Victoria Wood
Victoria Wood was a series of six one-off situation comedies written by and starring Victoria Wood in 1989, who took a break from sketches, two years after her very successful and award winning series Victoria Wood As Seen on TV. Wood appeared as "Victoria", a fictionalised version of herself, in all six episodes - in The Library it was said that she "worked in TV" and in Over To Pam characters appeared to recognise her celebrity and in the final episode, Staying In, she was taken to a party to perform as a comedienne and was expected to go through her stand-up 'routine'. Her character often broke the 'fourth wall' of TV and spoke directly to the camera, but not in every episode. Bored with the sketch format and with a yearning to recapture previous success as a playwright, Wood came up with six individual sitcoms as a compromise. She admitted to finding the writing difficult. Though Wood was written as the central character, other lead parts were written with specific actresses in mind, like Julie Walters and Una Stubbs. "I want people to like me and the people who play my friends, and not everybody else" she said. Screenonline says of the shows "Modest in ambition and scale but rich in wit and acuity, the six playlets showcase Wood's eye for human foibles and her distinctively eccentric characters.".
Episodes
Snatched away to the purgatory of Pinkney's health farm by her determined friend Lill who's desperate to reshape her body and ensnare her married lover once and for all, Victoria is pretty miserable. What with Enid and her water retention, Connie and her runaway midriff, miniscule portions and jogging practice at 6:25am, things are getting a bit out of hand.
Run by the terrible Madge - who thinks book burning is a sensible alternative to gas central heating - the biggest excitement in Victoria's local library at the moment is waiting for the Domesday Book to come out in paperback. But things are hotting up there now that Victoria's friend has discovered the library is the ideal place to watch her new video dating cassettes. And two's company, three's definitely a crowd when Victoria decides to tag along on the dates to root out any potential axe-murderers...
When Victoria's friend Lorraine ducks out of her appearance on Live With Pam, one of TV's top talk shows, it's up to Victoria to save the day - and the show. Trouble is, Pam's rather a nightmare - all tie neck blouse and slingbacks - and Victoria's not very tolerant of the Margaret Thatcher look...
Victoria's holiday flight to sun soaked Alicante has been delayed by seven hours and she's pigged all her chocolates and finished all the women's magazine surveys. Now it's time to mingle with her fellow passengers, amongst which lurks a rampant woman who's keen to introduce Victoria to a wilder world than the one in the problem pages...
Having read ""Swallows and Amazons"", Victoria assumes that her backpacking holiday with friend Jackie will be all milk and buns in local farm kitchens singing ""The Happy Wanderer"". That is, until they meet a Perrier drinking couple at the first farm, lose their way and fight with the tent - and each other. Then they stumble upon a youth hostel - from now on things can only get worse...
What bliss! Victoria's cosily tucked up in front of the telly, deep into couch potato mode until friend Jane rings and drags her to her third least favourite thing - a cocktail party (sharing a jacuzzi with Mrs Margaret Thatcher comes first - no competition). The atmosphere is suitably snooty - all Felicity Kendall and David Attenborough enthusiasts - and what's worse, Victoria's just discovered - as the only foul mouthed, raunchy, anarchic, alternative, feminist left wing comedienne in the room - she's the evening's entertainment.
