‘He’s in’t loft with a lilo and the slow cooker. We don’t speak.’
‘Clogs on cobbles: you could hardly hear yourself coughing up blood.’
I just found your lovely post. VW has been one of the most cheering things in my life- (and I have NOT had a bad life!) i can cry with laughter just thinking of various sketches. She was an absolute genius, and, as you say, gave most of the best lines to her ‘regulars’.
I love Victoria, especially 'Crush', 'At the Chippy', and 'Keep On Shopping'. Impossible to choose a favorite skit, sketch, or performance, as everything she did was touched with brilliance; "I was in a photo booth, and someone had just poked an eclair between the curtains" is perfection.
Every single interview I’ve ever had turns me into VW’s medical school candidate. “If they were very poor they wouldn’t have such thick carpets”. Absolutely brilliant.
Thank you so much for this article - needed this excellent diversion this morning. Love your selection of sketches, everyone a winner! I too quote lines from these sketches with my gay best friend 😁
What a lovely post - thank you! I have so many favourites - the chance to say 'two soups' or 'is it on the trolley?' at any meal. My next door neighbour and I make each other laugh by sometimes doing the two soups walk by our cars which I think started in lock down for no real reason, but it still makes us laugh. Best of all - my student goddaughter showed off her new yellow beret, and her mum and I laughed for about a week. I'm laughing now. VW is still my go to cheer up. Irreplaceable. Thanks again - esp re the prawns!
I would’ve been 13ish when As Seen on TV came out and I remember watching it with my Mum & Dad and thinking “Now *this* I get; *this* I find really funny”. And yes: Self Service - Hands Down 🙌🏻
What a wonderful sum-up this is, Justin. I've always loved the bits and pieces of Wood's work that I've seen, but you're offering up such a lovely overview that's giving me a lot of context (plus lots of stuff to watch). Thanks!
Shoe Shop is my number one...just watching it again now practically every line of Julie Walter's character is amazing. "We think we've got hens in the skirting board" is my favourite though 😄
Am I missing something? No mention of Barry and Freda?
I was watching that on video with my lodger when I got a phone call (landlines - it was 30+ years ago) in the middle of 'Barry and Freda'.
I had to try and have a serious conversation while trying not to laugh or giggle - and gesturing to lodger to behave.
Needless to say, I didn't carry it off well and had to finish the call abruptly in order to roll around on the floor hysterically.
I miss those days.
(Also, in the series of films she did, the sequence where she wants about someone holding up the traffic queue is just perfect.)
As goos as it is, Barry and Freda isn’t even in my top 3 VW songs – but I have sung it at karaoke!
I think it's the false endings that make it so addictive (as well as a few rhymes that Cole Porter would envy).
Some of the songs she wrote for others - Shopping etc - are really generous to the other performers, which I find really impressive.
‘We think we’ve got hens in the skirting board.’
‘Dicky bladder?’
‘No, we call him ‘Dad’.’
‘He’s in’t loft with a lilo and the slow cooker. We don’t speak.’
‘Clogs on cobbles: you could hardly hear yourself coughing up blood.’
I just found your lovely post. VW has been one of the most cheering things in my life- (and I have NOT had a bad life!) i can cry with laughter just thinking of various sketches. She was an absolute genius, and, as you say, gave most of the best lines to her ‘regulars’.
haha so many classics. Thanks for reading!
Is that Jane Seymour in the audience in the Sacherelle sketch?
It is!
I love Victoria, especially 'Crush', 'At the Chippy', and 'Keep On Shopping'. Impossible to choose a favorite skit, sketch, or performance, as everything she did was touched with brilliance; "I was in a photo booth, and someone had just poked an eclair between the curtains" is perfection.
Haha yes I love that line about the eclair.
Every single interview I’ve ever had turns me into VW’s medical school candidate. “If they were very poor they wouldn’t have such thick carpets”. Absolutely brilliant.
Hahaha
Thank you so much for this article - needed this excellent diversion this morning. Love your selection of sketches, everyone a winner! I too quote lines from these sketches with my gay best friend 😁
Thank you for reading!
What a lovely post - thank you! I have so many favourites - the chance to say 'two soups' or 'is it on the trolley?' at any meal. My next door neighbour and I make each other laugh by sometimes doing the two soups walk by our cars which I think started in lock down for no real reason, but it still makes us laugh. Best of all - my student goddaughter showed off her new yellow beret, and her mum and I laughed for about a week. I'm laughing now. VW is still my go to cheer up. Irreplaceable. Thanks again - esp re the prawns!
Hahaha. Every time my bf and I hear someone say the word 'country', we automatically blurt out 'What country? Taiwan?' Thank you for reading!
loved this one! did a rewatch of dinnerladies last year and the comedy holds up and spotting when other actors can't hold back their laughing
so many good lines. discussing Christmas decorations, Anita: "is genitalia the silver stuff you drape over the branches?"
Thank you! For the most part, it’s aged pretty well and the cast is brilliant.
Lovely piece
So many favourites lines to choose from...
Pat & Margaret
"Don't think I knew what love was until I bred my first Afghan"
As Seen On TV - Italian Restaurant
"What type of dog was it?
Performing; rolls around the kitchen on a beach ball"
Thank you! Love both those lines – especially Shirley Stelfox’s all too brief performance in Pat and Margaret.
Can you get me a raspberry yoghurt?
Haha. I love that meat and potato pie is the alternative
Reading this on holiday in Lisbon. The seats on the metro trains are cork. I keep muttering “we have to be able to mop…”.
Hahaha
I would’ve been 13ish when As Seen on TV came out and I remember watching it with my Mum & Dad and thinking “Now *this* I get; *this* I find really funny”. And yes: Self Service - Hands Down 🙌🏻
It really is the quintessential Victoria Wood sketch!
I sent you an email about self service, seeing as I can't post a pic here!
Nothing came through, I don't think!
they edited a little bit out of self service :
https://x.com/peterbramah/status/1376421803787227137
What a wonderful sum-up this is, Justin. I've always loved the bits and pieces of Wood's work that I've seen, but you're offering up such a lovely overview that's giving me a lot of context (plus lots of stuff to watch). Thanks!
Thank you, BD!
Shoe Shop is my number one...just watching it again now practically every line of Julie Walter's character is amazing. "We think we've got hens in the skirting board" is my favourite though 😄
Haha yes I love that line
Outstanding piece, howling with laughter… So engaging and informative…
Kitty again: “they waggle your ariel and wolf your gipsy creams, but that’s the comprehensive system for you”