Victoria Wood

Parkinson at 50

Sir Michael Parkinson looks back over his 50 years as a broadcaster, revealing some tricks of the interview trade and remembering some of his favourite encounters.

Release Date: 2021-08-28

Character: Self (archive footage)

Vote Count: 1

Victoria Wood In Her Own Words

A look back at the life and work of one of Britain's greatest comediennes, featuring interviews with those who worked alongside Victoria.

Release Date: 2020-11-30

Character: Herself

Our Friend Victoria

Six-part series celebrating the comedy of Victoria Wood.

Release Date: 2017-04-11

Character: Herself - Archive

Episode Count: 6

Dying Laughing

The craft, creative process and complicated lives of Stand-up Comedians.

Release Date: 2017-02-24

Character: Self

Vote Count: 18

Let's Do It: A Tribute to Victoria Wood

Friends and fans pay tribute to a great comic talent in this celebration of the life and work of the hugely popular Victoria Wood, who died of cancer in April 2016 at age 62. Victoria wrote some of television's greatest comedy sketches and musicals, won two BAFTAs for her drama Housewife, 49, and was once voted by the British public as the person they would most like to have as their next door neighbour.

Release Date: 2016-05-14

Character: Self (archive material)

Fungus The Bogeyman

Raymond Briggs' classic family story about smelly monsters, dangerous humans and what happens when the things that go bump in the night move in next door comes to life on Sky 1. Timothy Spall, Victoria Wood and Keeley Hawes star

Release Date: 2015-12-27

Vote Count: 3

Fungus the Bogeyman

An adaptation of Raymond Briggs' children's classic that mixes live action and CGI animation to follow the adventures of a family of green monsters who live in the slimy underground world of Bogeydom. Fungus and his wife Mildew suspect their son Mould is illicitly dabbling in human culture, sparking a family argument that sees the boy flee to the surface. Above ground in Daventry, Daryl Hedge's go-getting wife Wendy won't let him forget it that he is unemployed, while his daughter Lucy has fallen for a disagreeable older boy called Dean.

Release Date: 2015-12-27

Character: Eve

Episode Count: 3

Vote Count: 1

That Day We Sang

TV Film adaptation of Victoria Wood's hit musical set in Manchester in 1929 and 1969. When middle aged loners Tubby and Enid attend a reunion of the choir in which they sang as children, the music evokes powerful memories, leading them to realise they still have a chance to find happiness.

Release Date: 2014-12-26

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 5

Victoria Wood - That Musical We Made

That Musical We Made is an honest and funny look at the making of a musical. Victoria Wood takes us behind the scenes of That Day We Sang, the film she wrote and directed, and also looks at the real events which inspired her story. She goes back to Manchester to find out about the original choir of the 1920s, and the children who sang on the record of Nymphs and Shepherds. And in between unpeeling the history and sharing the fun of the shoot, she tries to work out how a piece of writing can evolve. Victoria unpicks the process in an attempt to understand how what started as a straightforward account of a day in the life of a children's choir in 1929 ended up as a middle-aged love story about the power of music to reconnect lonely people and give them a second chance to fall in love.

Release Date: 2014-12-26

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Character: 

A Life on Screen

Documentary series that celebrates the incredible careers of the best of British talent.

Release Date: 2014-12-24

Character: Self

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 1

Victoria Wood's Nice Cup of Tea

Comedy legend Victoria Wood travels the globe to explore Britain's love affair with tea in a two part special on the little plant that changed the world.

Release Date: 2013-04-10

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Character: Self

Victoria Wood's Nice Cup of Tea

Release Date: 2013-04-10

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Character: Self - Presenter

Episode Count: 2

The Great Comic Relief Bake Off

Comic Relief takes over the Great British Bake Off tent. Different celebrity faces battle it out with their baking skills to claim one of the coveted Comic Relief Star Baker titles.

Release Date: 2013-01-21

Character: Herself - Contestant

Episode Count: 1

Loving Miss Hatto

Drama inspired by the true story of classical pianist Joyce Hatto. Victoria Wood's new strange-but-true drama about musical deception and enduring love

Release Date: 2012-12-23

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 6

Victoria Wood's Short Term Memories

A bumper recollection of the BAFTA-winning comedienne's most recent TV treats, including the definitive costume drama Lark Pies to Cranchesterford, the Midlife Olympics, and the further adventures of Acorn Antiques star Bo Beaumont - alias Julie Walters.

Release Date: 2012-09-06

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Character: 

Episode Count: 1

The Borrowers

Family adventure based on Mary Norton's classic children's books about a race of tiny people who live under the floorboards, resourcefully surviving by borrowing bits and pieces from the large residents who dwell above. After being discovered by 'human beans', borrower Arrietty and her parents are forced to leave their home while attempting to evade the clutches of obsessive scientist Professor Mildeye.

Release Date: 2011-12-25

Character: Granny Driver

Vote Count: 58

Case Histories

Case Histories is a British drama television series based on the Jackson Brodie detective novels by Kate Atkinson. It stars Jason Isaacs as Jackson Brodie.

Release Date: 2011-06-05

Character: Tracy

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 37

Eric & Ernie

Single drama telling the story of Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise's formative years, from child stars to national treasures. 'Big head, short legs' is Eric Bartholomew's first impression of Ernie Wiseman, but their friendship endures and, encouraged by his well-meaning but determined mother Sadie, Eric became the funny man to Ernie's 'feed'. After a successful stint in children's variety, they work their way up the ladder of live performance, but after a disastrous television debut in the series Running Wild, Morecambe and Wise learn to trust their own instincts and just make people laugh.

Release Date: 2011-01-01

Department: Art

Job: Conceptual Design

Character: Sadie Bartholomew

Vote Count: 8

Eric & Ernie: Behind the Scenes

A history of the British television comedy double act Morecambe & Wise to coincide with the BBC drama about their early lives.

Release Date: 2011-01-01

Character: Self - Presenter / Narrator

Little Crackers

Little Crackers is a series of Christmas short films featuring stars of British and Irish comedy.

Release Date: 2010-12-19

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 5

The Angina Monologues

Victoria Wood takes to the stage with an all female bill for a night of comedy in support of The British Heart Foundation to help raise awareness of heart disease in women.

Release Date: 2010-12-10

Department: Production

Job: Producer

Character: Herself/Jean's Friend

Victoria Wood: What Larks! Or... What I Did on My Holidays

Victoria Wood delves into the making of her Mid-Life Christmas, with behind the scenes footage from sketches including Lark Pies to Cranchesterford and the Midlife Olympics. The making of Victoria Wood's Mid-Life Christmas.

Release Date: 2009-12-30

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Character: Self

Vote Count: 1

Victoria Wood's Midlife Christmas

This is the time of year when friends and family gather round the television to exchange the traditional greeting -“Don’t bother, there’s nothing on”. Well this Christmas join Victoria Wood for her ‘Mid Life Christmas’ featuring highlights from the Mid Life Olympics 2009, with the most unlikely sporting events and a dance number that brings together the killer combo of midriff bulge. Victoria then dons a bonnet and corset, for the popular costume drama Lark Pies to Cranchesterford, and revel in the further adventures of soap star Bo Beaumont played by long term collaborator Julie Walters. DVD extras include the searing in-depth documentary (!) ‘What larks!’

Release Date: 2009-12-24

Vote Count: 2

Ballet Shoes

An unusual explorer named Gum and his kindly niece adopt three orphans -- Pauline, Petrova and Posy -- and raise them as sisters in 1930s London. But the girls must fend for themselves when Gum doesn't return from one of his adventures. Together, they nurture their passions for acting, aviation and ballet in this charming TV adaptation of Noel Streatfield's novel.

Release Date: 2008-08-26

Character: Nana

Vote Count: 265

Victoria's Empire

Victoria's Empire is a three-part British travel series that was first broadcast on BBC One in 2007. It was fronted by comedienne and actress Victoria Wood. Wood travelled around the world in search of the history, cultural impact and customs which the British Empire placed on the parts of the world it ruled. The documentary was called Victoria's Empire after the presenter, as Wood herself is named after the ruler of the British Empire, Queen Victoria. Wood specifically looked at places named after the monarch. In total Wood visited nine countries: She departed from London Victoria station for: ⁕Programme One: Calcutta, Hong Kong and Borneo ⁕Programme Two: Ghana, Jamaica and Newfoundland, Canada ⁕Programme Three: New Zealand, Australia and Zambia, finishing at the Victoria Falls.

Release Date: 2007-04-29

Episode Count: 3

The Graham Norton Show

Each week celebrity guests join Irish comedian Graham Norton to discuss what's being going on around the world that week. The guests poke fun and share their opinions on the main news stories. Graham is often joined by a band or artist to play the show out.

Release Date: 2007-02-22

Character: Self

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 265

Housewife, 49

Downtrodden wife and mother Nella's life takes an unexpected turn for the better after she joins the Women's Voluntary Service office in Barrow-in-Furness during the Second World War. However, her new-found happiness is shattered when her son Cliff leaves to join the troops - provoking a painful confrontation with her husband Will.

Release Date: 2006-12-10

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Character: Nella Last

Vote Count: 17

The One Show

A topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One.

Release Date: 2006-08-14

Character: Self

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 26

The Story of Light Entertainment

The Story of Light Entertainment is a British documentary series shown on the BBC in 2006. The series comprises eight episodes and is narrated by Stephen Fry.

Release Date: 2006-07-22

Character: Self

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 3

Acorn Antiques: The Musical

Acorn Antiques: The Musical! is the all-singing, all-dancing and fully overalled stage version of the beloved TV spoof. The triumphant West End production brought together Julie Walters (Mrs Overall), Celia Imrie (Miss Babs) and Duncan Preston (Mr Clifford) - the original cast of the series. It was directed by Sir Trevor Nunn ("Les Miserables", "Woman in White", "Starlight Express") and written by Julie's understudy, the award-winning Victoria Wood. Filmed during the sell-out run at the beautiful Haymarket Theatre, the musical features an all-star supporting cast of Josie Lawrence, Neil Morrissey & Sally Ann Triplett.

Release Date: 2006-03-13

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Character: Bo Beaumont / Mrs Overall (On Bingo Nights)

Vote Count: 1

Harry & Paul

Harry & Paul is a BAFTA Award-winning British sketch comedy show starring Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 13 April 2007. Prior to broadcast it was trailed as The Harry Enfield Show. The show reunites the pair, who had success with Harry Enfield's Television Programme in the 1990s. The second series of the programme began on BBC One on 5 September 2008. This was the last series from the comedy producer Geoffrey Perkins who died shortly before the programme's second series began. A third series was commissioned and began 28 September 2010 this time on BBC Two to where the show has been moved, because of falling ratings. The fourth series began broadcasting in October 2012.

Release Date: 2005-09-20

Episode Count: 2

Vote Count: 9

The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse

The fictional world of Royston Vasey is facing apocalypse and the only way to avert disaster is for our nightmarish cast of characters to find a way into the real world and confront their creators. From present day Soho to the fictional film world of 17th Century Britain, the residents must overcome countless bizarre obstacles in their bid to return Royston Vasey to safety.

Release Date: 2005-06-03

Character: Queen Mary II

Vote Count: 82

QI

Comedy quiz show full of quirky facts, in which contestants are rewarded more if their answers are 'quite interesting'.

Release Date: 2003-09-11

Character: Self

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 256

Victoria at the Albert - Live

Victoria Wood seen performing live at her sold-out show in the Albert Hall using her usual anecdotal humour and amusing songs to cheer the huge audience.

Release Date: 2002-11-25

Character: Herself/Various

Dawn French's Girls Who Do Comedy

Over three episodes, Dawn French interviewed some of the most prolific and celebrated female comedians of the time. Later in 2006, several of the interviews were shown in full. The interviewees being: Whoopi Goldberg, Catherine Tate, Kathy Burke, Julie Walters, Victoria Wood and Joan Rivers.

Release Date: 2002-08-13

Episode Count: 3

Vote Count: 3

Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings

The comedienne stars in this festive sketch show, alongside a host of celebrity guests.

Release Date: 2000-12-25

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Character: Self/Various Characters

Vote Count: 6

Don't Panic: The Dad's Army Story

Victoria Wood presents the true story behind Britain's timeless comedy. Includes footage of the cast on location and incredible personal tales about the making of the series. Was Arthur Lowe really just like Captain Mainwaring? Why did the warden always end up in the water? And how did Corporal Jones find a bomb down his trousers? Find out why Dad's Army was the Queen Mother's favourite show.

Release Date: 2000-05-28

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Character: Host

Vote Count: 1

dinnerladies

Dinnerladies is a BBC sitcom written by and starring Victoria Wood that chronicles the antics of a group of workers in a canteen in the north of England. Bren tries to maintain a semblance of order in amongst the chaos, while dealing with the canteen supervisor, slightly sex-obsessed cancer sufferer Tony. Dolly and Jean are the bickering menopausal older women, always at odds but best friends beneath it all. Then there's thick-as-two-short-planks Anita, and the terminally uninterested Twinkle, more concerned with having a good time than anything else. Making up the motley crew are military man handyman Stan, all rules and regulations, and ditzy Philippa, who never seems to get anything right.

Release Date: 1998-11-12

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Character: Brenda

Episode Count: 16

Vote Count: 33

Parkinson

Michael Parkinson returns for a second run of his iconic talk show.

Release Date: 1998-01-09

Character: Self

Episode Count: 2

Victoria Wood - Live

Over half a million people packed into over 200 venues throughout the country during 1997 to see her best show ever. This tour included an unprecedented fifteen night sell-out run at the Royal Albert Hall, which the media hailed as the best stand-up show of the decade. With her cheek, charm and dazzling wordplay, she reduced her audience to a state of delerium. Recorded during her record-breaking tour, Victoria Wood Live is your opportunity to see the queen of humour at her most brilliant.

Release Date: 1997-11-13

Department: Production

Job: Executive Producer

Character: Herself

Vote Count: 2

The Wind in the Willows

Jailed for his reckless driving, rambunctious Mr. Toad has to escape from prison when his beloved Toad Hall comes under threat from the wily weasels, who plan to build a dog food factory on the very meadow sold to them by Toad himself.

Release Date: 1996-10-16

Character: The Tea Lady

Vote Count: 53

Victoria Wood Live In Your Own Home

Filmed at London's Royal Albert Hall in 1994, the much loved comedienne presents a special show featuring stand up, monologues and sketches in her own inimitable style.

Release Date: 1994-12-25

Character: Herself

Pat and Margaret

Unexpected events occur when Pat, a glamorous British-born star of American soaps, returns home to plug her auto-biography on television and meets, for the first time since they were teenagers, Margaret her plain and frumpy younger sister. The meeting is painful for both women highlighting the vast differences in their lives and resurrecting painful memories of their unhappy childhood with an uncaring, errant mother. The tabloid press smell a juicy story and a race ensues to trace the whereabouts of the long lost parent.

Release Date: 1994-09-11

Department: Writing

Job: Screenplay

Character: Margaret

Vote Count: 10

Victoria Wood's All Day Breakfast

A television comedy special broadcast on BBC One on Christmas Day 1992. Sketches, stand-up comedy and songs combine to create the latest daytime show to be hosted by a popular husband-and-wife team. There are tips on female problems like seriously split ends, calorie reports, keep-fit with Jolly Polly, Agony Uncle Gerard's phone-in and Britain's first four times daily soap, set in a cosy corner of a shopping mall.

Release Date: 1992-12-25

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Character: 

Vote Count: 2

Julie Walters and Friends

Julie Walters stars in new sketches by four accomplished writers who helped make her famous.

Release Date: 1991-12-29

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Character: 

Julie Walters and Friends

Julie Walters and Friends was a one-off comedy sketch show showcasing the talents of actress Julie Walters. Sketches were written by Walters' frequent collaborators, including Victoria Wood, Alan Bennett, Willy Russell and Alan Bleasdale. Walters portrayed new characters alongside roles she had previously been known for, including a monologue in which she appeared as Mrs Murray, her character from G.B.H, written by Bleasdale. The show was nominated for the Best Light Entertainment award at the 1992 BAFTAs.

Release Date: 1991-12-29

Department: Creator

Job: Creator

Character: 

Episode Count: [ 1 ]

Pebble Mill

Pebble Mill was a re-launched version of the 1970s daily chat show Pebble Mill (also known as Pebble Mill At One for a while) which aired on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. The series premiered on October 14, 1991. The show was a mixture of celebrity guests and music. Alan Titchmarsh was a presenter on the show throughout it's complete run. Other presenters included Judi Spiers, Gloria Hunniford and Ross King.

Release Date: 1991-10-14

Character: Self

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 4

Not Now Bernard

Bernard's got a problem: he's found a monster in the back garden but his mum and dad are just too busy to notice. So Bernard tries to befriend the monster… and that doesn't go quite to plan.

Release Date: 1991-10-01

Victoria Wood: Sold Out

A live performance of the comedienne from 1991. Starting out on the working mens' club circuit, Victoria Wood graduated to performing her one-woman act in the country's biggest theatres. This show at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton features her usual mix of observational comedy and songs.

Release Date: 1991-01-01

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Character: 

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.".

Release Date: 1989-11-16

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Character: Victoria

Episode Count: 6

Vote Count: 4

An Audience With Victoria Wood

British comedy legend Victoria Wood entertains a star-studded audience including Julie Walters, Judi Dench and Dawn French in this 1988 special. Watch her crack jokes, play the piano and answer light-hearted questions.

Release Date: 1988-12-10

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Character: Self

Vote Count: 3

Acorn Antiques

Starring Victoria Wood, Julie Walters, Celia Imrie, Duncan Preston, with the snobby continuity announcer played by Susie Blake, Acorn Antiques was a mini soap opera set in a shop on the outskirts of Manchesterford. Viewers were gripped with the everyday dramas that beset Miss Babs (Celia Imrie), Berta (Victoria Wood) and the glamorous Mrs Overall (Julie Walters). Now each thrilling episode is available together for the first time on DVD, including "Babs and the Cup of Coffee", "Mrs Overall and her Apron" and the memorable classic "Berta coming through the Doorway". Re-live the drama as Mrs Overall serves up another batch of macaroons and Babs discusses the future of the shop. What will be this week's riveting cliff hanger? Will the set survive? Written by Victoria Wood, Acorn Antiques was Produced and Directed by Geoff Posner and first transmitted as part of Victoria Wood as Seen on TV… in January 1985.

Release Date: 1987-12-18

Character: Berta

Vote Count: 1

Going Live!

Going Live! was a Saturday morning magazine show, broadcast on BBC1 between 1987 and 1993. It was presented by Phillip Schofield and Sarah Greene. Other presenters included Trevor and Simon, Peter Simon, Emma Forbes, and puppet Gordon the Gopher. The show was broadcast during the autumn to spring seasons, with other shows such as the 8:15 from Manchester and Parallel 9 taking over during the summer months. It was preceded by Saturday Superstore, and succeeded by Live & Kicking. In 1988, when the second series started, Greene was hurt in a helicopter crash with her then boyfriend, Mike Smith. Guest presenters stood in for her including T'Pau's Carol Decker. Similarly, in 1992-93 during the final series, Schofield was starring in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and was unable to present the show. A third presenter took his place. Originally, Neighbours actor Kristian Schmid took the role but soon left after problems with his work permit. Various other celebrities to stand in included Shane Richie and Robbie Williams during his Take That days.

Release Date: 1987-09-26

Character: Self

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 1

Comedians Do It On Stage

A Group of Britain's top comedy and music performers gather at a London Theater, to give their support to the Oncology Club Fund. The Fund is a charitable organization which provides training for young doctors in the practical day to day care of patients with cancer.

Release Date: 1986-02-01

Character: self

Personal View: Victoria Wood

Victoria Wood discusses her career and her writing, and gives a glimpse of life backstage on her comedy tour.

Release Date: 1985-05-09

Character: Herself

The Glass Box

Shelly Rohde meets various celebrities to ask them which personal treasures they would seal away in a glass box for future generations. Guests include Hughie Green, Edward Heath and Victoria Wood.

Release Date: 1985-04-09

Character: Herself

Episode Count: 1

Victoria Wood As Seen On TV

A British comedy series starring comedian Victoria Wood with Julie Walters, Celia Imrie, Duncan Preston, Susie Blake and Patricia Routledge. The show was televised on BBC Two between 1985 and 1987 and included sketches that became famous in the United Kingdom; these included one-offs like Two Soups and regular features such as Acorn Antiques, as well as musical performances by Wood including her most well-known number, The Ballad of Barry and Freda. The show was created when Wood was enticed away from rival television station ITV in 1984. She wrote the whole programme and also the synopsis of it for listings magazine the Radio Times. The series has led to spin-off script books, video tapes and DVDs.

Release Date: 1985-01-11

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Character: 

Episode Count: 13

Vote Count: 8

Wood and Walters

Wood and Walters is a British BAFTA nominated comedy sketch show starring Julie Walters and Victoria Wood for Granada Television and written entirely by Wood. The show was short-lived, with just one pilot in 1981 and seven episodes broadcast in 1982.

Release Date: 1982-01-01

Department: Creator

Job: Creator

Character: 

Episode Count: [ 7 ]

Vote Count: 4

Screenplay

Release Date: 1979-07-29

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 2

Happy Since I Met You

Happy Since I Met You is a television play written by Victoria Wood, and broadcast on ITV on 9 August 1981. It stars Julie Walters, Duncan Preston, Tracey Ullman and Jim Bowen and was directed by Baz Taylor as part of ITV's Screenplay series. In Happy Since I Met You, Duncan Preston, who would later become one of her regulars, worked with Victoria Wood for the first time. It is the last full length drama by Wood until Pat and Margaret in 1994.

Department: Creator

Job: Creator

Victoria Wood with All The Trimmings

Victoria Wood with All The Trimmings was a one-off Christmas comedy sketch-show special, written by and starring comedienne Victoria Wood. It was first broadcast on BBC1 on Christmas Day 2000. Lasting 55 minutes, the show is described by RDF, its rights holders as "a great big Christmas pudding of a show, stuffed full of stars in plum roles. Wonderfully funny sketches, brilliant pastiches and tons of celebrities. If you like your comedy roasting on an open fire this is one not to miss." Also appearing were Wood's regular co-stars Celia Imrie, Julie Walters, Anne Reid, Susie Blake and Maxine Peake. It also featured an enormous number of guest celebrity appearances such as Caroline Aherne, James Bolam, Betty Boothroyd, June Brown, Craig Cash, Roger Cook, Lindsay Duncan, Hannah Gordon, Richard E. Grant, Shobna Gulati, Philip Jackson, Derek Jacobi, Hugh Laurie, Robert Lindsay, Geraldine McEwan, Bob Monkhouse, Roger Moore, Michael Parkinson, Bill Paterson, Billie Piper, Pete Postlethwaite, Alan Rickman, Angela Rippon, Kate Robbins, Ted Robbins, Delia Smith, Kathy Staff, Imelda Staunton, Alan Titchmarsh, Ian Watkins, Honeysuckle Weeks, Penelope Wilton, Anna Wing and Bernard Wrigley. Wood said of the casting "I had a great long list of all the people I really liked. I wrote to the first 14 or so - and they all said yes. So I thought, 'oh, bloody hell - I've got to write it now."

Department: Creator

Job: Creator

Victoria Wood's Mid-Life Christmas

Victoria Wood's Mid Life Christmas is a comedy sketch show written by and starring comedienne Victoria Wood, broadcast on Christmas Eve 2009. The programme, Wood's first sketch show for nine years, was described by Wood as being "a whole night's telly crammed into one hour. Christmas is a stressful time and, by compressing an evening's viewing into 60 minutes, we hope families will have more time for other festive traditions such as arguing with relatives and defrosting turkeys under the hot tap". The special featured a spoof documentary titled Beyond The Marigolds, in which Wood's long-time collaborator Julie Walters reprised her role as "Bo Beaumont", the actress behind Acorn Antiques character "Mrs. Overall". Beyond The Marigolds saw Beaumont's foray into the world of celebrity programming such as I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!, Dancing On Ice and Strictly Come Dancing. The sketch included special guest appearances from Delia Smith, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean and Anton du Beke. Also featured in Mid Life Christmas was The Mid Life Olympics 2009, a series of sketches that include events such as the "4 by 400 Hedge Trimming" and "Ladies Outdoor Parking", featuring Wood as the commentator. There was an homage to BBC costume drama with the sketch Lark Pies to Cranchesterford; a series of parodies of television adverts; and a send-up of The Apprentice in which Sir Alan Sugar's sidekicks Margaret Mountford and Nick Hewer share an uncharacteristic jazz dance together.

Department: Creator

Job: Creator

Vote Count: 2

Aspel & Company

Release Date: 1984-06-09

Episode Count: 1

Wogan

Chat show hosted by Terry Wogan, featuring live studio interviews with famous and notable personalities.

Release Date: 1982-05-04

Character: Self

Episode Count: 2

Vote Count: 6

The Secret Policeman's Other Ball

Following the success of the 1979 show and the financial benefits accruing to Amnesty from the spin-off movie, TV special and record albums – Cleese, Lewis and Walker planned the next show to be a more spectacular event. Cleese focused on broadening the comedic talent to be presented at the show. In addition to the Amnesty show stalwarts drawn from the Oxbridge/Monty Python/Beyond The Fringe orbit, he invited newcomers such as Rowan Atkinson’s colleagues from the BBC TV show Not the Nine O'Clock News including Pamela Stephenson and Griff Rhys Jones; comedian Victoria Wood and regional comic Jasper Carrott. Lewis secured a return appearance by Billy Connolly and a debut appearance by "alternative" comedian Alexei Sayle who Lewis had recently discovered and was managing. Building on the success of Pete Townshend's 1979 appearance Lewis recruited other rock musicians to perform at the 1981 show including Sting, Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Donovan and Bob Geldof.

Release Date: 1982-03-01

Character: Self

Vote Count: 4

Happy Since I Met You

A play by Victoria Wood. Frances is 28, single and happy, despite ritual interrogation from her family as to why she's not married. Then she meets Jim, and finds she has decisions to make.

Release Date: 1981-08-08

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Character: Voice Only (uncredited)

Vote Count: 1

Great Railway Journeys

Great Railway Journeys, originally titled Great Railway Journeys of the World, is a recurring series of travel documentaries produced by BBC Television. The premise of each programme is that the presenter, typically a well-known figure from the arts or media, would make a journey by train, usually through a country or to a destination to which they had a personal connection. There were four series broadcast on BBC Two between 1980 and 1999, with the shorter series title being used for all but the first. In 2010 a similar series also aired on BBC Two, Great British Railway Journeys.

Release Date: 1980-10-23

Character: Self - Presenter

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 1

Nearly a Happy Ending

A play by Victoria Wood. Maureen has been faithfully attending the slimmers' club for months. Now the weeks of endless crispbreads have paid off - but is her optimism misplaced? Sequel to Wood's earlier play Talent, featuring the same characters of lifelong friends Maureen and Julie.

Release Date: 1980-05-31

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Character: Maureen

Profiles of Andrea Dunbar and Victoria Wood

This 1980 Arena documentary profiles writer and performer Victoria Wood and teenage playwright Andrea Dunbar. Wood is seen, alongside Julie Walters, during rehearsals for Wood's stage play Good Fun at the Sheffield Crucible and the film explores her talent to amuse through her witty and engaging songs. The film also looks at Dunbar, as her first play, The Arbor, written when she was only 15, was running at the Royal Court.

Release Date: 1980-03-26

Character: Self (Good Fun Playwright)

Talent

A play with music by Victoria Wood. Julie (Julie Walters) is a young woman seeking escape, with the help of her frumpish friend Maureen (Wood) she prepares for her singing debut at a seedy Manchester club's talent show.

Release Date: 1979-08-04

Department: Sound

Job: Original Music Composer

Character: Maureen

An Audience with...

An Audience with... is a British entertainment television show produced by London Weekend Television, in which a host, usually a singer or comedian, performs for an invited audience of celebrity guests, interspersed with questions from the audience, in a light hearted revue/tribute style.

Release Date: 1978-01-08

Character: Self

Episode Count: 2

Vote Count: 3

The Secret Policeman's Ball

A series of benefit shows staged initially in the United Kingdom to raise funds for the human rights organisation Amnesty International. The shows started in 1976 featuring popular British comedians but later included leading musicians and actors. The Secret Policeman's Ball shows are credited by many prominent entertainers with having galvanised them to become involved with Amnesty and other social and political causes in succeeding years.

Release Date: 1976-04-01

Character: Self

Episode Count: 15

Vote Count: 1

The Summer Show

A British comedy sketch show from 1975 featuring winners of the ATV talent show New Faces; made by ATV for the ITV network Designed to emulate the fast moving style of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, it featured Marti Caine, Lenny Henry, Victoria Wood, impressionist Aiden J Harvey and singer Trevor Chance. To help out with the first show was the more experienced TV personality Leslie Crowther. The Summer Show consisted of five, forty five minute specials on the subjects of "holidays", "health and strength","mystery and crime","kids", and "entertainment". The performers, who were paid £175 a week for their efforts, were encouraged to diversify. Thus it featured the unlikely sight of Wood and Crowther duetting and other thrown together combinations for songs, sketches and dances. Wood said of the experience "it was one of those really bad variety shows where they got the scripts out of other people's dustbins. It was just dreadful." She was told by costumers, who said she was too big for the costumes, "if only you'd lose two stone you could wear this of Anna Massey's" Wood immediately went back to the unemployment queue when it ended. Whereas the series was a springboard for other cast members. Caine got her own TV series and Henry joined The Black and White Minstrel Show. [1]

Release Date: 1975-08-02

Episode Count: 5

That's Life!

A magazine-style television series on BBC1 which was broadcast from May 1973 to June 1994, presented by Esther Rantzen, with various changes of co-presenters. The show presented hard-hitting investigations alongside satire and occasional light entertainment.

Release Date: 1973-05-26

Episode Count: 421

Vote Count: 1

Jackanory

Jackanory is a long-running BBC children's television series that was designed to stimulate an interest in reading. The show was first transmitted on 13 December 1965, the first story being the fairy-tale Cap-o'-Rushes read by Lee Montague. Jackanory continued to be broadcast until 1996, clocking up around 3,500 episodes in its 30-year run. The final story, The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne, was read by Alan Bennett and broadcast on 24 March 1996. The show returned on 27 November 2006 for two one-off stories. The show's format, which varied little over the decades, involved an actor reading from children's novels or folk tales, usually while seated in an armchair. From time to time the scene being read would be illustrated by a specially commissioned still drawing, often by Quentin Blake. Usually a single book would occupy five daily fifteen-minute episodes, from Monday to Friday.

Release Date: 1965-12-13

Character: Storyteller

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 1

Lux Video Theatre

Lux Video Theatre is an American anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays.

Release Date: 1950-10-02

Character: Cavendish

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 6

The Talent Show Story

The Talent Show Story is a British television documentary series about the history of British television talent shows. The series comprises five episodes and was broadcast on ITV from 7 January to 4 February 2012. It is narrated by Victoria Wood. It was co-produced by Shiver Productions and Thames.

Character: Herself

Episode Count: 5