Dinnerladies

Victoria Wood's 90's sitcom

Dinnerladies was written and co-produced by and starred Victoria Wood. It ran on BBC One for 16 episodes from 1998 to 2000.The show is set entirely in the canteen of HWD Components, a fictional factory in Manchester, featuring the caterers and regular customers as the main characters. The lives and times of the mostly female, mostly middle-aged characters are the basis of the comedy.

One of the facets of Victoria Wood's work, is the counterpoint of comedy and sadder themes, and Dinnerladies is no different, the series deals with deaths in the families of two of the main characters, a painful divorce, one of the characters living with cancer, and a long-running on-off relationship.

Involving only one set throughout its run Dinnerladies was entirely filmed at the BBC Television Centre in front of a live studio audience. Uniquely, each episode was filmed twice in front of two separate audiences, once on a Friday and again on a Saturday. This gave cast members two attempts to perfect a scene and, if necessary, the opportunity to correct mistakes without having to repeat a joke to the same audience.

Victoria Woods continues to be one of Britains best loved comics and regularly tours to packed houses. In addition she has turned her hand to serious roles, most notably Housewife 49, for which she won a BAFTA.

She has presented the documentary Victoria's Empire and found time to write the successful West End musical Acorn Antiques.