Dinnerladies

If the great Victoria Wood had been born before the age of television, she would have been a playwright or, more likely, a novelist. Or maybe both.

It is not in any way to detract from the performances of the actors who delivered her lines, or her own assured although somewhat self-effacing performance, but, fundamentally, she was a writer.

And what a writer! She broke boundaries by putting women and self-consciousness about class, sex and body image at the heart of her comedy. Inevitably, Dinnerladies draws from this deep well of Woodland.