Editing Dinnerladies (TV series) (section)

==Production==
===Writing===
{{quote box
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|quote="I do get very lonely and I nearly jacked it in [...]<!-- about April. --> I thought it was very bad and I couldn't write comedy any more."
|source=— [[Victoria Wood]]<ref name=rt />
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The series was written entirely by Victoria Wood, with no additional contributors or script editor. Wood approached writing by allowing plots to develop from interactions between characters, rather than fitting characters into pre-determined storylines.<ref name=uktvabout>{{cite web|title=Dinnerladies|url=https://gold.uktv.co.uk/dinnerladies/article/about-dinnerladies/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220129133036/https://gold.uktv.co.uk/dinnerladies/article/about-dinnerladies/|url-status=dead|archive-date=29 January 2022|publisher=UKTV|access-date=25 September 2024}}</ref>

She wrote the whole six-episode first series in one month; however, she found the second series much harder to write, and even though it had only four more episodes, it took her six months. Wood has attributed this to pressure to do everything herself and loneliness, and has said that she even considered giving up because she thought her scripts were of low quality.<ref name=uktvabout />

Wood deliberately ended the programme after two series, and the final episode of the second was designed to conclude it. She has said that she "[doesn't] normally do anything twice", but felt that a second series was necessary to do the show justice, and that she knew where to take the show after seeing it air and understanding "what people [have] taken from it". She mentioned the short run of ''[[Fawlty Towers]]'' when explaining why she planned not to continue the series further.<ref name=rt /> However, in a televised BBC TV documentary about the history of situation comedy at the corporation, Wood complained that the series had been axed by the BBC, despite it being what she described as "a show they couldn't kill".{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

===Filming===
Involving only one set throughout its run (with the exception of quiz show and hospital sets which are both seen on a television screen in the last two episodes), ''dinnerladies'' was entirely filmed at the London [[Television Centre, London|BBC Television Centre]] in front of a live [[studio audience]],<ref name=rt>{{cite magazine|last=Rees|first=Jasper|title=Dinnerladies is served|url=http://www2.prestel.co.uk/cello/Dinnerladiesisserved.htm|magazine=Radio Times|access-date=28 August 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608014242/http://www2.prestel.co.uk/cello/Dinnerladiesisserved.htm|archive-date=8 June 2011}}</ref><ref name=wos>{{cite web|last=Cohen|first=Rebecca|title=Sue Devaney on....Dinnerladies|url=http://www.whatsonstage.com/features/theatre/london/E8831251353392/Sue+Devaney+on....Dinnerladies.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130209040836/http://www.whatsonstage.com/features/theatre/london/E8831251353392/Sue+Devaney+on....Dinnerladies.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 February 2013|publisher=WhatsOnStage.com|access-date=28 August 2012}}</ref> employing a [[multiple-camera setup]].<ref name=independent>{{cite news|last=Walker|first=Tim|title=The return of the sitcom|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/the-return-of-the-sitcom-2201279.html|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=28 August 2012|location=London|date=2 February 2011}}</ref> Other locations such as characters' homes and other parts of the factory are only referred to in conversation.

The set was intended to be as realistic as possible, and even featured a functioning catering toaster from which the studio audience were served toast during filming.<ref name=hull>{{cite web|title=Making a date with the ladies who do lunch|url=http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/MAKING-DATE-LADIES-LUNCH/story-11962030-detail/story.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130505093221/http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/MAKING-DATE-LADIES-LUNCH/story-11962030-detail/story.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 May 2013|publisher=This is Hull and East Riding|access-date=29 August 2012}}</ref>

Punchlines were generally delivered at a fast pace with dialogue usually only pausing to allow audience laughter to settle. Each episode was filmed twice in front of two separate audiences, once on a Friday and again on a Saturday.<ref name=":0" /> This gave cast members two attempts to perfect a scene and, if necessary, the opportunity to correct mistakes without having to repeat a joke to the same audience.<ref name=rt /> This also gave Wood the opportunity to make script changes that she felt might improve each episode.<ref name=rt />

The series' director and producer was [[Geoff Posner]], and the executive producers were Philip McIntyre and [[David Tyler (producer)|David Tyler]];<ref name=bbcs1e1>{{cite web|title=Dinnerladies: Monday|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00fcrm6|publisher=BBC|access-date=29 August 2012}}</ref> the programme was co-produced by Victoria Wood's production company Good Fun and Posner's [[Pozzitive Television]].{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

Wood reprised her character Bren for the BBC's ''[[Shaggy Dog Story (TV)|Shaggy Dog Story]]'' in 1999.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

===Music===
{{Unreferenced section|date=June 2024}}
The show's theme music was composed by Victoria Wood. It is usually played without lyrics, but at the end of the episodes "Minnellium" and "Toast", vocals which were also written and performed by Wood were included.