The Victoria Wood Songbook

There can't be many comedians for whom music was as important as it was for Victoria Wood. In this programme, Shobna Gulati (Anita in dinnerladies) celebrates some of these treasured songs.

In 1974, while appearing on the TV talent show New Faces, Victoria was told she would never be a success. She went on to enjoy a 40-year career as a comedian, writer, producer, actor, documentary-maker and songwriter!

Victoria all but invented the one-woman show, with her trademark warmth and intelligent humour. And even though she sadly passed away in 2016, her genius is still being discovered by new fans, and her songs in particular are being revisited and reassessed in cabarets and revues. It's fitting because, from the very beginning, she intertwined her brilliant live comedy act with her own show-stealing songs which she performed at the piano.

In 2013, Victoria explained that having some kind of musicality helped her when it came to her work, saying: "Everything you write has to have a rhythm... it all comes back to music."

In this programme, Shobna revisits some of Victoria's unforgettable songs. Plus listeners hear from Victoria herself, thanks to some archive Radio 2 interviews which haven't been heard since their original broadcasts.

So drain your cocoa cup, straighten your flameproof nightie and put down that copy of Woman's Weekly, because it's time to open The Victoria Wood Songbook!