It is eight years this month since Victoria Wood passed away but through her songs her star shines brighter than ever
WORDS: ALISON JAMES
It’s true to say we never forget where we were on hearing that a much-loved talent and national treasure has unexpectedly died.
I was sitting on a train at the Doncaster terminus when the news came through on my phone that Victoria Wood had passed away following a secret battle with cancer, aged just 62.
The shock and sadness were such that it took a while to process. Victoria, being the private person she was, had chosen to keep her illness secret from all but her nearest and dearest.
While Victoria – surely a shoe-in for a Damehood had she lived – is mostly remembered for her hilariously groundbreaking TV comedy sketch shows which gave birth to classics like Acorn Antiques and Two Soups, her partnership with Julie Walters, sell-out stand-up shows, sublime sitcom Dinner Ladies and, latterly, as a serious actress in productions such as Housewife 49, her prodigious talent as a song-writer is sometimes overlooked.
She first came to public attention as a singer/songwriter on the 1970s TV talent show New Faces. From the very beginning of her career, she intertwined her own show-stealing songs, which she performed at the piano, with her brilliant comedy act.
As Victoria said in 2013, “Everything you write has to have a rhythm . . . it all comes back to music.”
In more recent times, Victoria’s music – including the unforgettable Ballad of Barry and Freda (Let’s Do It!), Pam, Saturday Night, It Would Never Have Worked and Baby Boom – has been revisited.
In January 2023, BBC Radio Two broadcast the The Victoria Wood Songbook, while right now a cabaret artist named Paulus the Geek is touring the UK with his award-winning show Looking For Me Friend: The Music of Victoria Wood. In the guise of one of Victoria’s best-loved alter-egos Kimberley’s Friend, Paulus (real name Paul L. Martin) dons yellow beret and orange rain mac for part of the show – which has been described as a hilarious and touching homage to La Wood through her best-loved tunes.
“I guess the show has been percolating since I was 10 years old,” he says, “ever since I was first introduced to Victoria’s sketch show As Seen On TV by my mum and sister in 1985 when it first aired.
“Victoria made a huge impact on me as I watched and studied her. As well as giving me many hours of joy, she has i
