#20260812 – Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings – Rusty Staples
The much-missed Victoria Wood featured an issue of a classic British comic in her Christmas show Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings first broadcast on 25th December 2000.
In the show’s opening sketch, Victoria plays a secret agent conducting a clandestine meeting with another agent on the London Eye, said other agent surreptitiously hiding behind a comic…
Why, it’s our old pal The Beano again…
Launched on 30th July 1938, and still going — it’s around issue 4346 now, I think — The Beano (or just Beano now: it dropped the definite article back in October 2016) is Britain’s longest-running and arguably most successful comic.
This particular issue of The Beano is #3044, cover-dated 18th November 2000, a mere five weeks before the show was broadcast.
In the sketch, the other agent lowers the comic to reveal that he’s played by the former James Bond actor Roger Moore (the woman who directs Victoria to the London Eye is Deborah Moore, Roger’s daughter)…
… Then he identifies himself by asking Victoria, “Do you like Roger the Dodger, or do you prefer Minnie the Minx?”
He goes on: “Pretty river, isn’t it? I was brought up in Rotherhithe. Seven of us in a damp cellar. My mother took in mending. Never saw her without a mouthful of pins. TB, and a mouthful of pins. One day she had a fit of coughing and stapled two of us to the curtains.”
Shortly afterwards, he sits opposite her and says, “I’m having a little difficulty in a certain area.” He opens the comic and shows it to her: “You know our friend, of course…”
“Oh, that’s Dennis the Menace!” He turns to the correct page.
I won’t spoil the sketch’s punchline, but if you’re familiar with Victoria Wood’s writing you won’t be surprised to learn that it’s a good un’.
There aren’t any more comics in the rest of the show, but Ms Wood often referred to The Bunty in her sketches, show and stand-up routines, plus a 1985 sketch on Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV features a sketch about the making of Bessie!, a musical about Bessie Bunter… Not to mention that Maxine Peake’s character in Wood’s brilliant sitcom dinnerladies was called Twinkle.
Further Comic Connections:
Victoria Wood (writer and various characters) played “Snotsoup” in the 2015 miniseries adaptation of Fungus the Bogeyman.
Susie Blake (Phyllis Willis) voiced a character in the 1990 animated movie adaptation of the Wicked Willie newspaper strip.
James Bolam (various characters) played Andy Capp in the 1988 six-episode TV adaptation of the newspaper strip.
Richard E. Grant (various characters) voiced the lead in the Captain Star animated show in 1997 (based on Stephen Appleby’s comic Rockets Passing Overhead), played Preston in Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties (2006), Dr. Zander Rice in Logan (2017), and Classic Loki in two episodes of the Marvel TV series Loki (2021).
Charlie Hicks (boy) played Tom in the 2004 miniseries adaptation of Fungus the Bogeyman.
Celia Imrie (various characters) played Mary Xavier in series 6, episode 7 of Legends of Tomorrow.
Derek Jacobi (various characters) played Erasmus Fry in the episode “Calliope” of The Sandman (2022).
Robert Lindsay (various characters) played Glynn Fennell in the 1996 episode “Ear Today… Gone Tomorrow” of Tales from the Crypt.
Bill Paterson (various characters) played Dr. John Hathaway in the episode: “Sleep of the Just” of The Sandman (2022).
Billie Piper (self) played Isadora Capri in season 2 of Wednesday (2025).
Kate Robbins (self) voiced a character in the 1990 Wicked Willie TV movie, and its 1991 sequel Wicked Willie Rides Again.
Anna Wing (receptionist) played “Old Woman” in the 2004 miniseries adaptation of Fungus the Bogeyman.
And Not Only That…
Pierce Brosnan (who only appears in the photo above so I’m not sure it really counts) played Dr. Fate in Black Adam (2022).
Philip Jackson (Willis) wasn’t in any properly comic-related movies or shows as far as I know, but he did play the baddie in the comic that comes to life in the video for A-Ha’s debut single “Take On Me.”
Bob Monkhouse (self) also didn’t appear in any comic-related material, but he was a comic writer and artist himself, and an enthusiastic collector. We don’t have a complete bibliography but it’s known that Monkhouse wrote and/or drew strips for Streamline Comics, Oh Boy! Comics, Fizz, Modern Comics, All Fun Comic, The Dandy, The Beano, Adventure, The Hotspur and The Wizard. Along with his schoolfriend and noted comics historian Denis Gifford he formed the publishing company Streamline in the 1950s which specialised in reprinting US material: see Before Marvel UK.
