Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV (1985)

Victoria Wood wrote this BBC Two series, which ran from 1985 to 1987, and the writing is the reason to watch: bittersweet, keenly observed Northern comedy, in sketches and songs that mostly celebrate and send up her love of television. The essential sketch is Acorn Antiques, a spoof of a wobbly low-budget soap, and it gave Julie Walters one of her most famous characters, the elderly tea lady Mrs. Overall. Wood's ear for dialogue is the draw throughout: the comedy is all in the delivery, and it is generous to the people it laughs at.