Victoria Wood Live at the Albert Hall provides proof, if any were needed, that after two decades at the top of her profession, Wood is one of a small handful of British comedians of either sex capable of filling the country's largest venues. For the consistently high quality of her penetrating observations of the mundane she has no equal. Recorded in 2001, this performance has all the hallmarks of her microscopic examinations of life's perplexing minutiae and trivia. From her recent hysterectomy to Paul Daniels, from the NHS help line to wheelie bin covers, from Americans in Disneyworld to the ageism of catalogue mailing lists, nothing escapes Wood's attention. Not even in-vogue authors: she refuses to read "Captain Corelli's friggin' Mandolin" as it sits reproachfully at her bedside. Wood even provides her own interval act: a devastatingly accurate parody of a vulgar, second-rate cabaret singer shot to stardom on the wings of a cruise ship docu-soap. Jane McDonald's sense of humour will never face a harder test. More poignant are Wood's observations on parenthood and marriage, with all the physical ailments of middle age ("We've only got one fully operating leg between us"). She has since separated from her husband, the magician Geoffrey Durham. Fans will await the impact of that on her stand-up material with some interest. --Piers Ford
As Victoria Wood once said, "There's nothing you can't say if you say it in the right way". And she goes on to prove that triumphantly in An Audience with Victoria Wood, recorded in front of fellow celebs (whom she sends up effortlessly, describing her long-time collaborator Julie Walters as "the lady with the split ends"). Victoria Wood may be the queen of suburbia but her endless takes on the finer details of banality have an acuity of which Alan Bennett would be proud. Most people cannot do monologue without lapsing into self-consciousness. But she's just brilliant. Her depiction of a nervy woman attempting to conduct a survey in the street, for instance, is priceless: "Here's my ID. Yes, I do look rather startled. It was taken in a photo booth and someone had just poked an éclair through the curtain". She's like Joyce Grenfell on speed. And it's that surreal juxtaposition of the commonplace and the wacky that makes her routines anything but. Even when she takes up residence at the piano, belting out home-made ballads (and this video includes the famous "Let's Do It"), she's both touching and amusing. At one point, she suggests that the British are no good at having fun. Get this video and prove her wrong. --Harriet Smith
London Bridge was the first ever drama series created especially for the London region, capturing not only the exhilaration and diversity of life in the capital, but also its many darker aspects.A chef, a GP, an artist, a junior barrister and a mini-cab driver are among the characters thrown together under one roof in this late-night soap-style drama serial set in and around the flats and restaurants of a converted Thames-side millhouse. This set contains the first 13 episodes.The series begins with the discovery of a woman's body - an event with disturbing consequences for those who live and work in the Millhouse, in particular Mary O'Connor, the victim of a stalker. Meanwhile, junior barrister Ravi is feeling the pressure at work, and the imminent arrival of a baby prompts Nick and Isobel, owners of SE1 restaurant, to consider selling up and moving to the country...
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