VICTORIA WOOD UNSEEN ON TV

There was a widespread sense of loss when Victoria Wood died in 2016 while working on her biography, but as part of the research for that book 'Let's Do It', the critically acclaimed Sunday Times bestseller, her official biographer Jasper Rees uncovered a treasure chest of unseen work. From Victoria's first piece of comic prose for the school magazine, through to material written for the great TV shows of her maturity, this joyful hoard of unreleased material spans nearly half a century. Here are sketches, songs, stand-up monologues that no one else could have written, details of her university days in Birmingham in 1971, dialogues and exchanges at the bus stop complete with stage directions like 'Ext. The canal bridge. The man stands smoking. He finishes his cigarette, grinds it out on the bridge wall, throws it into the water and walks in the direction of his room. Int. School room the morning after the party...' 'Dorothy sees herself in black satin except Dorothy's got nothing to pop from the sort sexy ladies pop out of.' And there are rare photos in colour and black and white including the Bush Theatre 1978 where Victoria Wood and Julie Walters performed for the first time together from among the dozens of private album snapshots included. 285pp, illus.