This feature-length offering brings you Victoria Wood's sharp wit, zany humour and musical talent in a variety of sketches and musical numbers, all in the most unlikely situations.... more
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early television series, a period that established her as a major name in British mainstream comedy. Although rooted firmly in a cosy, almost bygone age of English culture (her work is full of Northern references), Wood's reputation as one of the UK's sharpest writers is well deserved. She is particularly adept at creating a range of characters that not only provide great humour but also a fair amount of depth and empathy as well.Assembling an excellent cast of players (the majority of whom she continues to work with to this day), the sketches here are a mixture of group pieces (the fantastic soap opera pasticheAcorn Antiques), musical numbers, a succession of wonderful head-to-heads with long-time sparring partner Julie Walters and, uniquely, the odd monologue (Patricia Routledge'sKeeping Up Appearancescharacter makes an embryonic debut in the shape of Kitty). Television watchers of a certain age may find the clips a little over familiar but this should take nothing away from a fine compilation.On the DVD:The Best of Victoria Woodis another example of the BBC falling flat with their approach to the possibilities of DVD. The picture and sound quality seems to have improved little since the show's original broadcast and there are no extras beyond the standard interactive menus. Given the amount of fine work that Wood has produced over the years, we could have hoped for at least the beginning of an insight into her methods, inspirations and influences. --Phil Udell
early television series, a period that established her as a major name in British mainstream comedy. Although rooted firmly in a cosy, almost bygone age of English culture (her work is full of Northern references), Wood's reputation as one of the UK's sharpest writers is well deserved. She is particularly adept at creating a range of characters that not only provide great humour but also a fair amount of depth and empathy as well.Assembling an excellent cast of players (the majority of whom she continues to work with to this day), the sketches here are a mixture of group pieces (the fantastic soap opera pasticheAcorn Antiques), musical numbers, a succession of wonderful head-to-heads with long-time sparring partner Julie Walters and, uniquely, the odd monologue (Patricia Routledge'sKeeping Up Appearancescharacter makes an embryonic debut in the shape of Kitty). Television watchers of a certain age may find the clips a little over familiar but this should take nothing away from a fine compilation.On the DVD:The Best of Victoria Woodis another example of the BBC falling flat with their approach to the possibilities of DVD. The picture and sound quality seems to have improved little since the show's original broadcast and there are no extras beyond the standard interactive menus. Given the amount of fine work that Wood has produced over the years, we could have hoped for at least the beginning of an insight into her methods, inspirations and influences. --Phil Udell
This feature-length offering brings you Victoria Wood's sharp wit, zany humour and musical talent in a variety of sketches and musical numbers, all in the most unlikely situations. Numerous guest stars.
Technical information
Special Features: Scene selection
Aspect Ratio: 4:3 Full Frame
Sound: Dolby Digital Mono
Award information
BAFTA: Best Light Entertainment Performance 1985 (Victoria Wood)
Advantages: very funny in places Disadvantages: a bit of a cheek calling it "very best of"
...Videos are dead cheap nowadays, aren't they? Virgin Megastores are flogging off the Shawshank Redemption and Titanic for £3 each! I guess we're firmly in the DVD age now and in a few years my videos will be gathering dust as fast as a Dyson in a very dusty place.
All of which brings me on to VictoriaWood As Seen On TV - the video. If you ever caught the programme when it was first shown in the 80s, or on any of the two billion (approximately) times it has been repeated, then you already know what it is like. The video claims to be "the very best of", but to me it seems more like two 45 minute episodes cobbled together.
The video contains a mix of comedy sketches starring VictoriaWood, Celia Imrie, Duncan Preston, Patricia Routledge, Susie Blake and the fantastic Julie Walters. The BBC produced the video in 1996 and obviously...
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Advantages: Funny. Entertaining. Enjoyable. Disadvantages: Victoria Woods' acting!
.... Not only is she a comedian, but also she’s an actress, and there’s a big difference. Instead of being funny, she can also act, and she can do the serious parts with great success.
That is where, in my opinion, VictoriaWood looses. Victoria is a very funny comedian, and her stand ups are the funniest I’ve ever seen. And Pat and Margaret is wonderful as well, with fantastic writing, and an added bonus is it’s truly funny. But, she’s let down on the acting side.
I don’t think VictoriaWood can act all, really, and when this works on TV programmes and series’ etc, it doesn’t work so well on the big screen. She has the funny element, but she just has that forever look that she wants to burst out laughing herself, and she can’t act.
But, luckily the rest of the film is so good and Walters...
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Advantages: Funny, great acting and brilliantly comic songs Disadvantages: Overlong, large chunk should be cut
...I rented this just to see what VictoriaWood had done with the show but to be honest I didn't expect much out of it as TV comedy doesn't often transfer well to the stage. However, aside from a fairly boring 15-20 min segment I was really impressed despite it running at just over 2 ½ hours.
Acorn Antiques started out as a segment in one of VictoriaWood's TV shows. It was a parody of Crossroads, featuring wobbly sets, props that didn't work or weren't in the right place, bad camera work and bad acting. The main characters were Miss Babs played by Celia Imrie, Miss Berta played by VictoriaWood, Mr Clifford played by Duncan Preston and Mrs Overall played by Julie Walters. Mrs O is probably the best known character, who was born out of an old Wood and Walters sketch Two Soups with a doddery old waitress played by Julie. The West End...
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helpful 01.03.2007
(03.03.2007)
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04.01.2002
01.03.2007
