Victoria Wood’s genius crammed into one hour? It’s not possible!
Most misunderstood adolescents settle for writing a diary or harbouring a crush on their geography teacher. But the pathologically shy Victoria Wood spent her time teaching herself to play the piano in secret.
Young Vic opted to practise the largest, loudest instrument in the orchestra, without telling anyone. As metaphors go, this was big and glorious enough to be emblazoned in lights across London’s West End.
she did so well that, shortly after leaving university, she was appointed resident musical turn on BBC1’s saturday night ratings-buster, that’s Life. she always looked, though, as if she’d be more at ease alone in the front room, with the curtains drawn, while her parents were at the supermarket.
Let’s Do It: A Tribute To Victoria Wood (ItV) was full of revelations about the scale of her talent. the pity was that it was only an hour long, and we barely had time to admire one facet before another was dazzling us. We didn’t even hear the whole of the hilarious number that gave the show its title — just snatches, half a verse here and there, and a bit of the chorus.
that alone should have warned the schedulers that two hours should have been the minimum to showcase Victoria. she was actress, stand-up comedian, playwright, sketchwriter, when any one of those talents could have sustained a career.
she did it all with such modesty that most people didn’t really grasp, until her death from cancer last month aged just 62, how outrageously gifted she was.
When she died, that talent was far from spent. Her most recent success, the musical rom-com that Day We sang, had announced her as a screenwriter whose visions could fill the cinema screen.
Her next project might have been a film script. others certainly believed her capable of it: actress Anne Reid wished her friend could have written for Meryl streep and Anthony Hopkins. Another colleague, actress Alison steadman, summed up the essence of Victoria’s comedy: ‘Everyday life is funny. she examined it with such accuracy, and then put a magnifying glass on it.’
the streeps and sir Anthonys of this world had no appeal for her, of course: what would an everyday woman from Bury say to them?
Her close friend and collaborator Julie Walters can hobnob with anyone from charladies to First Ladies, which is why she worked in Hollywood while Victoria stayed in England and honed her craft while raising two children.
No doubt those streeps and sir Anthonys would have queued up to pay their tribute, but it was better that the people who worked most closely with her, such as Celia Imrie and Duncan Preston (the actor from Dinner Ladies and Acorn Antiques), said the most.
David threlfall also said a few words, but nobody knows what, because we were all staring at his long white beard, flowing locks and moustache. He looked like Father Christmas after smoking highpotency cannabis. In fact, he’s playing Don Quixote at the swan theatre in stratford-upon-Avon, and if the production is half as good as his facial hair someone should film it for tV, quick.
Not everything deserves a space on television, though. Mountaineer Joe simpson was retracing his father’s war-time career with the Chindits, in Burma’s Secret Jungle (BBC2), and though his admiration for his dad was palpable, this two-part documentary was less than inspiring.
Partly this was because Burma’s modern-day unrest made it too dangerous for a camera crew to explore the remote jungle where Britain’s forces waged a non-stop onslaught on the Japanese occupiers during World War II.
And partly it was because simpson and his fellow explorer Ed stafford were not appealing companions. When these two grouchy men strode into a village, they were greeted by a dog clearly intent on earning itself a bone by barking the alarm.
‘shut up!’ snarled one of the men. ‘I’m not in the mood!’ snapped the other. since neither appeared to speak the local lingo, they should have welcomed the universal language of dog.