Victoria Wood was a series of six one-off situation comedies written by and starring Victoria Wood in 1989, who took a break from sketches, two years after her very successful and award winning series Victoria Wood As Seen On TV. Wood appeared as "Victoria", a fictionalised version of herself, in all six episodes – in The Library it was said that she "worked in TV" and in Over To Pam characters appeared to recognise her celebrity and in the final episode, Staying In, she was taken to a party to perform as a comedian and was expected to go through her stand-up 'routine'. Her character often broke the 'fourth wall' of TV and spoke directly to the camera, but not in every episode. Bored with the sketch format and with a yearning to recapture previous success as a playwright, Wood came up with six individual sitcoms as a compromise. She admitted to finding the writing difficult. Though Wood was written as the central character, other lead parts were written with specific actresses in mind, like Julie Walters and Una Stubbs. "I want people to like me and the people who play my friends, and not everybody else" she said. Screenonline says of the shows "Modest in ambition and scale but rich in wit and acuity, the six playlets showcase Wood's eye for human foibles and her distinctively eccentric characters.". While the 1992 and 1993 VHS releases of the series were titled Victoria Wood, the 2007 DVD release was called Victoria Wood Presents.
Reception
The series was met with a mixed critical reception initially. The series started out with an impressive 13 million viewers tuning in, but by the next week had dropped to 11 million. Wood regretted the decision not to record it in front of a studio audience and described the filming as a "boring, diabolical and awful" experience. The Daily Express described the show as 'tiresome stuff' and the Daily Mirror said her targets were predictable and snobbish. Wood took some blame for the disappointing reaction saying "It wasn't well written by me as it could have been, and I shouldn't have been in all the sketches".
Episode guide
''Mens Sana in Thingummy Doodah''
In 1991, the scripts of all six shows were published by Methuen as Mens Sana in Thingummy Doodah – And other nuggets of homely fun. The book is dedicated to "All the old bags in Equity, most of whom were in the series". The book contains an exclusive introduction by Victoria Wood about what it's like to make a TV programme.
In other media
VHS
Victoria Wood - Mens Sana in Thingummy Doodah Running time: 85 minutes. BBFC "PG" certificate. Victoria Wood - We'd Quite Like to Apologise Running time: 80 minutes. BBFC "PG" certificate.
DVD
Victoria Wood Presents Running time: 163 minutes. BBFC "PG" certificate.
