Wednesday 13 September 2017
Entertainment channel Gold will honour the late Victoria Wood with dinnerladies diaries (3x60'), a special UKTV Original documentary series based on Wood's personal diaries.
Gold will give viewers a glance into Victoria's notebooks, her backstage photos and studio records - all of which have never been seen before. The three-part series will also feature interviews with the cast and friends of dinnerladies as they reminisce about one of Britain's most loved comedies on its 20th anniversary.
Twenty years ago, Victoria Wood put pen to paper and wrote her multi-award-winning comedy, dinnerladies. She'd never written a sitcom before, having stuck to sketches, songs and playlets - this was a big thing for her. How do we know? Because she recorded all her thoughts and feelings in diaries, notebooks, photos and backstage footage.
Produced by Phil McIntyre Television, dinnerladies diaries tells the story of how this groundbreaking comedy was conceived, developed, produced and why Victoria chose to end it after just two series.
Ordered by UKTV's director of commissioning Richard Watsham and Gold general manager Steve North, the series was commissioned by senior commissioning executive Iain Coyle who will also oversee as executive producer for UKTV. Lucy Ansbro, Phil McIntyre and Lindsay Jex are the executive producers for Phil McIntyre Television and Richard Dean will series produce and direct.
Iain Coyle said:
These days the phrase 'national treasure' gets bandied about all too often but in Victoria's case, it is apt and accurate. The folks at Phil McIntyre TV have uncovered some extraordinary material, that will give us a unique insight into how one our best loved shows was conceived and produced.
Steve North added:
We are very proud of the retrospective documentaries we have made on Gold from Bring Me Morecambe and Wise to The Interviews, and this is a wonderful tribute to the incredible talent of Victoria Wood.
Lindsay Jex said:
It's a privilege to be making this 20th anniversary tribute to Victoria Wood's dinnerladies. We have unearthed some truly amazing unseen gems from the archive combined with first-hand insight from the cast and crew, this series will tell the definitive story of this award-winning sitcom. And of course we're delighted to be working with Gold again.
In 2016, UKTV committed over £150m to new programming which has resulted in a 40% increase in entertainment commissions and the biggest commissioned slate in UKTV's 25 year history with successful launches, award-winning returning series and around 50 shows currently in production.
Gold celebrated 25 years on air with two hit retrospective documentary series, David Jason: My Life on Screen and The Story of Only Fools and Horses, with great success reaching over 2.05million adults. The channel has honoured comedy legends in the past with UKTV Originals The Two Ronnies Spectacles, Bring Me Morecambe and Wise and The Interviews.
dinnerladies diaries will air on Gold in 2018.
Notes to Editors
For more information please contact Gem Pinkney, Publicity Manager
About Gold
Sky 110, Virgin 126, BT and TalkTalk 408 On demand on Sky, Virgin and Now TV.
With more successful original commissions than ever before, the likes of Marley's Ghosts, Comic Strip Presents...Red Top and The Rebel sit comfortably alongside Britain's much-loved series such as Only Fools and Horses, Mrs Brown's Boys and Miranda. Famed for its retrospective hits, Gold has enjoyed successes with Bring Me Morecambe and Wise, The Two Ronnies Spectacle, The Interviews and most recently, Richard E. Grant on Ealing Comedies.
Gold continues to attract the finest comedy talent in Britain, with the live broadcast of the final ever performance of Monty Python Live (mostly): One Down Five To Go in 2014 becoming its most successful ever programme. And it doesn't end there, Henry IX, the brand new series from legendary writers Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais, premieres exclusively on Gold in 2017.
Rarely-seen cult favourites such as Bridget & Eamon, Limmy's Show and Gareth Marenghi's Darkplace make up Gold After Dark every weekend, offering the very best in offbeat humour.
Still committed to universally loved comedy 25 years after first making the nation laugh, here's to many more.
Gold.uktv.co.uk / @goldtvchannel
About UKTV
UKTV is a commercial broadcaster reaching over 40m viewers every month.
The award-winning independent has eleven imaginative brands - UKTV Play, Dave, W, Gold, Alibi, Yesterday, Drama, Really, Home, Eden and Good Food. These include the two most popular non-PSB channels in the UK and account for nearly 10% of the British commercial TV market.
The network delivers inspired channels to audiences through Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, BT, TalkTalk, YouView, Freesat, Amazon Fire and UKTV Play, and distributes its highly valued original programmes to 200 territories.
Now celebrating over 20 years at the forefront of digital television, UKTV - an independent commercial joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. (SNI) - is proud to be the first British television broadcaster in The Sunday Times top 100 companies list.