Victoria Wood (1989 TV series)

Victoria Wood
Victoria with Patricia Hodge and Jim Broadbent in a still from the episode 'Staying In'.
Created by	Victoria Wood
Starring	Victoria Wood Julie Walters Celia Imrie Lill Roughley Anne Reid Meg Johnson Susie Blake Jim Broadbent Patricia Hodge Joan Sims Jane Horrocks
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	6
Production
Producer(s)	Geoff Posner
Running time	30 minutes
Release
Original network	BBC1
Picture format	4:3
Original release	16 November (1989-11-16) – 21 December 1989 (1989-12-21)

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" ("Miss Wood" in episode one), 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 (although two confused her with Dawn French) and in the final episode, Staying In, she was taken to a party to perform as a comedian 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.^[1] 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.".^[2]

While the 1992 and 1993 VHS releases of the series were titled Victoria Wood, the 2007 DVD release was called Victoria Wood Presents.

Reception

The series was met with a mixed critical reception initially.^[3] The series started out with an impressive 13 million viewers tuning in, but by the next week had dropped to 11 million. Wood regretted the decision not to record it in front of a studio audience and described the filming as a "boring, diabolical and awful" experience. The Daily Express described the show as 'tiresome stuff' and the Daily Mirror said her targets were predictable and snobbish. Wood took some blame for the disappointing reaction saying "It wasn't well written by me as it could have been, and I shouldn't have been in all the sketches".^[4]

Episode guide

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original airdate
1	"Mens Sana in Thingummy Doodah"	Kevin Bishop	Victoria Wood	16 November 1989 (1989-11-16)
Victoria and her friend Lill (Lill Roughley) book a stay at Pinkney's health farm with the intention of losing weight. But the merciless regime forces Victoria, Lill and their new friends, Connie and Enid, to mount an escape — as far as the village café. Featuring: Julie Walters (Nicola); Lill Roughley (Lill); Liza Tarbuck (Dana); Meg Johnson (Connie); Anne Reid (Enid); Georgia Allen (Sallyanne); Selina Cadell (Judy); Bryan Burdon (Maintenance man); Rosalind March (Melanie Dickinson – girl on video); Peter Martin (Man in café).
2	"The Library"	Geoff Posner	Victoria Wood	23 November 1989 (1989-11-23)
Victoria helps her friend Sheila (Anne Reid), who uses the services of the library's video dating agency, by tagging along on the dates — just in case one of the men turns out to be an axe-murderer! Featuring: Anne Reid (Sheila); Carol MacReady (Madge, the librarian); Richard Kane (John, the assistant librarian); Philip Lowrie (Keith); David Henry (Richard); Danny O'Dea (Ted).
3	"Over to Pam"	Geoff Posner	Victoria Wood	23 November 1989 (1989-11-23)
Victoria accompanies her hairdresser friend Lorraine (Kay Adshead) to a daytime TV interview on Live With Pam. But the show's snobbish host Pam Cunard (Julie Walters) gets her comeuppance when, at the last minute, Lorraine disappears and is impersonated by Victoria. Featuring: Julie Walters (Pam); Kay Adshead (Lorraine); Meg Johnson (Saundra, the Console Television receptionist); Shirley Cain (Marge); Julia St. John (Caroline); Hugh Lloyd (Jim); Margery Mason (Alma); Lill Roughley (Sue); William Osborne (Neil); Charubala Chokski (Dr. Rani Najitwar); Alison King (Canteen server).
4	"We'd Quite Like to Apologise"	Kevin Bishop	Victoria Wood	7 December 1989 (1989-12-07)
Victoria is looking forward to a holiday in the sun, but ends up instead hanging around an airport passenger lounge with her fellow passengers waiting for their somewhat delayed plane to arrive. Featuring: Julie Walters (Joyanne); Una Stubbs (Una); Lill Roughley (Barbara); Philip Lowrie (John), Jane Horrocks (Kathy); Celia Imrie (Carol, the SunSeaKing representative); Susie Blake (Girl at check-in desk); Rosalind March (Woman in car); Valerie Minifie (Woman in lift); Peter Martin (Man on travelator); Rory Bremner, David Jacobs†, Duncan Preston§, Graham Seed (Voices). * Radio voices. † As himself. § Voice of Captain Lewis.
5	"Val de Ree (Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha)"	Kevin Bishop	Victoria Wood	14 December 1989 (1989-12-14)
Victoria and her friend Jackie (Celia Imrie) go off on a walking and camping holiday across the Yorkshire Dales, but find they are unable to erect their tent and have trouble finding somewhere to sleep. There's only one way for Victoria and Jackie to get into the youth hostel run by the haughty and slightly mad Susan — and that's to pretend to be the survivalist lecturers expected to give a talk that evening about living for sixteen weeks on a remote Scottish island! Featuring: Celia Imrie (Jackie); Siân Thomas (Girl on farm); Michael Lumsden (Jamie); Avril Angers (Mim); Michael Nightingale (Daddy); Joan Sims (Susan, the youth hostel warden).
6	"Staying In"	Geoff Posner	Victoria Wood	21 December 1989 (1989-12-21)
Victoria wants to stay in for the night and watch television, but receives a telephone call from her stuck-up friend Jane (Deborah Grant), who drags her along to a posh London dinner party hosted by Moira (Patricia Hodge). Featuring: Patricia Hodge (Moira); Deborah Grant (Jane); Phyllis Calvert (Hilary); Lill Roughley (Dulcie); Roger Brierley (Gerald); John Nettleton (Charles); Jim Broadbent (Alan); Bryan Burdon (Jim); Celia Imrie (Woman on television/Julia/Television soundtrack female voice); Susie Blake (Judith); Richard Lintern (Kevin); Dawn Archibald (Ailsa); Susan Leong (Doris, the Philippino waitress); Peter Goodwright (Television soundtrack male voices).

Mens Sana in Thingummy Doodah

Front cover of Mens Sana in Thingummy Doodah (Methuen, 1991).

In 1991, the scripts of all six shows were published by Methuen as Mens Sana in Thingummy Doodah – And other nuggets of homely fun. The book is dedicated to "All the old bags in Equity, most of whom were in the series". The book contains an exclusive introduction by Victoria Wood about what it's like to make a TV programme.

Once the Writer has finished writing, she takes the 'scripts' to the BBC where a seventeen-year-old Secretary spills coffee on them and leaves them behind the photocopier. When the Secretary leaves the BBC to become a full-time sunbather it can sometimes be a jolly long time before those 'scripts' come to light! And sometimes when they do they have been hidden for such a long time they have become 'dated' and 'unrealistic'. But fortunately, the BBC will still make them into 'programmes'.^[5]

Publisher: Methuen

Year: 1991

Original Price: £4.99

ISBN №: 0-7493-0818-4

Availability: Out of print

In other media

VHS

Victoria Wood - Mens Sana in Thingummy Doodah (with The Library and Over to Pam)

Label: BBC Video

Release Date: 1992

Catalogue №: BBCV 4843

Availability: Deleted

Running time: 85 minutes. BBFC "PG" certificate.

Victoria Wood - We'd Quite Like to Apologise (with Val de Ree (Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha) and Staying In)

Label: BBC Video

Release Date: 1993

Catalogue №: BBCV 4844

Availability: Deleted

Running time: 80 minutes. BBFC "PG" certificate.

DVD

Victoria Wood Presents

Label: 2|Entertain (Classic TV)

Release Date: 2007

Catalogue №: CCTV 30608

Availability: Out now; also available as Disc C in 7-disc set Victoria Wood Collection (BBCDVD 3311), released in 2010

Running time: 163 minutes. BBFC "PG" certificate.

References

↑ Victoria Wood – The Biography, Neil Brandwood, Ted Smart, 2002, p.151-152
↑ "Screenonline – Victoria Wood (1989)". Screenonline Online. 2007.
↑ "Museum TV – Victoria Wood". Museum TV. 2007.
↑ Victoria Wood – The Biography, Neil Brandwood, Ted Smart, 2002, p.159
↑ Mens Sana in Thingummy Doodah, Victoria Wood, Methuen, 1991, p.1

External links

Victoria Wood at BBC Programmes
Victoria Wood at the BFI's Screenonline
Victoria Wood at the Internet Movie Database
Victoria Wood at TV.com
Radio Times Guide To TV Comedy on 'Victoria Wood'

Victoria Wood

Sketch shows	The Summer Show (1975) Wood and Walters (1981) Victoria Wood as Seen on TV (1985) Julie Walters and Friends (1991) Victoria Wood's All Day Breakfast (1992) Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings (2000) Victoria Wood's Mid Life Christmas (2009)

Theatre	In at the Death (1978) Talent (1978) Good Fun (1980) Acorn Antiques: The Musical! (2005) That Day We Sang (2011)

Television dramas	Talent (1979) Nearly a Happy Ending (1980) Happy Since I Met You (1981) Pat and Margaret (1994) Housewife, 49 (2006) Eric and Ernie (2011) Loving Miss Hatto (2012) That Day We Sang (2014)

Situation comedies	Victoria Wood (1989) Dinnerladies (1998)

Television documentaries	Victoria Wood's Big Fat Documentary (2004) Victoria's Empire (2007) Victoria Wood's Nice Cup of Tea (2013)

See also	Acorn Antiques Victoria Wood As Seen On TV documentaries

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