprendo. We did it together.
0:12:12 > 0:12:20The road to success wasn't easy. In the late '70s Victoria and Geoffrey started to perform together.
0:12:20 > 0:12:24But there were few outlets then for acts like theirs.
0:12:24 > 0:12:31Things didn't improve when they took the somewhat eccentric decision to base themselves
0:12:31 > 0:12:34in the seaside resort of Morecambe.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39We do have...strange mental defects, Geoff and I!
0:12:39 > 0:12:43And that was one of aberrations that we had.
0:12:43 > 0:12:51What we should've done was gone to London to pursue our grand careers in variety before it finally died.
0:12:51 > 0:12:58But he had a job with the Duke's Playhouse, doing a summer season in Morecambe. We went for the summer.
0:12:58 > 0:13:06Then we just got a flat. It was cos I'd seen an Alan Bennett play about Morecambe. "Be funny to live there."
0:13:06 > 0:13:13It's NOT funny to live somewhere just cos you've seen it on TV! It was MAD. But I don't regret it.
0:13:13 > 0:13:18The first sign of real improvement in Victoria's fortunes came in 1978.
0:13:18 > 0:13:25She was asked to write and perform some topical songs for a theatrical revue, In At The Death,
0:13:25 > 0:13:28to open at the Bush Theatre, West London.
0:13:28 > 0:13:35Thanks to That's Life, writing songs to order was now seen as Victoria's speciality.
0:13:35 > 0:13:42She was keen to demonstrate she was capable of more. She soon got a chance.
0:13:42 > 0:13:47It was too short, this revue, and they needed another sketch writing.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49And in the lunch hour, Victoria -
0:13:49 > 0:13:55who'd only been hired to write songs, nothing to do with sketches -
0:13:55 > 0:14:00wrote a sketch and asked for it to be considered.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03And it was a very good sketch indeed.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07The sketch was incorporated into the show.
0:14:07 > 0:14:12Victoria was allowed to appear with two more experienced actresses.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16One was a fellow-northerner, Julie Walters,
0:14:16 > 0:14:20with whom she established an instant rapport.
0:14:20 > 0:14:27We hit it off straight away. Doing her play was the FUNNIEST thing. I thought, "This is heaven!"
0:14:27 > 0:14:32It was "Sex". It brought the house down every night. Incredibly funny.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36It just made me roar with laughter. It was heaven to play.
0:14:36 > 0:14:41I can only remember... Julie's the librarian who thinks she's pregnant.
0:14:41 > 0:14:49I'm a busybody. Alison Fiske comes in, New Age hippy, and says, "Where are you in the menstrual cycle?"
0:14:49 > 0:14:53She says, "Taurus..." I thought it was quite a good joke!
0:14:53 > 0:15:00I can't remember more, but it was recognisably my sort of jokes. It was so wonderful to hear them.
0:15:00 > 0:15:06Victoria's sketch and the songs that accompanied it went down very well,
0:15:06 > 0:15:11and got her a commission to write her first full-length play.
0:15:11 > 0:15:18David Leland was doing a new season at The Crucible. "Why not write a play for me?" he said casually,
0:15:18 > 0:15:23I equally casually said, "Why not?" I went back to my flat in Morecambe.
0:15:23 > 0:15:30I'd write it at night and Geoffrey would type it, slowly, with lots of swearing, next day.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33Took three weeks. Fantastic success.
0:15:33 > 0:15:38# Julie, time is moving on... #
0:15:38 > 0:15:43After long stage runs in Sheffield and London, Talent made it onto TV.
0:15:43 > 0:15:51The story of two young women trying to survive in the shark-infested waters of provincial show biz,
0:15:51 > 0:15:57the play offered viewers an early glimpse of Victoria's distinctive comic style
0:15:57 > 0:16:02and confirmed the strength of her partnership with Julie Walters.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05'Were you waiting ages for me?'
0:16:05 > 0:16:10I was stroking my goldfish and forgot I still had my watch on.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12Then I had that funny bus conductor.
0:16:12 > 0:16:18Nice body, but cross eyes. Always pretends he won't let me off the bus.
0:16:18 > 0:16:23- I- never have any trouble with him. - God, I'm nervous!
0:16:23 > 0:16:27Talent was brilliant. I was in sixth form at the time,
0:16:27 > 0:16:32and I was thinking about whether to do drama at poly or be a secretary.
0:16:32 > 0:16:37But I thought Talent was so funny and I loved them both in it
0:16:37 > 0:16:42and it was then that I thought, yeah, I WOULD do drama.
0:16:42 > 0:16:48I'm shaking! I haven't been so nervous since I was the Virgin Mary!
0:16:48 > 0:16:52- That's going back a bit! - You're not kidding!
0:16:52 > 0:16:57Victoria was grateful for the professional boost Talent gave her
0:16:57 > 0:17:02but was uncomfortable with some of the publicity she began to attract.
0:17:02 > 0:17:08It upset me if they said I was fat. I felt they shouldn't mention it.
0:17:08 > 0:17:13I felt it wasn't relevant but, of course, it's a British obsession.
0:17:13 > 0:17:19I was patronised either for being fat, being a woman or being a northerner.
0:17:19 > 0:17:24"You've come from Morecambe?! What time did you get up at?" Shut up!
0:17:24 > 0:17:27I was living in a world of mad southerners.
0:17:27 > 0:17:33# Pretend to be northern Just smile like this... #
0:17:33 > 0:17:40Wood And Walters, the quirky sketch show that was the next milestone along Victoria's road to fame,
0:17:40 > 0:17:46was a deliberate attempt to prolong the double act with Julie Walters.
0:17:46 > 0:17:51# You just go "Tripe, clogs, going to the dogs
0:17:51 > 0:17:56# "Brass bands, butties in yer hands Whippets and next door's mam!" #
0:17:56 > 0:18:00The critics were kind to the show but it had a few problems,
0:18:00 > 0:18:04including a deeply unsuitable studio audience.
0:18:04 > 0:18:11Mrs Merton has an audience of old ladies - fantastic for HER, but for US, that was dire!
0:18:11 > 0:18:15They'd say, "We missed Brideshead for this!"
0:18:15 > 0:18:20And "What's a boutique?" we heard one day in the audience!
0:18:20 > 0:18:25- Hi, chaps.- Evening.- Welcome to the comedy show with a difference.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28- It's upbeat.- Zany. - It doesn't get laughs.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31'We used to get in a warm-up man,'
0:18:31 > 0:18:38and he'd try to whip them up and they'd all sit there, looking up...
0:18:38 > 0:18:43Eventually, he took his trousers down and showed them his bottom!
0:18:43 > 0:18:48No response. So we thought, "No. No, we haven't got a chance!"
0:18:48 > 0:18:53When Wood And Walters came to an end after just one series,
0:18:53 > 0:18:58Victoria decided to concentrate on her career as a live solo performer.
0:18:58 > 0:19:05With traditional variety in long-term decline and live comedy starting to boom,
0:19:05 > 0:19:12she decided to down-play the musical side of her act and become a fully-fledged stand-up comedian -
0:19:12 > 0:19:16a change of course that entailed a change of image.
0:19:16 > 0:19:24I remember quite a lot of sort of agonising about what you wear and she put on this tweed jacket.
0:19:24 > 0:19:31It looked OK, except it didn't quite look comedianish. So she said, "What do I do now?"
0:19:31 > 0:19:37And one of us said, "Why not wear a tie with the jacket?"
0:19:37 > 0:19:42And for ages she became identified with jackets and tie.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46I used to get a lot of lesbians dressing like me.
0:19:46 > 0:19:54I had very short hair and a tie, and it was a very masculine look. Quite an in-fashion look then, too.
0:19:54 > 0:20:01Anyway, I used to get enormous women coming back with cropped heads and ties. Scary!
0:20:01 > 0:20:04Ladies and gentlemen, Victoria Wood! APPLAUSE
0:20:04 > 0:20:08'I was probably giving off an androgynous signal,
0:20:08 > 0:20:14'cos it wasn't a look that said, "I'm a sexy woman," or, "I'm a butch woman."
0:20:14 > 0:20:19'It was saying, "Whatever I am, just take it. Don't analyse it." '
0:20:19 > 0:20:27Thanks for coming. Cos you could've stayed at home and had a cosy domestic evening, eh? Rowing!
0:20:27 > 0:20:31"Daphne, why's your Dutch cap on the draining board?!"
0:20:31 > 0:20:36Audiences were small at first for Victoria's live shows.
0:20:36 > 0:20:41Even her closest friends wondered if she had taken a wrong turn,
0:20:41 > 0:20:45but she was always sure she'd chosen the right path.
0:20:45 > 0:20:50'Being a comedian takes a long time. I was devoted to learning the job.'
0:20:50 > 0:20:55Julie was doing Educating Rita and being nominated for Oscars
0:20:55 > 0:20:58and I was playing Southport Theatre to 250 people.
0:20:58 > 0:21:05I suppose I WAS jealous, but basically I was dedicated to learning that job.
0:21:05 > 0:21:12Terrible things, bras. There was a test in a magazine to see if you needed one or not. The test was:
0:21:12 > 0:21:16- if you could hold a pencil under... - LAUGHTER
0:21:16 > 0:21:18..SHE knows what I mean!
0:21:18 > 0:21:25It was depressing for me! I could hold a small branch of WH Smith under mine!
0:21:26 > 0:21:29After two years of live performances,
0:21:29 > 0:21:34Victoria returned to television to make her first series for the BBC -
0:21:34 > 0:21:38a sketch show that won instant acclaim.
0:21:38 > 0:21:45I was just really up for doing more TV. You know, I'd done Wood And Walters in 1980,
0:21:45 > 0:21:53so it was four years on and I'd been going round the theatres and had loads of ideas and energy.
0:21:53 > 0:22:00I'd write sketches on filing cards and arrange a series that went, "Song, quickie, sketch..."
0:22:00 > 0:22:03We'd like to apologise to viewers in the north.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06It must be awful for them. LAUGHTER
0:22:06 > 0:22:11Her writing has a marvellous sense of economy and structure.
0:22:11 > 0:22:16For me, it all comes alive when it's acted out by, say, her and Julie.
0:22:16 > 0:22:23- She wants to do that Jane Fonda. - What?- That exercise thing - nemobics.- What's that?
0:22:23 > 0:22:31- Her next door does it. You can hear her through t'grate. You have to clench those buttocks.- Do you?
0:22:31 > 0:22:38SHE'LL never get HERS clenched! It'd take two big lads and a wheelbarrow!
0:22:38 > 0:22:42I loved Kitty - that was Patricia Routledge.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45'That was a brilliant character.'
0:22:45 > 0:22:47First day I met her, she said...
0:22:47 > 0:22:51She said, "I'm a radical feminist lesbian."
0:22:51 > 0:22:57I thought, "What would the Queen Mum do?" LAUGHTER
0:22:57 > 0:23:03So I just smiled and said, "We shall have fun by tea time!" LAUGHTER
0:23:03 > 0:23:10And I remember when I was at poly when I was doing drama, I used to learn those off by heart,
0:23:10 > 0:23:16learn those Kitty things off by heart, and then do them for my mum!
0:23:16 > 0:23:19AS Seen On TV was the perfect showcase
0:23:19 > 0:23:27for Victoria's unique brand of observational humour. It was jam-packed with memorable sketches,
0:23:27 > 0:23:32the spoof soap opera Acorn Antiques being most people's favourite.
0:23:32 > 0:23:39It certainly sounds like a genuine Picasso, Martin, but I'd have to see it to be sure.
0:23:39 > 0:23:47She's not selfish with her writing. She shares it out. Acorn Antiques was a fantastic ensemble piece.
0:23:47 > 0:23:52'I think there was a lot of Crossroads in it.'
0:23:52 > 0:23:54I have something to tell you, Babs.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58Shall I go? No, stay.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01And please come back, Mrs O.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05What I have to say concerns everybody.
0:24:09 > 0:24:14I was very proud of Acorn Antiques cos nobody but me could see...
0:24:14 > 0:24:18I said, "Just wait. I KNOW this'll be funny."
0:24:18 > 0:24:24The fact is, Mrs O, my life seems completely grey, bleak and pointless.
0:24:24 > 0:24:30Well, that's God's way of getting you to enjoy Gardeners' World.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32HYSTERICAL LAUGHTER
0:24:35 > 0:24:39You see, things can't be all that bad!
0:24:39 > 0:24:41Bloody Nora!
0:24:41 > 0:24:49Acorn Antiques featured three of Victoria's regular collaborators - Julie Walters as Mrs Overall,
0:24:49 > 0:24:54Duncan Preston as Mr Clifford, and Celia Imrie as Miss Babs.
0:24:54 > 0:25:01Don't say any more, Mrs O. The baby alarm was on. We heard the whole darn thing!
0:25:01 > 0:25:04One of my favourite bits, I suppose,
0:25:04 > 0:25:09was when Acorn Antiques was turned into a health farm for no reason.
0:25:09 > 0:25:14It was never referred to, but we all wore headbands and sweatshirts
0:25:14 > 0:25:18and Mrs Overall arrived in a lime-green leotard.
0:25:18 > 0:25:25Victoria came in, before we actually got to that scene when she comes in in it...
0:25:25 > 0:25:28and she came in and she nearly died laughing!
0:25:28 > 0:25:33I'd seen the leotard hung up in the wardrobe,
0:25:33 > 0:25:38but when Julie came in, her crotch all concertinaed and her headband...
0:25:38 > 0:25:41I couldn't speak! I had to be carried out the studio.
0:25:41 > 0:25:43Here we are!
0:25:43 > 0:25:50A nice tray of decaffeinated coffee, low-fat milk and sugar-free sugar.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54- Goodness, how healthy! - I enjoyed myself!- How was aerobics?
0:25:54 > 0:25:57I enjoyed myself...! Correct footwear,
0:25:57 > 0:26:01a supportive brassiere to prevent chafing
0:26:01 > 0:26:06- and plenty of attention from a qualified instructor.- Sounds ideal!
0:26:06 > 0:26:09Best light entertainment performance, Clive?
0:26:09 > 0:26:14CLIVE: I'm glad to say the winner is Victoria Wood!
0:26:14 > 0:26:21The British Academy Award she won for the series was confirmation that Victoria was now a star.
0:26:21 > 0:26:27At 32, with 11 years as a professional performer behind her,
0:26:27 > 0:26:31she'd finally joined the entertainment elite.
0:26:32 > 0:26:40Um... I only do one performance, so it's nice to get a prize for it. Thank you very much.
0:26:41 > 0:26:48The BBC were keen for As Seen On TV to run and run, but Victoria had other plans.
0:26:50 > 0:26:55After two series and a Christmas special, she killed the show off
0:26:55 > 0:27:02and switched channels to ITV, for whom she made this one-off spectacular.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05Ladies and gentlemen, Victoria Wood!
0:27:05 > 0:27:12She gave an hour-long solo performance in front of an audience sprinkled with famous faces.
0:27:12 > 0:27:19Welcome to London Weekend TV. This is Studio 1, where Michael Aspel interviewed Elizabeth Taylor.
0:27:19 > 0:27:23There's still a pool of nervous sweat back there!
0:27:23 > 0:27:27Don't know why she was so worried about meeting him!
0:27:27 > 0:27:31..For some reason, that night,
0:27:31 > 0:27:36in that studio, with that audience, there was a sort of a spark.
0:27:36 > 0:27:44She went through the whole thing without a single fluff...without a recording break of any kind.
0:27:44 > 0:27:49It was much more nerve-racking cos you could see all their faces.
0:27:49 > 0:27:56Seeing a load of old newsreaders when you're telling jokes is not the best ambience for me.
0:27:56 > 0:28:02You ask for celebrities and you only get desperate people who'll go anywhere
0:28:02 > 0:28:06if a Ford Granada will take them to the studio!
0:28:06 > 0:28:14We've not done bad. Who have we got? Some friends of Wincey Willis? And some people from Guildford!
0:28:14 > 0:28:20They're up in the balcony. We don't show them cos they're not famous!
0:28:21 > 0:28:27I enjoyed it, but my legs were hurting cos I was pregnant and I was stood up all the way through.
0:28:27 > 0:28:34The pregnancy prompted Victoria and Geoffrey to look at how they were running their lives.
0:28:34 > 0:28:41By the end of the '80s they decided to leave the Lancashire village and move south to London.
0:28:41 > 0:28:44I could feel, on a very basic level,
0:28:44 > 0:28:48that I should not live in that isolated way.
0:28:48 > 0:28:53I was brought up in a funny house on a hill with nobody around,
0:28:53 > 0:28:58then I recreated those circumstances when I got married.
0:28:58 > 0:29:04But then I wanted to join the human race and that's what I did.
0:29:04 > 0:29:09For the baby's sake, we wanted to live a normal life,
0:29:09 > 0:29:13so she wouldn't be the only person with famous parents.
0:29:17 > 0:29:23In 1992, Victoria, Geoffrey and their two children
0:29:23 > 0:29:28moved to a leafy part of North London where they have lived since.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31Big city life seems to suit Victoria.
0:29:31 > 0:29:36Many of her friends have noticed quite a change in her personality.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39Every time I see her, she's happier.
0:29:39 > 0:29:46She's at one with who she is, where she is in the business, what she's doing with her family...
0:29:46 > 0:29:51I'm not saying she's got a perfect life - nobody has! But she's...
0:29:51 > 0:29:56She's happy with herself - I think that's the key to it.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59I think she had...
0:29:59 > 0:30:03probably a problematical childhood in a way,
0:30:03 > 0:30:07which honed her sense of... her observation.
0:30:07 > 0:30:12And she's one of those people who can...
0:30:13 > 0:30:17..reason things out. "I am like this because..."
0:30:17 > 0:30:23But she's just now a terrifically... rounded human being.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27And I don't mean in a physical sense!
0:30:27 > 0:30:30When we met...she was
0:30:30 > 0:30:34probably the shyest person I ever met in my life.
0:30:34 > 0:30:39Um, and she still is fairly shy, I think.
0:30:39 > 0:30:45But she's become...very, very adept and skilled at handling it.
0:30:45 > 0:30:50She used to think everyone was looking at her and that worried her.
0:30:50 > 0:30:55Now everybody IS looking at her and it's ceased to worry her
0:30:55 > 0:31:00because she's now doing the job she always wanted to do.
0:31:00 > 0:31:05- In 1994, Victoria added a new item to her long list of achievements
0:31:05 > 0:31:09by writing and starring in her first TV movie -
0:31:09 > 0:31:13the very accomplished Pat And Margaret.
0:31:13 > 0:31:15That's it! Thank you!
0:31:15 > 0:31:19Pat And Margaret had a very chequered history
0:31:19 > 0:31:26because it was written for a TV company who wanted to put it out for cinema release.
0:31:26 > 0:31:34- The coach is outside!- I'm waiting for chips.- A TV show to get to and she's waiting for chips!
0:31:34 > 0:31:42And this TV company suddenly said, "We hate it. It's no good at all. It won't work. We're not doing it."
0:31:42 > 0:31:46When it WAS successful and people REALLY liked it,
0:31:46 > 0:31:51it was wonderful! One in the eye for the people who turned it down!
0:31:51 > 0:31:54< This is your magic moment...
0:31:54 > 0:31:57< Margaret Mottishead!
0:32:00 > 0:32:05Pat and Margaret told the comical yet moving story of two sisters -
0:32:05 > 0:32:11Motorway waitress, Margaret Mottishead, played by Victoria herself,
0:32:11 > 0:32:16and megastar Patricia Bedford, played by Julie Walters -
0:32:16 > 0:32:24who are reunited by the host of a fictional TV show, after living very different lives for 20 years.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27< Come and meet your sister, Patricia Bedford!
0:32:36 > 0:32:40'Pat And Margaret I just absolutely loved.'
0:32:41 > 0:32:46A lot of people would've given themselves a fully-formed character,
0:32:46 > 0:32:51and the best lines, and made the other parts paper-thin.
0:32:51 > 0:32:57But every single character in this film is really well thought-up.
0:32:57 > 0:33:02The dazzling thing was that I could see the two sides of Victoria.
0:33:02 > 0:33:07Julie was "the star" Victoria, Victoria was "Victoria" Victoria.
0:33:07 > 0:33:14It was an extraordinary thing to make humour out of, the actual split in the personality.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18I drew from my own experience of becoming famous.
0:33:18 > 0:33:23I don't love being famous but I enjoy a lot of what it brings.
0:33:23 > 0:33:27I was determined to be famous from a very early age.
0:33:27 > 0:33:34And I also have that very... sort of blunt side that doesn't take any notice of it at all.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37'I was interested in that clash.'
0:33:37 > 0:33:42Press the Chanel and the Saint Laurent immediately, compri-hende?
0:33:42 > 0:33:48Bring them back the second the work's completed. As an icon, I'm very vulnerable.
0:33:48 > 0:33:56'She was such a bitch, my character. It allowed you to be this awful, awful cow of a person.
0:33:56 > 0:33:58'I just loved it.'
0:33:58 > 0:34:06Some squeezed organic grape juice, skinless chicken on granary - no animal fat - and a herb tea.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09And it said so much about the business!
0:34:09 > 0:34:14About the falseness of the business and the mirage that people chase.
0:34:14 > 0:34:19The fame thing. It just said so much about all of that...
0:34:19 > 0:34:22And I had GREAT speeches in it!
0:34:22 > 0:34:27I just... Y'know - just... People would KILL for those speeches.
0:34:27 > 0:34:31I'm Valerie, Lady Charlson.
0:34:32 > 0:34:34I'm Knightsbridge.
0:34:34 > 0:34:37I'm grooming. I'm camisoles!
0:34:37 > 0:34:43I can't have a relative with a Lancashire accent and a perm to trick or treat in!
0:34:43 > 0:34:47- Yes, but I don't think... - It looks wrong!
0:34:47 > 0:34:49It's not ME.
0:34:49 > 0:34:55Oh...! Come early - help me get rid of her
0:34:52 > 0:34:55BEFORE the press call.
0:34:55 > 0:34:59Another who relished her part in the film was Dame Thora Hird.
0:34:59 > 0:35:02She was brilliantly cast -
0:35:02 > 0:35:08the mean-spirited mother of Margaret Mottishead's boyfriend Jim - Duncan Preston.
0:35:10 > 0:35:18DAME THORA: Often enough, in a play, there's one line you KNOW people will remember.
0:35:18 > 0:35:25I'm dusting the front gate when he comes with Margaret, and Mother says something,
0:35:25 > 0:35:32and he says, "You can shut up. We've made love anyway." She stops dusting and says...
0:35:32 > 0:35:36A sex life? YOU'VE had a sex life?!
0:35:36 > 0:35:38Where have you had it? Your bed.
0:35:38 > 0:35:42Not on the eiderdown?!
0:35:44 > 0:35:49For AGES, I'd pass workmen digging the road who'd shout, "Now, Thora!
0:35:49 > 0:35:53"Not on my eiderdown!" Or, "I've never been on your eiderdown!"
0:35:53 > 0:35:58It shows they listened to the play AND what truthful scripts she writes.
0:36:04 > 0:36:07She's one alone in this country.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10I really mean that with my heart.
0:36:10 > 0:36:13A bit of an icon. I've worked with an icon!
0:36:13 > 0:36:16# Vic-to-ria
0:36:16 > 0:36:19# Victoria... #
0:36:19 > 0:36:25Some people, perhaps, at the beginning - cos she broke ground as a woman -
0:36:25 > 0:36:30thought she'd only appeal to women. But that's not true at all. I mean...
0:36:30 > 0:36:35It's EVERYWHERE she appeals to. I think it's a wonderful achievement.
0:36:35 > 0:36:37# Victoria
0:36:37 > 0:36:40# Victoria... #
0:36:42 > 0:36:48She's really saying in what she does that brains are what finally count.
0:36:48 > 0:36:53I'd add, "Brains are what finally make you beautiful." And she IS,
0:36:53 > 0:36:58when that marvellous creativity of hers is sparking. She's riveting.
0:36:58 > 0:37:02# ..I can't do it I must refuse to get undressed
0:37:02 > 0:37:06# I feel silly, it's too chilly to go without me thermal vest
0:37:06 > 0:37:10# Don't choose me, don't use me My mother sent a note to say you must excuse me
0:37:10 > 0:37:14# I can't do it I can't do it tonight
0:37:14 > 0:37:18# Let's do it, let's do it I really absolutely must
0:37:18 > 0:37:24# Won't exempt you, wanna tempt you Want to drive you mad with lust
0:37:24 > 0:37:28# No cautions, just contortions Smear an avocado on me lower portions
0:37:28 > 0:37:32# Let's do it Let's do it toni-i-ight
0:37:32 > 0:37:37# I can't do it, I can't do it It's really not my cup of tea
0:37:37 > 0:37:41# I'm harassed, embarrassed I wish you hadn't picked on me
0:37:41 > 0:37:46# No barter, non-starter I feel about as sensuous as Jimmy Carter
0:37:46 > 0:37:50# I can't do it I can't do it tonight
0:37:50 > 0:37:55# Let's do it, let's do it I really want to run amok
0:37:55 > 0:37:59# Let's wiggle, let's jiggle Let's really make the rafters rock
0:37:59 > 0:38:01# Be mighty, be flighty
0:38:01 > 0:38:09# Come and melt the buttons on me flameproof nightie Let's do it, let's do it toni-ight
0:38:09 > 0:38:14# Let's do it, let's do it I really want to rant and rave
0:38:14 > 0:38:19# Let's go cos I know Just how I want you to behave
0:38:19 > 0:38:24# Not meekly, not bleakly Beat me on the bottom with the Woman's Weekly
0:38:24 > 0:38:33# But let's do it Let's do it toni-i-ight... #
0:38:34 > 0:38:38Subtitles by L Brooks, E Kane BBC Scotland - 1998