Trivia / dinnerladies

• Copiously Credited Creator: Victoria Wood wrote every episode herself, played Bren, composed the music, and performed the lyrics to it at the end of "Millennium" and "Toast", which she of course wrote as well.
• Creator's Pest: Victoria Wood later said that the BBC considered it "a show they couldn't kill".
• Flip-Flop of God: Victoria Wood first said that she always intended for there to be just two series and that the second was only made to do the show justice. However, in a documentary about BBC sitcoms, she alleged that it had been axed.
• The Other Darrin: Norman the bread man was played by Andrew Livingstone in Season 1, and Adrian Hood in Season 2.
• Playing Against Type:
  • Retroactively for Shobna Gulati, who would later be best known for her roles in soaps like EastEnders and Coronation Street. Playing The Ditz like Anita still sticks out in her filmography.
  • Julie Walters often played quirky or kindly mother figures. By contrast, Petula is a rotten person who put her daughter into care because she was "cramping her style".
• Production Posse: Celia Imrie and Julie Walters had also starred in Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV.
• Serendipity Writes the Plot: Maxine Peake opted to diet and lose weight between Seasons 1 and 2 to avoid typecasting. Victoria Wood was unaware of her plans and, despite having to wear a fat-suit, the character of Twinkle had to be retooled to match the change.
• Underage Casting: Victoria Wood was initially worried that Julie Walters wouldn't take the role of Petula, who was written to be fifty-five, and the actress herself was only three years older than her. However, Julie Walters didn't mind, joking "everyone thinks I'm fifty-five anyway". Make-up was used to age her.
• What Could Have Been: Ten episodes were written for the first season, but four were scrapped because Victoria Wood disliked the quality of her own writing.

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