New documentary about the comedy pioneer

Becoming Victoria Wood is an affectionate documentary that gives full context to the sexism and body-shaming – often internalised – that the comedian overcame on her path to becoming a bona fide national treasure.

But it’s also a limited one, skipping over many aspects of her complicated life and personality. When co-star Maxine Peake suggests she ‘could be a bit spiky’, it’s one of only a couple of mentions of her reputation for being very demanding to work with. And an archive clip in which Wood tells how her own mother might only admit ‘through gritted teeth’ that they were related is the sole reference to a fractious family relationship. 

Those archives, though, are a treasure trove. Wood documented everything, and the early performances aired here, some for the first time, offer a delightful glimpse at her nascent talent. 

Director Catherine Abbott has chosen to tell Wood’s story primarily though her work – which perhaps explains why some aspects of her life are overlooked. The comic herself felt it would be opening a ‘can of worms’ to ever talk about her mother, for instance.

Abbott makes no bones about how difficult it was for a woman to conquer comedy in the 1970s, with a scene ruled by the sexist working men’s club culture. Wood seems like an unlikely person to shatter barriers – having been painfully shy since childhood – but her ambition, and talent, prevailed.

However an early appearance on New Faces was a setback rather than a breakthrough. You can see her face fall when a judge in the final called her ‘a female Jake Thackray’ as she ended up with fewer points than Les Dennis and winner Tony Maiden. She got a job writing topical songs for Esther Rantzen’s That’s Life! but didn’t capitalise on the opportunities being exposed to millions of viewers every week could offer.

She felt she’d ‘blown it’ by the age of 23 – but after a few months’ slump, got her determination back again and reinvigorated her career via the Bush Theatre in West London, which led to the commissioning of her first play Talent and eventually the Wood and Walters TV sketch show with Julie Walters, despite Establishment doubts that a woman could possibly front her own TV comedy vehicle.

While it was well-received what’s eye-opening about the reaction is how much focus was directed on the comedian’s body. ‘Do you think you are at all self-conscious because you are a bit plump?’ one plummy-voiced interviewer asks her, quite casually, while newspapers were even crueller. ‘A talent as ample as her frame,’ The Sunday Telegraph asserted in 1976. Perhaps she gave them permission, in a way, as there were many jokes at her own expense in the show. 

But as contributor Michael Ball notes, in those early skits she never allowed herself to triumph. However, at the time As Seen On TV came a few years later, you can see her confidence grow.

Though it’s useful insight you might well ask why Ball features so prominently. The film is destined for UKTV after its cinema release and can’t escape the usual trait of the broadcaster’s nostalgic documentaries to feature random famous fans, as if the subject themselves didn’t offer celebrity enough. ‘We’re making a documentary about Victoria Wood! Fetch me Michael Ball and Joan Armatrading immediately!’

More valuable first-hand insights come from her contemporaries Jasper Carrott, with whom she shared an Edinburgh Fringe bill, and John Dowie, the great alternative comedy pioneer. Meanwhile Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders can voice the similar difficulties they felt in breaking into the boys’ club. 

Given the title is Becoming Victoria Wood, the film can be forgiven for skipping over her later career after she’d established herself at the top of the comedy tree with a record-breaking run at the Royal Albert Hall. Maintaining success clearly doesn’t have the dramatic arc of achieving it against the odds.

Abbott is very effective in telling the story she wants to tell, even if she’s knocked off some complications that might distract from her narrative. That the film contains plenty of examples of Wood’s work, both well-known and obscure, keeps it entertaining, too. 

While the definitive 2020 biography by Jasper Rees – a consulting producer on this project – offers  a more nuanced version of Wood’s life,  Becoming Victoria Wood is an effective celebration of her unique talent, groundbreaking in giving hilarious voice to the everyday lives of ordinary women, ahead of the 10th anniversary of her death in April.

• Becoming Victoria Wood is in UK cinemas from today and on U&Gold in February.

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Review date: 9 Jan 2026
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett