Victoria Wood would have found ‘hideous’ body comments hard – Jennifer Saunders

Comedian and actress Jennifer Saunders has reflected on the “hideous” comments made about Victoria Wood’s weight and said she would have found the scrutiny “very hard”.

Saunders, 67, along with her comedy partner Dawn French, feature in the new documentary Becoming Victoria Wood, which focuses on the personal battles faced by the comedian, who died in April 2016 at the age of 62 following a battle with cancer.

The 90-minute film includes archival footage of Wood speaking about her childhood, family, career and the disparaging comments that were made about her looks.

In an interview, when asked if she was self-conscious about being “plumpish”, Wood said: “It’s just not accepted, and most people don’t like it.

“And so I am self-conscious about it. I felt ashamed of it, but I couldn’t actually get to grips with doing anything about it.”

In another part of the documentary, she added: “I did feel very insecure about being fat. It was always mentioned in anything that was ever written about me.”

Singer Michael Ball, who appeared on Wood’s musical TV film That Day We Sang (2014), said: “Certainly during the 70s, 80s, people were vile and ruthless about other people’s images and self-image and how they looked, and about weight, and it was cruel.”

The documentary showed reviews from the late 1970s which called Wood a “chubby cherub”, “podgy” and “more than plump”.

Speaking about the comments alongside French, Saunders said: “What awful, awful reviews.”

French, 68, said: “We have had the same thing. You know, we’re two women… two chubsters.

“Your physical appearance seems to be the first thing that matters, or just the audacity of you to come on the stage and do the job.”

She continued: “She supposed to hide away or change for you… Change so that somehow she suits what you think a woman should look like? No.”

Saunders added: “I think you can review someone’s work but not review their body. I think that’s really hideous. And I think Vic would have found that very hard.”

Among the other interviewees in the documentary are actress Maxine Peake and singer Joan Armatrading, who said she and Wood were both “shy”, adding: “We had that in common.”

Peake, 51, revealed her size was the reason she was cast in Dinner Ladies, a 1990s sitcom created by Wood.

“Victoria told me I was cast because of my size. I was 5ft, 7in and 15 stone at that time,” she said.

“She did tell me it wasn’t because I was the best person who came in. She told me it’s because of my size that I got the job, if I’m being really honest… I think she saw a lot of herself in me at that time.”

Wood was well known for her comedy series Victoria Wood: As Seen On TV, as well as her TV special Victoria Wood With All The Trimmings.

In 2019 she was honoured with a life-size bronze statue in her home town of Bury, Greater Manchester.

Becoming Victoria Wood is in cinemas from January 9 and will air on U&Gold in February.