Victoria Wood dies aged 62 - comedian loses 'short but brave' battle with cancer

The comedian died at her North London home surrounded by family and friends
Emma Powell21 April 2016
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Comedian Victoria Wood has died aged 62, following a "short but brave" battle with cancer.

Her publicist confirmed the news in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.

“Victoria Wood has sadly passed away, after a short but brave battle with cancer," the statement read.

"The multi BAFTA award-winning writer, director, actor and comedian died peacefully at her North London home with family this morning. She was 62.

"The family ask for privacy at this very sad time."

Victoria Wood - In pictures

1/17

Following the news, fans of the TV star took to Twitter to pay tribute, including Ricky Gervais who posted: "RIP the brilliant Victoria Wood. So innovative, funny and down to earth. This has not been a good year."

Kate Humble described her as "magnificent" while Derren Brown deemed her a "shy genius" and marked her death as the "end of an era".

Wood rose to fame after winning talent show New Faces and went on to establish herself as one of Britain's most popular stand-up comics before starring in shows including Victoria Wood As Seen on TV and ITV's award winning comedy, Dinnerladies.

She frequently collaborated with stars including Duncan Preston and most famously Julie Walters who she starred alongside in sketch show, Wood and Walters.

Her career saw her win four BAFTA awards for shows including ITV drama Housewife, 49, and she was also honoured with six British Comedy Awards.

She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 1997 before being appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2008.

Wood is survived by her daughter Grace and son Henry.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT