BBC1 - Dinner Ladies

Writer: Victoria Wood Director: Geoff Posner Producers: Geoff Posner and Victoria Wood. Stars: Victoria Wood, Julie Walters, Thelma Barlow, Andrew Dunn, Shobna Gulati, Anne Reid, Duncan Preston, Maxine Peake and Celia Imrie. This sitcom was released in 1998, creating 16 episodes split into 2 series in the 2 years it was aired on the BBC channel. Series 1, 1998, 6 episodes Series 2, 1999, 10 episodes **BRIEF PLOT** Set in the bustling works canteen of a fictional factory called HWD Components in Manchester. The comedy coming from the banter between the workers in the canteen and the handful of ... more

When browsing through my local video shop, and realising that I had seen everything I wanted to, I somewhat reluctantly picked up Dinner Ladies. I did not catch many of the episdoes on TV, and when I did I did not take much notice of them. What I found was that Dinner Ladies is in fact a beautifully written, cleverly acted piece of dramatic comedy, which in time will most certainly be seen as a modern classic. We have Bren (Victoria Wood) who seems to be the spokesperson for her colleagues, a collection of elderly ladies, sexually charged men, innocent loners and young no hopers, who all have ... more

Dinnerladies was excellent, from beginning to end. Victoria Wood managed to create a group of real characters, each played perfectly (mostly by members of Victoria's normal band of players - it certainly helps to have talent queuing up to work with you!) Some may have been put off by the gentle stories which at times seemed to consist of less plot and action that an average 5 minutes of any soap currently gracing our screens. But if you stuck in there you would have discovered that (just as in real life) there was plenty going on under the surface, each character having his or her own story ... more

Sometimes Victoria Wood can be a bit of an acquired taste and I can't really make my mind up about this one - it feels a bit smug and comedy by numbers for me. The notion is quite good and some of the cast are gifted, but the material is not really funny and goes for the easy laugh too many times with some quite crude double entendre, but without the over the top bad taste of Mayall and Edmondson - my biggest issue is that Wood is convinced that she is riotously funny and sometimes she just isn't. It's had some good bits, though, and survived its BBC1 slot with some aplomb and I have to say ... more

comedies the nations favourite. When will they cease to stop us laughing, well this one won't. This comedy revolves around several dinner ladies working in a cafe and stars Victoria Wood. The jokes are funny in the programme and the acting good. My favourite character in the comedy is Glendas mum. She embarasses her daughter, with her disguisting ways. She lives in a packed-up caravan and eats anything she can find.She never takes a bath and believes in so many religions its unbelievable. This programme is good for any audience especially the older audience as its pretty fun. I would ... more

How anyone on earth can say that this program is not funny... then I just dont know! Dinner Ladies (a comedy based on the day to day lives of the employees of a mancunian canteen) Written by Victoria Wood This comedy exudes fun and humour to it uppermost. Victoria Wood appears in this comedy and plays her character to her best. There are so many characters in this program, that it would be unfair to pick out who is the best...or for that matter who is'nt. I just had to write this opinion, because I could'nt belive that the previous opinion was so damning.... My opinion is this...try it. If you ... more

Victoria Wood has created a charming group of characters in a just as charming setting (well, as charming as a canteen can get). She displays her knack of bringing 'real life' comedy to T.V. perfectly. To me the main attraction of teh sit-com is the daft characters, who between them come out with some fantastic lines. "Is there no knives, cos there's no knives?!" "My contact lens fell down my cleavage, and I had to sort of lick it, and I'd just had a Malteser." The humour requires a certain realisation of the situations of the characters, many are simple and this has a undertone of sadness at ... more

Dinnerladies is an amusing drama about a group of office canteen workers. It is written by the comedien, Victoria Wood who also stars in it.Phelma Barlow (Mavis from Corrie) and Joanne Froggat (Corrie,Lorna Doone and Bad Girls) are also in the programme. The Canteen Manager, keeps diappearing on the fire escape for a cig.He also doe hardly any work. (Typical Boss) The drama is one that grows on you as some things you don't reali8se straight away. The office staff are also amusing too. I didn't like how this drama ended it seemed false that a canteen was no longer needed.Not much notice was ... more

Dinner ladies, how in hell is this program even remotely funny. It just isn’t funny at all. Not in the slightest tiny, tiny, tiny little bit. It’s just annoying and shouldn’t be classed as a sitcom because there is no comedy included. I have never, ever heard one line on it that’s laughable to. It’s just annoying, very, very annoying. I don’t understand how it won awards, because quite frankly my pet dolphin could do better! I would be making a better sitcom if I had a pet dolphin trust me, and it would kick that rubbish off TV. ... more

Victoria Wood is and has always been a comic genius. Her writtings place her streets ahead of her peers and her comedy is so unique in style. Dinner ladies uses sarcasm to its full along with inuendoes and great characters to pull them off. The good thing about Victoria wood is that she will take the limelite off herself and allow the others to shine through. Julie Walters is a prime example of this and how they can do this without laughing god only know. Each episode must have taken an age to film with all the fun they must have had making it. Great use of comedy at its best. One liners that ... more