History Series / VictoriaWoodAsSeenOnTV

''Victoria Wood - As Seen On TV'' is a British SketchShow, written by and starring Creator/VictoriaWood. Following an ITV show, ''Wood and Walters'', she was offered a new show by the BBC which she accepted provided she was given a greater say in the production than she had been previously. Having felt that her previous show was hamstrung by the casting, she insisted on working on a repertory of actors who were names in their own right (rather than the sometimes anonymous side men who had been typical in sketch shows up until then) so hired people such as Creator/JulieWalters, Creator/CeliaImrie, Duncan Preston, Susie Blake, and Creator/PatriciaRoutledge. The result was the perfect marriage of Wood's incisive and sharp comedy writing with high calibre comic acting.

''Victoria Wood - As Seen On TV'' is a British SketchShow, written by and starring Creator/VictoriaWood. Following an ITV show, ''Wood and Walters'', she was offered a new show by the BBC which she accepted provided she was given a greater say in the production than she had been previously. Having felt that her previous show was hamstrung by the casting, she insisted on working on a repertory of actors who were names in their own right (rather than the sometimes anonymous side men who had been typical in sketch shows up until then) so hired people such as Creator/JulieWalters, Creator/CeliaImrie, Duncan Preston, Susie Blake and Patricia Routledge. The result was the perfect marriage of Wood's incisive and sharp comedy writing with high calibre comic acting.

* ShakespearianActors: Meta example. One episode had a continuity announcer declare that "Patricia Routledge is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company -- Victoria Wood isn't" to which Victoria Wood replied that she didn't care as there was no parking in Stratford.

* StylisticSuck: ''Acorn Antiques'' parodied the problems that resulted from contemporary soap operas' unfeasibly tight shooting schedules and low budgets, with wildly inconsistent and improbable plots and characterisation, clunky and awkward dialogue, actors missing their cues (whether early or late) and clearly reading off cue cards, visible technical equipment (with which the actors sometimes collided), cheaply made sets (the studio lights were often seen at the top of a shot, while the painted backdrop through the shop window would often be visibly swaying), badly-fitting costumes, crew members audibly hissing directions from off camera...the sketches put more effort into being bad than soaps of the day put into being good.

Each show consisted of an opening monologue from Wood, at least one comic song and a spoof documentary, but perhaps the most fondly remembered aspect of the show was ''Acorn Antiques'' - a parody of the then popular soap opera ''Crossroads'' featuring deliberately shonky camera work, wooden acting and poor expository dialogue. ''Acorn Antiques'' ended up being spun off into a West End Musical.

The series was also notable for the descriptions in the listings magazine Radio Times, which generally had little or nothing to do with the contents of the programme ("The last of the series 47: Managing without Opera. How are Hanna and Gavin coping") - all the descriptions were written by Victoria Wood herself.

* BawdySong: 'Let's Do It' is a classic example and one of Wood's most popular songs.

* SelfDeprecation: Anytime the script called for a fat woman, Wood would play the part herself.

* ShakespearianActors: Meta example. One episode had a continuity announcer declare that 'Patricia Routledge is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company - Victoria Wood isn't' to which Victoria Wood replied that she didn't care as there was no parking in Stratford.

* TakeThatAudience: A speciality of Susie Blake's continuity announcer, including such gems as "We'd like to apologise to viewers in the North. It must be awful for them."

''Victoria Wood - As Seen On TV'' is a British SketchShow, written by and starring Creator/VictoriaWood. Following an ITV show, ''Wood and Walters'', she was offered a new show by the BBC which she accepted provided she was given a greater say in the production than she had been previously. Having felt that her previous show was hamstrung by the casting, she insisted on working on a repertory of actors who were names in their own right (rather than the sometimes anonymous side men who had been typical in sketch shows up until then) so hired people such as Julie Walters, Celia Imrie, Duncan Preston, Susie Blake and Patricia Routledge. The result was the perfect marriage of Wood's incisive and sharp comedy writing with high calibre comic acting.

-->'''Director''': [''who has been giving everyone else roles that do not include nudity''] And you'll play...[[GodivaHair Lady Godiva]].\\