Victoria Wood

From the mid-1980s right up until her premature death in April 2016, Victoria Wood's appearances on stage and television were always eagerly anticipated, whether it was laugh-a-minute stand-up, a beautifully judged dramatic performance in the TV film Housewife, 49 (2006) or the canteen sitcom Dinnerladies (1998). The incredible care and craft she lavished on each look and line of dialogue was as meticulous as it was matchless. A shy, isolated child, Victoria Wood was born in Prestwich, Lancashire, in May 1953, the youngest of four siblings. Her insurance salesman father Stanley Wood was a frustrated writer who made up songs for his office parties and eventually went on to write scripts for Coronation Street (1960). Largely ignored by her parents ("Our house looked like an explosion in an Oxfam shop"), Wood stayed in her bedroom and sought attention as a performer, joining a youth theatre group in Rochdale and teaching herself to play the piano. She also learnt to play the trumpet. Ha