Dinnerladies | |
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The title card from the first episode, showing the canteen in which the show is set
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Genre | Sitcom |
Created by | Victoria Wood |
Written by | Victoria Wood |
Directed by | Geoff Posner |
Starring | |
Theme music composer | Victoria Wood |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of series | 2 |
No. of episodes | 16 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) |
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Producer(s) |
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Location(s) | BBC Television Centre |
Camera setup | Multi-camera |
Running time | 27–29 minutes |
Production company(s) |
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Distributor | Universal Playback (DVD) |
Release | |
Original network | BBC One |
Picture format | 576i (4:3 SDTV) |
Original release | 12 November 1998 | – 27 January 2000
External links | |
Website |
Dinnerladies (stylised in lowercase as dinnerladies) is a British sitcom created, written and co-produced by Victoria Wood. Two series were broadcast on BBC One from 1998 to 2000, with 16 episodes in total. The programme is repeated on Gold, and the complete series was released on DVD in November 2004.
The series is set entirely in the canteen of HWD Components, a fictional factory in Manchester, featuring the caterers and regular customers as the main characters. It depicts the lives and social and romantic interactions of the staff, and is centred around the main character Brenda Furlong (Wood).
The first series won the 1999 Rose d'Or Press Award and "Best New TV Comedy" at the 1999 British Comedy Awards, and the second won "Best TV Comedy" in 2000. The show has also been nominated for the British Academy Television Award for "Best Comedy (Programme or Series)" and the "Situation Comedy Award" in 1998 and 1999 respectively. It came 28th in the BBC's Britain's Best Sitcom poll in 2004.
At the beginning of the first series, we are introduced to the main characters, a group of mostly female and middle-aged canteen workers in Northern England: the main character is the kind and dependable Brenda 'Bren' Furlong (played by Victoria Wood), whose relationship with sarcastic and exhausted canteen manager Tony Martin (Andrew Dunn), develops through the show.
The prim and prudish Dolly Bellfield (Thelma Barlow) and her waspish friend Jean (Anne Reid) are also featured, as well as the younger pair of the snarky Twinkle (Maxine Peake), who is always late, and the ditzy but mild-mannered Anita (Shobna Gulati).