Victoria Wood's Mid Life Christmas Explained

Genre:Comedy
Runtime:60 minutes
Creator:Victoria Wood
Director:Tony Dow
Starring:Victoria Wood
Julie Walters
Anton du Beke
Delia Smith
Jayne Torvill
Christopher Dean
Reece Shearsmith
Emily Atack
Tony Maudsley
Country:United Kingdom
Network:BBC One
Producer:John Rushton
Executive Producer:Victoria Wood

Victoria Wood's Mid Life Christmas is a comedy sketch show written by and starring comedian Victoria Wood, broadcast on Christmas Eve 2009.

The programme, Wood's first sketch show for nine years, was described by Wood as being "a whole night's telly crammed into one hour".[1] The special featured a spoof documentary titled Beyond The Marigolds,[2] in which Wood's long-time collaborator Julie Walters reprised her role as "Bo Beaumont", the actress behind Acorn Antiques character "Mrs. Overall". Beyond The Marigolds saw Beaumont's foray into the world of celebrity programming such as I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, Dancing on Ice and Strictly Come Dancing. The sketch included special guest appearances from Delia Smith, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, and Anton du Beke.[3] Sylvestra Le Touzel, Dorothy Atkinson, Marcia Warren, Harriet Thorpe, Jason Watkins, Reece Shearsmith, Richard Lintern and Lorraine Ashbourne also had roles.

Also featured in Mid Life Christmas was The Mid Life Olympics 2009, a series of sketches that include events such as the "4 by 400 Hedge Trimming" and "Ladies Outdoor Parking", featuring Wood and Bob Cryer as the presenters.[2]

The programme achieved a total viewing audience of 7.45 million viewers and was the 12th highest rated show on BBC One and the 17th highest rated across all channels for the week ending 27 December 2009.[4]

Contemporary and later press reports suggested that Wood was unhappy with the BBC's decision to schedule the programme for Christmas Eve rather than on Christmas Day as she had expected.[5]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: BBC One Programmes: Victoria Wood's Mid Life Christmas . . 2009-12-14 . 2009-12-17.
  2. Web site: BBC Press Office . Victoria Wood's Mid Life Christmas press pack . . 2009-09-19 . 2009-12-10.
  3. Web site: Victoria Wood's Midlife Christmas (2009). https://web.archive.org/web/20160428112121/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b8da8df40. dead. 28 April 2016. British Film Institute.
  4. Web site: Weekly top 30 programmes on TV sets (July 1998 – Sept 2018) | BARB.
  5. Web site: How BBC bosses ruined Christmas for Victoria Wood. 23 December 2009 .