A new documentary about legendary comedian Victoria Wood, presents viewers with a woman who suffered much sadness behind the scenes.
Airing on U&Gold on February 12, Becoming Victoria Wood explores rarely seen archive material and previously unheard audio recordings, to give fans new insight into her life nearly a decade after her death.
Celebrities including Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Maxine Peake and Joan Armatrading appear to share their memories of the star, and heartbreakingly, they reveal the toll intense media body shaming took on her.
The documentary reveals Victoria kept huge amounts of press clippings from her career, and instead of focussing on her talent, unprecedented levels of attention fell on her size.
Footage of the comedian see her being asked if she's "self-conscious about being plumpish," to which she replies, "Yes, I'm ashamed of it." She adds, "I do feel very insecure about being fat, it was always mentioned in anything ever written about me."
Some of the press clippings from her career read phrases including, "Sitting on the bed in denims is the podgy form of Victoria Wood," and "A talent as ample as her frame."
Good friends of Victoria's and fellow comedy icons Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders share their thoughts on body shaming in the industry, and why it happens.
After seeing the press clippings, Jennifer says, "What awful reviews," while Dawn adds, "We have had the same thing, we're 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."
Maxine Peake agrees, saying, "It's shocking, absolutely shocking. But it's because she's a woman - would they say that about a man? No, of course they wouldn't."
Dawn adds, "Is she supposed to hide away? Or change for you? Change so that she suits what you think a woman should look like? No."
As Jennifer points out, what should've really happened is that "You review someone's work, but not their body." She continues, sadly, "I think that's really hideous and Vic would've found that very hard."
Dawn shares that choosing to be in such a critical industry means you need to own your shape, despite the terrible things that might be written about you.
Old footage later depicts Victoria admitting that she had a "chip on her shoulder" about her weight, and deliberately made herself the butt of the joke in her sketches as a coping mechanism.
Her friends believe she never really managed to become comfortable as herself, and the poignant film shows that having faith in herself was something the comedian struggled with for most of her early career.
Despite the setbacks, Victoria remains one of the most celebrated talents of her time, and even though she had ongoing issues with confidence, she did find peace in achieving what she set out to do in her career by the end.
The star can emotionally be heard saying, "This is where I wanted to get all those years ago and now I'm here. The least I can do is enjoy it, and I really do make the most of it."
Becoming Victoria Wood airs on U&Gold from February 12.
