''Julie Walters and Friends'' is a fifty-five minute long, one-off comedy sketch show showcasing the talents of actress

Julie Walters Dame Julia Mary Walters (born 22 February 1950), known professionally as Julie Walters, is an English actress. She is the recipient of four British Academy Television Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two International Emmy Awards, a B ...

. Sketches were written by Walters' frequent collaborators:

Victoria Wood Victoria Wood (19 May 1953 – 20 April 2016) was an English comedian, actress, lyricist, singer, composer, pianist, screenwriter, producer and director. Wood wrote and starred in dozens of sketches, plays, musicals, films and sitcoms over se ...

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two ...

Willy Russell William Russell (born 23 August 1946) is an English dramatist, lyricist and composer. His best known works are ''Educating Rita'', ''Shirley Valentine'', '' Blood Brothers'' and ''Our Day Out''. Early life Russell was born in Whiston, Lancash ...

and Alan Bleasdale. Walters features in every sketch, mostly portraying new characters, though in one, she reprises Mrs Murray, her character from '' G.B.H.'', written by Bleasdale.

Sketches

Part 1: *"Jayne Mansfield's Balls", written by and featuring Victoria Wood *Tribute from Victoria Wood *"Mary Brazzle", written by Victoria Wood Part 2: *"Seating Arrangements", written by and featuring Victoria Wood *Tribute from Alan Bennett *"A Wife of Crime", written by Alan Bennett *"Between the Lines", song written by Victoria Wood *Tribute from Willy Russell *"I Hate Poets", written by and featuring Willy Russell Part 3: *"A People Person", written by and featuring Victoria Wood *"Tales of Old", written by and featuring Victoria Wood *Tribute from Alan Bleasdale *"All About Michael", written by Alan Bleasdale *"1920s Old Bag", written by Victoria Wood Titles for sketches and songs taken from the DVD liner notes. Other sources published by the writers at the time of the broadcast used alternative titles. Alan Bennett's sketch was referred to as ''My Niche''; Victoria Wood's song was referred to as ''A Modern Romance''; Willy Russell's sketch was ''Bring Back Hughie Green''; and the final two sketches by Wood in Part 3 were ''Blackcurrant Sorbet'' and ''A Decent Send Off''. The opening sketch was always referred to by Wood by the DVD title, but has been previously listed in some sources as ''Red Balls''. Bleasdale's sketch was never previously named but was sometimes referred to as ''Go Out Dancing''.

Production

The show was made by

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...

for

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

and recorded at

South Bank Television Centre The London Studios (also known as The South Bank Studios, The London Television Centre, ITV Tower, Kent House and LWT Tower) in Lambeth, Central London was a television studio complex owned by ITV plc and originally built for London Weekend ...

. It was produced by Nicholas Barrett and directed by Alasdair Macmillan. The show was nominated for the Best Light Entertainment (Programme or Series) award at the 1992 BAFTAs.

Home media

The show was released on VHS and later on Region 2 DVD. The DVD was also included in a set of Victoria Wood's work for ITV.

References

External links

* 1991 television specials ITV sketch shows {{UK-tv-prog-stub