Victoria Wood

Victoria Wood (19 May 1953 – 20 April 2016) was an English comedian, actress, musician, screenwriter, and director. Wood wrote and starred in dozens of sketches, plays, musicals, films and sitcoms over several decades, and her live comedy act was interspersed with her own compositions which she performed at the piano. Much of her humour was grounded in everyday life and included references to activities, attitudes and products that are considered to exemplify Britain. She was noted for her skills in observational comedy and in satirising aspects of social class.

Wood started her career in 1974 by appearing on, and winning, the ATV talent show New Faces. She established herself as a comedy star in the 1980s, winning a BAFTA TV Award in 1986 for the sketch series Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV (1985–87), and became one of Britain's most popular stand-up comics, She won two more BAFTA TV Awards, including Best Actress, for her 2006 ITV1 television film, Housewife, 49. Stanley worked as an insurance salesman, who also wrote songs for his company's Christmas parties, was the author of the musical play Clogs (based in a Lancashire village in 1887) and wrote part-time for Coronation Street and others. She had three siblings: a brother, Chris, and two sisters, Penny and Rosalind.

Wood was born in Prestwich and brought up in nearby Bury. She was educated at Fairfield County Primary School and Bury Grammar School for Girls, where she immediately found herself out of her depth.

Wood developed eating disorders, but in 1968, her father gave her a piano for her 15th birthday. She later said of this unhappy time "The good thing about being isolated is you get a good look at what goes on. I was reading, writing and working at the piano all the time. I was doing a lot of other things that helped me to perform." Later that year, she joined the Rochdale Youth Theatre Workshop, where she felt she was "in the right place and knew what I was doing" and she made an impression with her comic skill and skill in writing. She went on to study in the Department of Drama and Theatre Arts at the University of Birmingham.

Career 1970s Wood began her show business career while an undergraduate, appearing on the ITV talent show New Faces in 1974. A further break came as a novelty act on the BBC's consumer affairs programme That's Life! in 1976. She had met long-term collaborator Julie Walters in 1971, when Wood applied to the Manchester School of Theatre, then part of Manchester Polytechnic. In 2019, John Lloyd revealed that Wood was offered the female role in Not the Nine O'Clock News, but turned it down.

1980–1988 The success of the television version of Talent led to Wood writing the follow-up Nearly a Happy Ending. Shortly afterwards she wrote a third play for Granada, Happy Since I Met You, again with Walters alongside Duncan Preston as the male lead. In 1980 she wrote and starred in the stage play Good Fun. and the pilot episode was recorded. It led to a full series, featuring Duncan Preston and a supporting cast. In the period between the completion of the pilot and the shooting of the series, Eckersley died. Wood credited him with giving her her first big break, and felt that Wood and Walters suffered due to his death.

Following the success of the first series of Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV, Wood went on tour again with Lucky Bag in March 1985. Scene, a documentary for BBC2 later that year, showed footage of Wood preparing for the tour and clips of her performing the show at Derby Assembly Rooms.

A second series of Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV was made in 1986. Before filming began in the summer, Wood went on a 22-date tour of England and Scotland during March and April. A final 'Special' 40-minute episode of As Seen on TV was made in 1987 and broadcast later that year.

During autumn 1987 Wood went on the road with what was to be her largest tour yet. The tour included a sell-out two-week run at the London Palladium, and had a second leg in the spring of 1988.

In 1988 she appeared in the BAFTA-winning An Audience with Victoria Wood for ITV. At the time of recording the show she was six months pregnant. The end of 1988 saw the release of her second live album Victoria Wood Live, recorded at the Brighton Dome.

In May 1990, Wood began a large sell-out tour of the United Kingdom, which was followed by a ten-week run at the Strand Theatre in London titled Victoria Wood Up West. Wood took the show on the road again during March and April 1991, where it was recorded at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton, and later released as Victoria Wood Sold Out in 1991.

In 1991, she appeared on the Comic Relief single performing "The Smile Song", the flipside to "The Stonk" (a record by ITV comedians Gareth Hale and Norman Pace with charity supergroup The Stonkers). A UK number-one single for one week on 23 March 1991, the record was the UK's 22nd-best-selling single of the year. However, even though it was a joint-single (with "The Smile Song" credited on the front of the single cover and listed as track 2 on the seven-inch and CD single rather than being a B-side), the UK singles chart compilers (now the Official Charts Company) did not credit her with having number one hit, in a situation similar to the fate of BAD II's "Rush", the AA-side of the preceding number one, "Should I Stay or Should I Go" by The Clash.

She briefly returned to sketches for the 1992 Christmas Day special Victoria Wood's All Day Breakfast, and also branched out into children's animation, voicing all the characters for the CBBC series Puppydog Tales.

In April 1993, Wood began a seven-month tour of the UK. The 104-date tour broke box office records, including 15 sell out shows at London's Royal Albert Hall, and played to residencies in Sheffield, Birmingham, Plymouth, Bristol, Nottingham, Manchester, Leicester, Liverpool, Bournemouth, Oxford, Southampton, Newcastle, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds and Hull.

The television film Pat and Margaret (1994), starring Wood and Julie Walters as long-lost sisters with very different lifestyles, continued her return to stand-alone plays with a poignant undercurrent to the comedy.

On Christmas Day 1994, Wood starred in the one-off BBC 50-minute programme based on her 1993/94 stage show Victoria Wood: Live in Your Own Home. The special featured stand-up routines, character monologues and songs. An extended 80 minute version was released on VHS.

Wood went on a 68-date sell-out tour of the UK between May - October 1996, which played at venues in Leicester, Sheffield, Ipswich, Blackpool, Wolverhampton, Bradford, Newcastle, Bournemouth, Brighton, Nottingham, Oxford, Southend, Manchester and Cambridge. The tour culminated with another 15 sell-out shows at London's Royal Albert Hall in the autumn. The tour recommenced in April 1997 in Liverpool, also taking in Reading, Birmingham, Bristol, Sheffield, Halifax, Glasgow, Nottingham, Brighton, Portsmouth, Oxford, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Wood then took the show to Australia and New Zealand during July and August. It was later released as Victoria Wood Live 1997 filmed at the High Wycombe Swan Theatre during the tours final shows in September.

2000–2005 December 2000 saw the Christmas sketch show special Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings, featuring her regular troupe of actors as well as a string of special guest stars including Hugh Laurie, Angela Rippon, Bob Monkhouse, Bill Paterson, Delia Smith and Roger Moore.

2001 saw Wood embark on her final stand-up tour, Victoria Wood at It Again but was postponed slightly by Wood having to have an emergency hysterectomy shortly before the tour was due to begin. She re-wrote the entire first half of the show and incorporated the operation into her act. The 85-date tour included another residency at the Royal Albert Hall and finished in April 2002.

Wood wrote her first musical, Acorn Antiques: The Musical!, which opened in 2005 at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, London, for a limited period, directed by Trevor Nunn. It starred several of the original cast, with Sally Ann Triplett playing Miss Berta (played in the series by Wood). Wood played Julie Walters' lead role of Mrs Overall for Monday and Wednesday matinee performances.

2006–2010 Wood wrote the one-off ITV serious drama Housewife, 49 (2006), an adaptation of the diaries of Nella Last, and played the eponymous role of an introverted middle-aged character who discovers new confidence and friendships in Lancashire during the Second World War. Housewife, 49 was critically acclaimed, and Wood won BAFTAs for both her acting and writing for this drama; a rare double. The film also starred Stephanie Cole and David Threlfall as well as, in a small role, Sue Wallace with whom Wood had worked before and studied alongside at Birmingham.

In November 2006, Wood directed a revival production of Acorn Antiques: The Musical! with a new cast. The musical opened at the Lowry in Salford in December and toured the United Kingdom from January to July 2007.

In January 2007, she appeared as herself in a series of advertisements featuring famous people working for the supermarket chain Asda. They featured Wood working in the bakery and introduced a catchphrase – "there's no place like ASDA". Wood was the subject of an episode of The South Bank Show in March 2007, and is the only woman to be the subject of two South Bank programmes (the previous occasion was in September 1996).

Wood appeared in a three-part travel documentary on BBC One called Victoria's Empire, in which she travelled around the world in search of the history, cultural impact and customs the British Empire placed on the parts of the world it ruled. She departed Victoria Station, London, for Calcutta, Hong Kong and Borneo in the first programme. In programme two she visited Ghana, Jamaica and Newfoundland and in the final programme, New Zealand, Australia and Zambia, finishing at the Victoria Falls.

In a tribute to Wood, the British television station UKTV Gold celebrated her work with a weekend marathon of programmes between 3 and 4 November 2007, featuring programmes such as Victoria Wood Live and dinnerladies and Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV – its first screening on British television since 1995.

Wood returned to stand-up comedy, with a special performance for the celebratory show Happy Birthday BAFTA on 28 October 2007, alongside other household names. The programme was transmitted on ITV1 on Wednesday 7 November 2007. On Boxing Day 2007 she appeared as "Nana" in the Granada dramatisation of Noel Streatfeild's novel Ballet Shoes.

In December 2007, when a guest on the radio programme Desert Island Discs, Wood said she was about to make her first foray into film, writing a script described as a contemporary comedy about a middle-aged person. On Thursday, 12 June 2008, Wood was a member of the celebrity guest panel on the series The Apprentice: You're Fired! on BBC Two. In June 2009, she appeared as a panellist on the first two episodes of a series of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.

In 2009, Wood provided the voice of God for Liberace, Live From Heaven by Julian Woolford at London's Leicester Square Theatre. Wood returned to television comedy for a one-off Christmas sketch-show special, her first for nine years, Victoria Wood's Mid Life Christmas, transmitted on BBC One at 21:00 on Christmas Eve 2009. It reunited Wood with Julie Walters in Lark Pies to Cranchesterford, a spoof of BBC period dramas Lark Rise to Candleford, Little Dorrit and Cranford; a spoof documentary, Beyond the Marigolds, following Acorn Antiques star Bo Beaumont (Walters); highlights from the Mid Life Olympics 2009 with Wood as the commentator; parodies of personal injury advertisements; and a reprise of Wood's most famous song "The Ballad of Barry and Freda" ("Let's Do It"), performed as a musical number with tap-dancers and a band. Victoria Wood: Seen On TV, a 90-minute documentary looking back on her career, was broadcast on BBC Two on 21 December, whilst a behind-the-scenes special programme about Midlife Christmas, Victoria Wood: What Larks!, was broadcast on BBC One on 30 December.

2011–2016 On New Year's Day 2011, Wood appeared in a BBC drama Eric and Ernie as Eric Morecambe's mother, Sadie Bartholomew.

For the 2011 Manchester International Festival, Wood wrote, composed and directed That Day We Sang, a musical set in 1969 with flashbacks to 1929. It tells the story of a middle-aged couple who find love after meeting on a TV programme about a choir they both sang in 40 years previously. Although the characters are imaginary, the choir sang with the Hallé Youth Orchestra in Manchester's Free Trade Hall on a record that sold more than a million copies. Apart from the pieces on the 1929 recording (Purcell's "Nymphs and Shepherds" and the Evening Benediction from Hansel and Gretel) the score for the musical was written by Wood. She also narrated the 2012 miniseries The Talent Show Story.

On 22 December 2012, Wood was a guest on BBC Radio 2's Saturday morning Graham Norton Show. On 23 December BBC One screened Loving Miss Hatto, a drama written by Wood about the life of concert pianist Joyce Hatto, the centre of a scandal over the authenticity of her recordings and her role in the hoax. In April 2013, Wood produced a documentary about the history of tea named Victoria Wood's Nice Cup of Tea. In 2013 she played retired constable-turned-security-guard Tracy in BBC Scotland's Case Histories starring Jason Isaacs. She appeared in an episode of QI, broadcast on 13 December 2013, and around the same time made two return appearances on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue during the show's 60th series in which she joined in the game One song to the tune of Another, singing the Bob the Builder theme "Can We Fix It?" to the tune of "I Dreamed a Dream". In March 2014, Wood voiced the TV advertisement for the tour of the old set of Coronation Street. On 5 December 2014 Wood was a guest on BBC's The Graham Norton Show. On 26 December 2014, a television movie adaptation of That Day We Sang, directed by Wood, starring Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton, was shown on BBC Two.

In early 2015, Wood took part in a celebrity version of The Great British Bake Off for Comic Relief and was crowned Star Baker in her episode. She co-starred with Timothy Spall in Sky television's three-part television adaptation of Fungus the Bogeyman, which was first shown on 27, 28 & 29 December 2015, her final acting role.

Collaborators Wood was known for using many of the same actors in her projects, which comedian Tiff Stevenson later described as "this core of people who she knew she worked well with, and why would [she] want to walk away from that?" Duncan Preston said of these recurring appearances, "I wouldn't say that we were her favourite actors; I think we were like a company that she had." Celia Imrie commented that Wood's "team" approach "meant that we could work together very fast." An overview of these recurring cast members is shown below:

+ActorAs Seen on TVVictoria WoodAll Day BreakfastPat and MargaretdinnerladiesWith All the TrimmingsMid Life ChristmasKay AdsheadSusie BlakeJim BroadbentDeborah GrantPhilip LowrieCelia ImrieDuncan PrestonAnne ReidLill RoughleyJulie Walters

Filmography Year Title Role Is Writer? Type 1st aired Date 1st aired Channel Runtime

2026 Becoming Victoria Wood

Documentary 9 January 2026 Cinema 90 minutes Tribute 2020 Victoria Wood's Secret List

25 December 2020, 26 December 2020 BBC Two 2x 60 minutes Tribute. Sketches handpicked by Wood. With insight from friends and fans, rare and unseen footage. 2017 Our Friend Victoria 11 April 2017 – 23 December 2017 BBC One 6x 30 minutes + 39 minutes (Christmas special) Tribute. "Age", "People", "Sex", "Appearance", "Television", "At Christmas"

The Great Comic Relief Bake Off Self (Contestant) 4 March 2015 BBC Two 60 minutes Fungus the Bogeyman Actor (Snotsoup) 27 December 2015 – 29 December 2015 Sky One 67 minutes, 60 minutes, 43 minutes All three episodes

The Graham Norton Show Self (Guest) TV talk show 5 December 2014 BBC One 50 minutes 1 episode. With Michael Keaton, Ian McKellen, One Direction. Also appeared twice on Norton's Radio 2 show. Victoria Wood: That Musical We Made Self

Documentary 26 December 2014

60 minutes Making of That Day We Sang That Day We Sang Director Screenplay 26 December 2014 90 minutes Last major work. Starring Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton. Featured at Manchester International Festival.

A Nice Cup of Tea Self - presenter Documentary 10 April 2013 – 11 April 2013

2x 60 minutes Case Histories Actor (Tracy)

19 May 2013 90 minutes 1 episode QI Self (Guest) 13 December 2013 30 minutes 1 episode

Loving Miss Hatto Executive Producer Yes TV Movie 23 December 2012 Ruddy Hell! It's Harry & Paul Self (Guest)

11 November 2012 3x 30 minutes 3 episodes Bring me Morecambe and Wise Self (Narrator) 21 November 2012 GOLD 5x 60 minutes all 5 episodes

The Borrowers Actor (Granny Driver) TV Movies 16 December 2011

90 minutes Comic Relief: Red Nose Day 2011 Actor (Mrs Crawler)

TV special 18 March 2011 7 minutes & 9 minutes Downton Abbey Sketch (2 parts) Eric & Ernie Actor (Sadie Bartholemew) TV Movie 1 January 2011 BBC Two 90 minutes

Victoria Wood's Little Cracker Self, Director TV Series 25 December 2010 Sky One 15 minutes 1 episode The Angina Monologues Self Stand-up 12 December 2010 DVD 39 minutes for British Heart Foundation

Victoria Wood: What Larks! Actor TV Movie late 2009

44 minutes Also Known As "What I Did on My Holidays" Making of Midlife Christmas Victoria Wood's Midlife Christmas Self TV special 24 December 2009 60 minutes Christmas special 2008 The Apprentice: You're fired! Self (Guest) TV Series 11 June 2008 BBC Three 30 minutes 1 episode

Ballet Shoes Actor (Nana) TV Movie 26 December 2007

85 minutes Happy Birthday BAFTA Self Yes Stand-up 28 October 2007 90 minutes segments within the show Clive James: Talking in the Library Self (Guest) TV Series 19 September 2007 Artsworld 30 minutes 1 episode. Interview Victoria's Empire Self Yes Documentary 29 April 2007 BBC One 3x 60 minutes 1987, 2007 ASDA adverts Actor TV adverts 1987, 2007 British TV Advert 30 seconds, 1 minute The 1987 ad also features Julie Walters 2006 Dawn French's Girls Who Do Comedy Self (Guest) TV Series 29 December 2006 BBC Four 30 minutes 1 episode Interview

What ITV Did For Me Self TV Series 20 September 2005 ITV1 120 minutes Interview The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse Actor (Queen Mary II) Movie 3 June 2005 Cinema 92 minutes Cameo Victoria Wood: A BAFTA Tribute Self (Guest) TV special February 5t 2005 BBC Two 60 minutes Acorn Antiques: The Musical! Actor (Bo Beaumont)

Screenplay 27 January 2005 (Stage) 13 March 2006 (DVD) West End, DVD 157 minutes Played Mrs Overall on Bingo Nights Housewife, 49 Actor (Nella Last) TV Movie 10 December 2006 ITV1 95 minutes 2004 Victoria Wood's Big Fat Documentary

Documentary 9 January 2004 – 16 January 2004 BBC One 2x 60 minutes

Victoria Wood: Victoria at the Albert - Live Stand-up 25 November 2002 DVD 108 minutes "at it again" tour. Royal Albert Hall's record for most shows in a run by any comedian and any female performer Victoria Wood's Sketch Show Story Self Documentary 25 October 2001 – 1 November 2001 BBC Two 2x 30 minutes

Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings Actor TV special 25 December 2000

52 minutes Christmas special Don't Panic! The Dad's Army Story Self TV special 28 May 2000 at 6:40pm 39 minutes

The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything Actor (Hairdresser) TV special 2 January 2000 50 minutes Featuring Thora Hird Shaggy Dog Story Actor (Brenda Furlong) TV Promo 25 December 1999 BBC 3 minutes Promo for Children In Need 1998-2000 dinnerladies Actor (Brenda Furlong), Producer Yes TV Sitcom 12 November 1998 – 27 January 2000

16x 30 minutes 1998 Best Of British Self Documentary 11 November 1998 39 minutes 1 episode. Documentary on Wood's life

Victoria Wood: Live Self Yes Stand-up 13 November 1997 97 minutes Heroes of Comedy

TV Series Channel 4 Features in five episodes but not the subject of the show 1996, 2007 The South Bank Show TV Series 15 September 1996, 11 March 2007 ITV1 2x 60 minutes Making Wood the first female subject of two South Bank Shows

The Wind in the Willows Actor (The tea lady) Movie 11 October 1996 Cinema 88 minutes Released on VHS and DVD as Mr. Toad's Wild Ride in the United States Great Railway Journeys Self

TV Series 21 November 1996 BBC Two 60 minutes 1 episode - "Crewe to Crewe" 1995 Victoria Wood's Dawn Actress TV special Match 17th 1885

5 minutes Feat Dawn French

Victoria Wood: Live in Your Own Home Self TV special 25 December 1994 80 minutes First released on VHS on 31 October 1994 Pat and Margaret Actor (as Margaret Mottershead) TV Movie 11 September 1994 90 minutes 1992 Victoria Wood's All Day Breakfast Actor (Sally Cumbernauld) TV special 20 December 1992 50 minutes Christmas special

Julie Walters & Friends Actor TV Sitcom 29 December 1991 ITV1

With Alan Bennett Victoria Wood: Sold Out Self Stand-up 1 January 1991 ITV1, VHS Comic Relief TV special 15 March 1991 BBC One 395 minutes Uncredited Anytime Tales Narrator Children's TV series 13 January 1993 CBBC 5 minutes Features in 1 of 10 short stories 1988 Aspel And Company Guest TV Talk Show 2 April 1988, 20 June 1993 ITV1 30-60 minutes Two episodes With Harry Enfield, Dolly Parton; with Kate Bush and Lenny Henry. 1984-1998 Jackanory Storyteller Children's TV series 17 January 1984 BBC One 16x 15 minutes 16 episodes

Victoria Wood Self, Creator

TV Sitcom 19 November 1989 BBC One 10-50 minutes, 108 minutes 6 one-off sitcoms and a Christmas special: "Mens Sana in Thingummy Doodah", "The Library", "Over to Pam", "We'd Quite Like to Apologise", "Val de Ree (Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha)", "Staying In", "The Ballad of Fatty Arbuckle" Puppydog Tales Scriptwriter, narrator Children's TV Series 17 September 1992 Knowledge Network, Canada first then BBC 13x 5 minutes All 13 episodes

An Audience with Victoria Wood Self

10 December 1988 ITV1 55 minutes Comic Relief Actor (Joan) 5 February 1988 BBC One 30 minutes "Wood, Walters... and Wise" segment within full show 1985 Acorn Antiques Actor (Berta) TV Series 11 January 1985 BBC Two (within As Seen On TV) 12x 5 minutes 1985-1987 Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV Self, Actor, Composer Sketch Show 11 January 1985 BBC Two 12 x 30 minutes, 40 minutes Two seasons of six episodes each, plus Christmas special. Wood's first work for the BBC 1984 Insight Presenter/Wordwitch Educational February 1984 - June 1984 ITV Schools 18x 15 minutes 18 Episode 1981-1982 Wood & Walters

TV Series 1 January 1982

8 x 30 minutes 1981 Happy Since I Met You

9 August 1981 50 minutes 1980 Nearly a Happy Ending 11 January 1985 85 minutes Sequel to Talent 1979 Talent Actor (Maureen) 5 August 1979 65 minutes First time Wood and Walters worked together on TV 1977 Pandora's Box Self

1977

6x 30 minutes All six episodes. Six half-hour discussions about justice, education and health, with only women on the panel. 1976 That's Life! Guest musician 21 March 1976 - 2 May 1976 3x 5 minutes 3 episodes 1975 The Summer Show

Sketch Show 2 August 1975

45 minutes Featured Wood alongside the winners of New Faces. 1974 New Faces TV talent show 12 October 1974 30 minutes In 1996, the BBC celebrated its 60th anniversary with an awards ceremony titled Auntie's All Time Greats. In it, As Seen on TV beat Monty Python's Flying Circus for "Favourite Comedy Series". It beat the same show again when it won 'best sketch show' in the Radio Times Comedy Poll in 2001.

In 1997, Wood was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1997 Birthday Honours. Earlier in 1994, she was made an honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Sunderland. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.

In 2003, she was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 Funniest Acts in British Comedy. In the 2005 Channel 4 poll the Comedians' Comedian, she was voted 27th out of the top 50 comedy acts by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. She was the highest-ranked woman on the list, above French and Saunders (who paid tribute to her in their Lord of the Rings spoof, where a map of Middle-Earth shows a forest called 'Victoria Wood'), Joan Rivers and Joyce Grenfell.

Her sketch show Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV won BAFTA awards for its two series and Christmas Special. In 2007, she was nominated for and won the BAFTA awards for "Best Actress" and for "Best Single Drama" for her role in the British war-time drama Housewife, 49, in which she played the part of a housewife dominated by her moody husband. Wood's character eventually stands up to him and helps the WRVS (Women's Royal Voluntary Service) in their preparations for British soldiers.

Her popularity with the British public was confirmed when she won 'Best Stand-Up' and 'Best Sketch Show' by Radio Times readers in 2001. Wood was also voted 'Funniest Comedian' by the readers of Reader's Digest in 2005 and came eighth in ITV's poll of the public's 50 Greatest Stars, four places behind long term regular co-star Julie Walters. In 1996, The South Bank Show opened their 20th season with Wood, describing her as "Britain's first female stand up comedian".

Wood was the recipient of six British Comedy Awards: Best stand-up live comedy performer (1990); Best female comedy performer (1995); WGGB Writer of the year (2000); Best live stand-up (2001); Outstanding achievement award (jointly awarded to Julie Walters) (2005); Best female TV comic (2011). Wood was nominated for the 1991 Olivier Award for Best Entertainment for Victoria Wood Up West and for the 2006 Olivier Award for Best New Musical for Acorn Antiques: The Musical!.

BAFTA nominations Wood was a 14-time BAFTA TV Award nominee, winning four. She received a special BAFTA at a tribute evening in 2005. Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV won the BAFTA for Best Entertainment Programme in 1986, 1987 and 1988; these awards went to the producer, Geoff Posner. An Audience With Victoria Wood won the BAFTA for Best Entertainment Programme in 1989; this award went to David G. Hillier.

Personal life and death Wood married the stage magician Geoffrey Durham in March 1980. They had two children: Grace, born 1 October 1988 and Henry, born 2 May 1992. The couple separated in October 2002 and divorced in 2005, but continued to live near one another and were on good terms. Henry made a cameo performance as a teenager in Victoria Wood's Mid Life Christmas. He also appeared in the accompanying 'behind the scenes' programme Victoria Wood: What Larks!. Both children had already made appearances as extras on Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings in 2000.

Wood attended Quaker meetings with her husband and was a vegetarian, once remarking, "I'm all for killing animals and turning them into handbags; I just don't want to have to eat them."

Wood received a diagnosis of oesophageal cancer in late 2015, but kept her illness largely private. She died on 20 April 2016 at her Highgate home, in the presence of her children and sister Rosalind. Her funeral was conducted by a humanist celebrant at Golders Green Crematorium on 4 May 2016. A memorial service was held at St James, Piccadilly on 4 July 2016.

Tributes

On 15 May 2016, ITV broadcast Let's Do It: A Tribute to Victoria Wood. In 2017, Wood was the subject of a seven-part show dedicated mainly to extracts from her TV and live work. The main series, titled Our Friend Victoria, aired on BBC One between 11 April and 9 May and concluded later in the year with a Christmas special on 23 December 2017. The seven episodes were presented by Julie Walters, Richard E. Grant, Michael Ball, Maxine Peake, The League of Gentlemen, Daniel Rigby and Anne Reid. On 17 May 2019, a statue of Wood was unveiled in her home town of Bury in Lancashire.

The Old Laundry theatre in Windermere was renamed the Victoria Wood Theatre in her memory. Wood had been a trustee of the theatre. A musical containing Wood's songs, Fourteen again, premiered at the theatre. The musical is based on a book by Tom MacRae.

In May 2023 and on what would have been Wood's 70th birthday, Birmingham Repertory Theatre announced the launch of the Victoria Wood Playwriting Prize for Comedy in partnership with The Victoria Wood Foundation and with support from BBC Comedy. It was billed as "first ever major playwrighting [sic] prize dedicated to the art of Comedy" and had a cash prize of £25,000 Judges included actors Siobhán McSweeney and Daniel Rigby and writer Tanika Gupta. In May 2024, the winner was announced as Portugal by Eugene O'Hare.