Wood And Walters
Victoria Wood and Julie Walters in Wood And Walters, Granada Television, 1982
Genre	Comedy
Creator(s)	Victoria Wood
Starring	Victoria Wood Julie Walters John Dowie Rik Mayall Michael Angelis Roger Brierley Duncan Preston
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	7
Production
Running time	25 minutes per episode
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV
Original run	January 1, 1981 – 21 February 1982
Links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

British television comedy sketch show starring Julie Walters and Victoria Wood for Granada Television and written entirely by Wood. Comedy has a classical meaning (comical theatre) and a popular one (the use of humour with an intent to provoke[[ laughter in general). ... Victoria Wood OBE (born 19 May 1953) is an English comedienne, actress, singer and writer. ... Victoria Wood OBE (born 19 May 1953) is an English comedienne, actress, singer and writer. ... Julia Mary Walters, OBE (born February 22, 1950) is an English Golden Globe-winning actress. ... Dr. John Alexander Dowie (*1848; †1907) was a significant Scottish clergyman in U.S.. Dowie was born in Edingburgh und moved to Australia as a boy but returned to Edinburgh to study theology. ... Richard Michael Rik Mayall (born on March 7, 1958 in Harlow, Essex) is an English comedian and actor. ... Michael Angelis (born 1952 in Liverpool, England) is a British actor. ... Roger Brierley was a chartered accountant-come-actor (born June 2, 1935, in Stockport, Cheshire, England; died September 23, 2005). ... Duncan Preston (born in Bradford, Yorkshire) is a English actor best known for his appearances in television productions written by Victoria Wood. ... It has been suggested that Channel 3 (UK) be merged into this article or section. ... January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... February 21 is the 52nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Julia Mary Walters, OBE (born February 22, 1950) is an English Golden Globe-winning actress. ... Victoria Wood OBE (born 19 May 1953) is an English comedienne, actress, singer and writer. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

A short lived show, with one pilot in 1981 and a series of six shows in 1982.

Victoria meets Julie

Both women had first met at Manchester Polytechnic in 1970, Wood was hoping to enroll, and Walter was coming to the end of her course. They met again in 1978 when they both appeared in the same revue In At The Death at The Bush Theatre in London. ^[1] A sketch revue performed at The Bush Theatre, London in 1978, most notable for being the first time that future colleagues Victoria Wood and Julie Walters would work together. ...

Pilot – Wood and Walters: Two Creatures Great and Small

• Broadcast 1st January 1981

Wood had been initially spotted by Granada’s head of drama, Peter Eckersley, performing in her self-written play Talent at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre, who asked her to recreate it for television. The TV version of Talent and it’s sequel Nearly A Happy Ending, would also co-star Walters. ^[2] (Redirected from 1st January) January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Sheffield (disambiguation). ... The Crucible Theatre, located in the city centre of Sheffield, England is known for being a producing theatre, meaning shows are designed and rehearsed in-house. ...

In 1980, Eckersley offered Wood a sketch show of her own. But Wood agreed only on the understanding that her friend received equal billing, not feeling confident enough as yet to go it alone. Wood had in fact only ever written one sketch three years earlier before being given her own show. She fell back on songs, which she felt was her strength, the pilot contained four in 30 minutes. The sketches concerned themselves with Marriage Guidance Council, keep fit classes, DIY and gossip. Wood hated the finished result, so was very surprised that the show was nominated for a BAFTA alongside The Two Ronnies, Kenny Everett and Stanley Baxter (who won). [1] Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker The Two Ronnies was a British sketch show that aired on BBC One from 1971 to 1987. ... Kenny Everett Kenny Everett (born Maurice Cole in Crosby, Merseyside, Liverpool, December 25, 1944, died April 4, 1995), was a popular British radio DJ and television entertainer. ... Stanley Baxter, (born May 24, 1926 in Glasgow, Scotland), is a comic actor and impressionist, best known for his UK TV shows. ...

Series – Wood and Walters

• Broadcast 1 January 1982 - 21 February 1982

For the series a year later, the ‘Two Creatures Great and Small’ adjunct had been dropped, as critics going on about Wood’s weight had been beginning to get to her [2] (though she did also say later she was delighted that she was once described as ‘dominating the stage like a witty tank’). ^[3] January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... February 21 is the 52nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The show was not a happy experience as in the intervening time since the pilot, the shows producer (and Wood’s mentor) Peter Eckersley had died of cancer. It was a terrible blow to Wood, she said “he had lots of ideas for the series…but he never told me what they were. His value to me was inestimable. He had a marvellous eye for what was unnecessary and great attention to detail. He had liked the frist material for the series but never saw any of the other stuff.” Wood was not impressed by his replacement for the series, Brian Armstrong, and was of the opinion that he had hired several unsuitable actors." [3]

The studio audience was generally filled with pensioners who often had difficulty in understand Wood’s refined humour. Before one sketch, the warm up man had to explain to them what a boutique was. Wood said she heard one disgusted audience member say to her friend: ‘You realise we’re missing Brideshead for this’. [4]

Sketches for Wood and Walters included The Woman With 740 Children, in which Wood played a woman who overdosed on a fertility drug. Much to her surprise, Granada hired 70 babies to appear in the sketch. [5] ‘Girl Talking’ was an expert parody of social realist documentaries, and ‘Northeners’ was a song parodying stereotypes of the North of England.

A regular character on the show was Dotty played by Walters, a monologue by a busybody middle classed housewife discussing all matters national and trivial, such as in the sketch ‘Dotty on Women’s Lib’. As a character she shares many similarities with a later Wood creation ‘Kitty’ (as played by Patricia Routledge). Katherine Patricia Routledge CBE (born 17 February 1929) is a Tony Award-winning English actress who is best known to television audiences for her role of Hyacinth Bucket in the television comedy series Keeping Up Appearances. ...

Rik Mayall also appeared in a regular monologue as a chauvinistic feminist called Mitch. Filling a similar guest slot as he had with Kevin Turvey in the sketch show A Kick Up the Eighties. ^[4] Another alternative comedy innovator to appear on the show was John Dowie, who had already toured with Wood in 1978 ^[5] Richard Michael Rik Mayall (born on March 7, 1958 in Harlow, Essex) is an English comedian and actor. ... Kevin Turvey was a character created by Rik Mayall for the BBC sketch show A Kick Up the Eighties in 1981. ... A Kick Up the Eighties was a 1981-1984 BBC sketch show starring Robbie Coltrane, Tracy Ullman, Miriam Margolyes, Rik Mayall, Ron Bain and Roger Sloman. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Dr. John Alexander Dowie (*1848; †1907) was a significant Scottish clergyman in U.S.. Dowie was born in Edingburgh und moved to Australia as a boy but returned to Edinburgh to study theology. ...

“Some bits of it were good, some deadly” is Wood’s view of the series. [6]

It’s place in British comedy history can be seen as that of a dry run for the more popular and acclaimed Victoria Wood As Seen On TV. Sharing some elements of that show, such as pseudo-documentaries, songs, sketches, Walters and Preston. An Award winning comedy sketch series starring comedian Victoria Wood, broadcast on BBC2 between 1985 and 1987. ...

Trivia

• This wasn’t the first sketch show that Victoria Wood could have appeared in. She had already turned down the female role in the satirical sketch show Not The Nine O’Clock News a few years earlier. ^[6]
• Peter Eckersley’s widow is actress Anne Reid, who would go on to appear as Jean in Wood’s 1998 sitcom dinnerladies.^[7]
• A third Wood play with Walters was made between the pilot and series for Granada. Like Wood and Walters, Happy Since I Met You also contained an appearance from another long term Wood collaborator Duncan Preston

^[8] Anne Reid (born 28 May 1935) is an accomplished British actress with a lengthy career on TV, stage and film. ... dinnerladies was a British sitcom written and co-produced by and starring Victoria Wood. ... Duncan Preston (born in Bradford, Yorkshire) is a English actor best known for his appearances in television productions written by Victoria Wood. ...

• Around this time, Wood made a weekly musical appearance in the BBC Radio 2 show The Little and Large Party, narrated an Arts Council film on the pantomine dame and was profiled in the schools programme ‘Scene’. ^[9]
• Walters would also appear with Michael Angelis in 1982 as his wife in Alan Bleasdale’s Boys from the Blackstuff.

BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBCs national radio stations and is the most popular station in the UK. It broadcasts throughout the UK on FM radio between 88 and 91 MHz from its studios in Western House, adjacent to Broadcasting House in central London. ... Little and Large were a British comedy double act comprised of straight man Syd Little (Born Cyril Mead in 1942) and comic Eddie Large (Born Edward McGuiness in 1941). ... The Arts Council of Great Britain was a Quango dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Britain. ... A pantomime dame is a traditional character in British Panto. ... Alan Bleasdale (born March 23, 1946 in Liverpool, England, UK) is a British television dramatist, best known for several powerful social drama serials based around the lives of ordinary people. ... Boys from the Blackstuff is a British television drama serial of five episodes, originally transmitted from October 10 to November 7, 1982 on BBC TWO. The serial was written by Liverpudlian playwright Alan Bleasdale, and was a sequel to a television play called The Black Stuff, which he had originally...

External links

• BBC Comedy Guide to Wood And Walters
• Screenonline on Wood And Walters
• Script of ‘Toddlers’

Notes

References