Victoria Wood.

Victoria Wood was born on 19 May 1953 in Prestwich, Lancashire, the youngest of four children. Her father Stanley Wood was a frustrated writer who later wrote for Coronation Street, but Wood felt ignored by her parents. She sought attention as a performer, joining a youth theatre group in Rochdale and teaching herself to play the piano.

She attended Bury Grammar School but felt intimidated by the competition. She studied drama at the University of Birmingham, where she auditioned for the ITV talent show New Faces in 1973, performing a song about a man who washes his car more than his neck. Though eliminated in the second round, she was talent-spotted by poet Roger McGough for a revue at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1976.

Her first big break came with the television show That’s Life! in 1986, writing and performing satirical songs. Her lifelong collaboration with Julie Walters began in the 1970s when they appeared together in a revue at the Bush Theatre. This led to her first full-length play Talent at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, which won the Evening Standard’s Most Promising New Playwright award.

In 1985, she launched Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV for the BBC, featuring her mini-repertory company including Julie Walters, Celia Imrie, and Duncan Preston. The show introduced the spoof soap Acorn Antiques. She continued with Victoria Wood 1989, All Day Breakfast 1992, and the TV film Pat and Margaret 1994.

In 1998, her sitcom Dinnerladies aired, running for two series and earning critical acclaim. She moved towards drama with the TV film Housewife, 49 2005, based on the wartime diaries of Nella Last, for which she won a BAFTA for Best Actress. Later works include Ballet Shoes 2007, Eric & Ernie 2011, and the musical That Day We Sang 2011.

In 1980, Victoria Wood married magician Geoffrey Durham. They had two children, Grace born 1988 and Henry born 1992. The marriage dissolved in 2002, and they divorced in 2003. Wood withdrew from the spotlight for a couple of years and entered therapy, saying it was too painful to appear in public during the turmoil.

She battled compulsive overeating and underwent an emergency hysterectomy in early 2001. In autumn 2015, she fell ill with terminal oesophageal cancer and died on 20 April 2016 at her home in Highgate, London, with her children at her bedside.

Victoria Wood was appointed OBE in 1997 and advanced to CBE in 2008 for services to drama. The critic Clive James said she changed the field for women and indeed for everybody, because very few of the men were trying hard enough as writers before she came on the scene and showed them what penetrating social humour should actually sound like.

She inspired a generation of comedians with her meticulous craft and everywoman appeal. Her will left more than four million pounds to charity. She is remembered for works like Dinnerladies and Acorn Antiques.