Victoria Wood, 1989
It had been seven years since Victoria Wood had hit TV screens with her unique brand of sketch humour in Wood and Walters, she’d followed that up with the much loved As Seen On TV. However in 1989 Wood moved away from sketch based comedy for a series of of one off sitcoms entitled “Victoria Wood”, this would be re-titled Victoria Wood presents for it’s DVD release.
Featuring a familiar cast alongside some well know guests, Victoria Wood ran for 1 series of 6 episodes in 1989. The series was not perhaps the success it could have been opening with an impressive 13 million viewers, but it dropped to 11 million by episode 2.
It gained a mixed critical response with even Victoria Wood herself saying “It wasn’t as well written by me as it could have been, and I shouldn’t have been in all the sketches.”
Summary
Men’s Sauna in Thingummy Doodah, episode 1
Victoria’s friend Lill (Lil Roughley) drags her to a health farm run by a clueless manager (Julie Walters) and crude concierge (Liza Tarbuck), but Victoria’s patience with the weight loss industry wears thin.
The Library, episode 2
Victoria helps her friend Sheila (Anne Reid) choose her dates from a video dating service, using the local library’s VCR – then tags along on the dates in case one of them turns out to be an axe murderer.
Over To Pam, episode 3
Victoria accompanies her hairdresser friend Lorraine (Kay Adshead) to an interview on the daytime TV hit Live with Pam. However the show’s self-absorbed host, Pam Cunard (Julie Walters), gets her comeuppance when, at the last minute, Lorraine disappears and is impersonated by Victoria.
We’d Quite Like To Apologise, episode 4
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 delayed plane to arrive.
Val de Ree (Ha Ha Ha Ha), episode 5
Victoria and her friend Jackie (Celia Imrie) go off on a walking and camping holiday across the Yorkshire Dales, finding they are unable to erect their tent and they then have trouble finding somewhere to sleep.
There’s nothing else for it they’ll have to try the local hostel. Unfortunately there’s only one way Victoria and Jackie are going to get into the hostel run by the haughty and slightly mad Susan (Joan Sims) and that’s by pretending to be the survivalist lecturers. However this means they will be expected to give a talk that evening.
Staying In, episode 6
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).
Clips
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Starring
Victoria Wood
Julie Walters
Lill Roughley
Anne Reid
Phillip Lowrie
Susie Blake
Celia Imrie
Details
Channel: BBC1
Written By: Victoria Wood
Original Transmission Dates: 16th November – 21st December 1989