Females, comedy and pianos, they don't mix, people say. However, there's an exception to every rule, and Victoria Wood is certainly an exception to that one.

Born in Prestwich, Lancashire¹ in 1953, she went to school at Fairfield Primary and Bury² Grammar School, where she showed a talent for music, particularly piano. She went on to Birmingham University, where she studied drama.

She appeared on the talent spotting TV show 'New Faces' in 1973 and won, however this did not bring instant stardom. As a singer of funny songs, she could not be classified as a comic or a musician.

In 1976 she met her future husband, Geoffrey Durham³, a magician, who became known to children as the outrageous 'Great Soprendo' on the TV show 'Crackerjack'. They married in 1980 and have two children.

During 1978, Wood met actress Julie Walters, who a little later shot to fame in the film 'Educating Rita' and began working together. The first time was in her own play 'Talent', for which she won three 'most promising playwright' awards and then in their own TV show 'Wood and Walters' in 1980, which lasted one series. They have worked together on and off more or less ever since then.

Her series 'Victoria Wood - as seen on TV' turned her into a household name and won her the Broadcasting Press Award, two BAFTA Best Light Entertainment Programme awards and Best Light Entertainment Performance. She went on to win the BBC Personality of the Year from the Variety Club of Great Britain 1n 1987 and did a special 'Audience with Victoria Wood' in 1990.

In 1998, she wrote and starred in 'Dinnerladies', a six part TV sitcom about the lives and loves of a group of women working in a factory canteen. Wood played 'Bren', who was in charge of the staff and second in comand to Tony, with whom she has a rather shy and stumbling relationship. The cast for this was particularly strong and it ran for two series. The programme attracted a large following and could have run to more series, but Wood felt she wanted to leave it on a high.

The text of Wood's sketches on this link include such classics as 'Acorn Antiques', (a spoof soap) and 'Young Love' (tales of a gormless young couple).

This BBC interview with Victoria Wood gives an insight into her comic style of writing.

Songs

Wood has written more songs than you could shake a stick at, however one song that stands out more than others is the 'Ballad of Barry and Freda', also known as 'Lets do it!'. She says that it was 'a joy to write, a sod to learn and I daren't finish a show without it'. She also says that the first time she performed it on-stage a woman at the stage door asked if she had always been cross-eyed!

The text of Wood's songs are on the link
songs
however it is worth quoting a couple of lines from 'Barry and Freda' as they encapsulate one of her themes of mismatched couples. Freda is exuberantly and unashamedly wanting a night of passion and Barry would prefer to be lagging the pipes or reading a catalogue on vinyl flooring!

Freda and Barry sat one night.

The sky was clear. The stars were bright.

The wind was soft. The moon was up.

Freda drained her cocoa cup

She licked her lips. She felt sublime.

She switched off Gardeners' Question Time⁴.

Barry cringed in fear and dread

As Freda grabbed his tie, and said:

Let's do it!

Let's do it,

Do it while the mood is right!

I'm feeling

Appealing.

I've really got an appetite.

I'm on fire

With desire.

I could handle half the tenors in a male voice choir.

Let's do it!

Let's do it tonight!

The song carries on in this vein, with memorable lines such as:

Wear your baggy y-fronts with the loose elastic!

Come and melt the buttons on my flameproof nightie!

Long may she continue to entertain us both as a writer and performer!