As the late, great Victoria Wood once observed, life is not fair. Some sip champagne in the fast lane, while others eat sandwiches by the loose chippings on the A597. A new documentary, however, reveals that the beloved comic genius, a true poet of ordinary British life, endured a childhood and early career so fraught with rejection and loneliness that she battled crippling self-doubt throughout her illustrious life.
The Lonely Childhood of a Comic Prodigy
Victoria Wood died from cancer in April 2016 at the age of 62, but a new film, Becoming Victoria Wood, paints a poignant picture of her formative years. The youngest of four, she described herself as more of an afterthought than the baby of the family. Her father, Stanley, was an insurance underwriter and part-time novelist, while her mother, she told Michael Parkinson, famously claimed to have no sense of humour and was likely depressed.
The family lived in a large, strangely partitioned bungalow on a hill in Bury, Lancashire. Friends from Bury Grammar School recall never meeting her parents and that Victoria would ask to be dropped at the bottom of the hill to walk home alone. One school friend described the house as "windswept and bleak," with no parents offering tea, leaving the impression Victoria simply hibernated in her room. In her loneliness, she turned to constant eating, a habit that later fuelled her lifelong conviction that she was fat and frumpy.
A Fraught Ascent to Stardom
Wood's big break came in the mid-1970s after reaching the final of New Faces, though the presenter mistakenly called her "Joanna". This led to a spot on BBC1's That's Life!, where at just 23, she performed weekly topical songs to an audience of nearly 20 million. Despite appearing nervous in archive footage, her wordplay was flawless.
Yet this early success did not translate to stability. She faced a long period of unemployment and depression, sleeping up to 14 hours a day. She endured gruelling tours of working men's clubs, playing to tiny, often abusive audiences, too intimidated to leave the piano stool. Her perseverance, however, slowly paid off. A pivotal moment was writing her first guaranteed laugh: a sketch where a naive schoolgirl, asked about her menstrual cycle, replies "Taurus."
Her creative partnership with Julie Walters blossomed in the sketch show Wood and Walters, followed by her own series, Victoria Wood On TV, which birthed the legendary Acorn Antiques. She set records with a 15-night sell-out run at the Royal Albert Hall, created the brilliant sitcom Dinnerladies, and won two BAFTAs for her film Housewife, 49.
The Private Torment Behind the Public Smile
Away from the spotlight, Wood was fiercely private and racked with anxiety. She was haunted by feelings of inadequacy, constantly fearing her talent was waning and she would end up presenting travelogues. She never forgot a criticism; after her local newsagent in Morecambe critiqued a show, she was so embarrassed she moved house to avoid him.
Her marriage to magician Geoffrey Durham, whom she wed in a quiet 1980 ceremony with spaghetti on toast for the wedding breakfast, was her rock for 22 years. He acted as her typist and best critic. Yet the marriage ultimately broke down, which she partly attributed to being "difficult to live with." After the split, she never had another serious romantic relationship.
On set, she was a perfectionist. Anne Reid, who starred in Dinnerladies, noted Wood had "no bedside manner" and was "terribly strict," making numerous changes between dress rehearsal and filming. Despite her unparalleled success as a writer, comedian, and actress—a national treasure without equal—Victoria Wood was, as the new film powerfully reveals, perpetually shadowed by the lonely girl from the hill in Bury.
Becoming Victoria Wood is in cinemas now and will air in February on the U&Gold channel.
