The late comedy queen Victoria Wood will be honoured on this weekend's Strictly Come Dancing as the stars mark the BBC's centenary.
Strictly's Jayde Adams and professional dancer Karen Hauer, will perform to The Ballad of Barry and Freda (Let's Do It) by Victoria Wood to pay tribute to the comedian, who died age 62 in 2016.
The upcoming episode will see the couples dance to iconic theme songs and TV tracks to celebrate 100 years of the BBC.
From Doctor Who and Casualty to Eurovision and Line of Duty, there will be a range of music on show.
With this in mind, we take a look at the Wood's heartbreaking last six months before passing away following a battle with cancer of the oesophagus.
''I've got something...but it's not a man''
The multi Bafta award-winning writer, director, actor, chose to battle her cancer private for four years before her death.
Victoria only told close friends and family of her diagnosis and over Christmas she began to tell more friends.
One recalled how she believed her news was about a new man (following her divorce in 2002), but it was in fact cancer.
She replied to the suggestion: “I’ve got something... but it’s not a man.”
Ever the joker, the performer also branded her cancer treatment “effing boring” to another pal.
But in true Wood style she refused to go quietly and continued to come up with comedy gold even in her final days.
Let's Do It
And a 2020 biography, Let’s Do It, written by Jasper Rees, revealed her hidden fight began back in 2012.
Rees was able to pull together archive material piecing together the iconic comic's life including the last few days before her death, where she was cared for by her sister Rosalind, her children Grace and Henry and her producer friend Piers Wenger, who all kept her spirits up.
Wood was cared for by family and her pal Piers, who moved in for two weeks prior to her passing to be on hand after she was allowed home form hospital.
Sock draw sketch
Victoria spent her final days watching MasterChef, tuning into BBC Radio 3 and was in 'determined denial', her old pal Julie Walters once said.
When pal Paul Roberts suggested she “didn’t look well” she told him: “I don’t want to hear that.”
Despite her illness, she was still compelled to use her last days to write one more hilarious sketch.
Dame Julie once recalled: “Vic said, ‘I just need to get this managed – the pain. And then I’m going to write something.’
“They were sending her home to die in fact, but she wasn’t going home to die. It was her way of dealing with it. Otherwise you have to face, ‘OK, this is the end’. She didn’t want to do that.”
While Piers: “She said to me days before she died, ‘I might not get rid of it. But if I can just get on my feet and get back to work…’”
While in bed, she came up with a full comic sketch about tidying her sock drawer.
Her sister Rosalind admitedd: “I was cursing that I couldn’t record it. It was absolutely hilarious!“
Family by her side
Victoria’s son 28-year-old Henry, also recalled a conversation he had with his mum about her illness in the biography, explaining that it “didn't feel ominous“.
In an extract, he said: “It didn’t feel that ominous. It was like, ‘Uh-oh, it’s cancer‘.
“‘It looks like it’s going to be OK but we just have to get through it.”
The family and her friend took nightly stints to be with her 'telling her they loved her' until she passed away on April 20 2016.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain her brother Chris Foote-Wood spoke of the way Victoria dealt with her terminal illness in private and with dignity.
“Victoria was a very private person and was adamant her private life was kept separate, especially when it came down to her two children,“ he told hosts Susanna Reid and Ben Shephard.
“She made sure she was a proper mother and would arrange demanding schedules around them and that they were sheltered from over-intrusive media. She did that very successfully.
“When it came down to her final illness she was determined it would not leak out and her wishes were complied with, very few people knew she had a terminal illness.“
Victoria's biggest fan
Her older brother counted himself as her 'biggest fan' but drew comfort from her 'wonderful work' she has left behind.
He continued: “I admire her enormously and what particularly impressed me from her early days was how she was by nature a shy private person, but once she stepped on that stage she became a different person altogether.“
You can watch Strictly Come Dancing on Saturday (October 22) at 6.40pm. The results show will be on Sunday at 6.45pm, on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
