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Structure
Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 30 general entries.
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 dinnerladies
| In this Victoria Wood comedy, the character Bren, who is played by Victoria, spends both series of the show slowly falling in love with another worker in the canteen. She quickly gets her wish, however, and the two often spend time together throughout the programme. Who does Bren lust after? | "dinnerladies"
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Tony. Tony and Bren spend a lot of time together throughout the two series. In the second series, the two plan to go on holiday, but this plan is wrecked when Bren's mother, Petula (played by Julie Walters), blows up her caravan with Macedonian gas cylinders. In the second season, Bren and Tony ended up going to Scotland for Christmas.
| Of course, working in the canteen isn't all about love and scandal. Jane, who works in the human resources department, comes to the canteen every morning before the shutters go up. As soon as the kitchen opens, she orders the same thing virtually every day. What is her usual morning meal? | "dinnerladies"
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"Twelve rounds of white, low fat spread." - that's twelve pieces of white toast.. Jane is a short blonde woman who is often seen in conjuction with Phillipa, a willowy brunette who also works in Human Resources (formerly Personnel). Bren was meant to go on holiday with Jane and Tony to Spain, but never got around to it. She later saw photographs of Jane kissing Tony.
| Never one to miss out on an opportunity, we go on to Nana Mouskouri! Yes, she really did appear in one episode of the show. As Dolly and Jean walked into the canteen on the morning after it was found out that Bren was married, the two are talking about the Hellenic wonder. What exactly does Dolly think about our Nana? | "dinnerladies"
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"She's very tuneful for a Greek.". It really was inevitable. In the episode before this, it was found out that Bren was still married to Martin, a fact that none of the people working in the canteen knew. Even though she was about to divorce Martin, Tony took this the wrong way and it was down to Bren to patch up their relationship. This is also one of the episodes in which we see Babs, from Urmston. Because there's two ways to get to Urmston.
| And next, we come onto the outside staff in the show. There are a few delivery men and women, but by far the most important are the bread people. The main bread-deliverer, Norman, isn't often seen because he is agoraphobic, but how did he get into this state?
Hint - it's mentioned frequently throughout the show. | "dinnerladies"
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He fell off a diving board in Guernsey. A fact of which we are reminded every time we see him in the episode. He also has a problem with coconut matting and taking the stairs because of this, and in the first season, we often hear of him having panic attacks at the bottom of the fire escape.
| Next, we have Glen, which is short for Glenda. She's the second in command with the bread delivery service, but she isn't without her problems. She's had staples after surgery, and can't cope with going over, under, or around things. However, it's usually her fault that a certain kind of bread isn't delivered. What kind of bread? | "dinnerladies"
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Granary torpedoes. Instead of granary torpedoes, the canteen usually receives crusty bloomers as recompense, but in the episode "Catering", they get wholemeal pittas instead. Glenda, played by Sue Cleaver, played her biggest part in the episode "Catering", where a ladder gets stuck in the canteen whilst redecorating. She can't go over it, she can't go under it, and the canteen is being redecorated, so it all gets a little bit strange. In the end, Twinkle hits Jane over the head with a tin tray. Don't ask why - you really have to have seen the episode.
Anita's in-car blow-up doll. That is to say, he is a life size dummy that Anita places in her passenger seat so that she doesn't get car-jacked at night.. Malcolm the blow-up doll, who appears in most episodes when we see Anita come into the canteen, is also voiced by Anita, which means the group are accustomed to greeting both her and Malcolm at the same time. Here's a little background on Malcolm.
He's a smoker, but is never actually seen doing so (how can he? He has no lips). He has a deep booming voice, which is suspiciously similar to that of Anita, and he has interchangeable faces. He cannot walk (he's made of polyurethane), and is usually propped up outside the ladies' lavatory during the episodes.
| Phillipa, the tall willowy brunette from Human Resources (formerly Personnel), is partnered with Mr. Michael for most of the series, but decides to break up with him halfway through the second season. Why? | "dinnerladies"
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He's too dull, and she's sick of jigsaws.. Apparently, he's very good in bed and does a lot of plaintive, hopeful breathing in the morning, but she's just sick of jigsaws. Apparently, they have to finish the sky on one, before they start another on baked beans, and then, they're going on holiday. They're ripping up carpets in a flooded cottage in North Yorkshire, going to Dumfries to put down his 'barmy' aunt's dog, and then they're going to a three-day traditional jazz festival in Somerset.
| Stan the handyman often talks fondly about his father, Albert, until he sadly dies in the second season. What military division was Stan's father famously a part of? | "dinnerladies"
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The Desert Rats. Due to Albert's background, the group discusses which poems should be played at his funeral. "Love-letters in the sand" is put forward by Dolly, while Anita brings up "Little mice with clogs on", and Twinkle claims that "I wish I'd looked after me teeth", by Pam Eyres, would be a suitable poem.
| Where did Dolly and Jean work before they got their jobs in the factory canteen?
Hint: The two are often referring to this establishment, and commenting on how thing that happen in the canteen would never have happened in their old food preparation job. | "dinnerladies"
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The Cafe Bonbon. The Café Bonbon was, of course, a much more upmarket establishment than the one that Dolly and Jean work in now. But, as Jean's sister Peggy mentioned when she came to pick up her sister after the went over the edge of sanity, when they worked in the Café Bonbon, Dolly "used to be gargantuan!".
She was at the laundrette. Bren also uses this reason for her wearing a skirt in series two,
stating that 'all her leggings were at the service wash'.
Because she was born on Christmas Eve. Petula says this when introducing her daughter to her current boyfriend, petrol station worker Reg.
Malcolm. Stan is the caretaker, Tony is the manager and Pedda was Anita's boyfriend. Malcolm was a full size inflatable doll who accompanied her in the car for safety. The staff would speak to him as if he were real and Anita would put on a deeper accent to reply for him.
Marbella. Bren didn't go on holiday in the end as she gave her money to Petula to get her caravan fixed. This then prompted Bren's jelousy when she saw Tony and Jane's passionate holiday photo.
Totally Trivial. The host of the show said that Bren had taken the money she'd won from the previous day, when she had actually gone to visit a dying Petula in hospital and never even got to the studio.
Everyone is too old to notice they've been burgled. We asume that Dolly moves to Mobberly in the future as Bren gives her a sum of Petula's money, in the very last episode of the series, that she acquired from the hospital and told her to buy something for the new house in Mobberly.
On her chips. Jean's Mum: "I put it on me chips so I had no chance did I! Hence Jean..."
Fear of bread. Norman's most well-known phobia was of course agorophobia dating from the time when he 'fell off a diving board in Guernsey!'.
Glenda was talking him through his day while he fought his new bread-related phobia.
8. This piece of information was revealed in the episode 'Catering' (series two).
Twinkle: "They're dead 'ard to get out of, skips."
Dolly: "And how many skips have you found yourself in, thank you."
Twinkle: "Eight."
HWD Components. The factory worked overnight on one occasion because another factory was unable to complete an order and HWD took it over. It was a bit difficult for Bren, as they had a temporary replacement for Tony at the time and she had alienated everybody just prior to the news that they would be working overnight, and Bren was on her own.
A bacon sandwich. Bren and Tony make chips during the Christmas party (which upsets Dolly who had ‘not catered for chips, calorie-wise’), but for the Duke Bren made bacon butties; in return the Duke pretended to remember meeting Stan many years before when he visited his army camp ‘with that rascal, Philip’.
Lighthouse keeper. Earlier in the episode (‘nightshift’) Jean misreads the advert as being a ‘light housekeeper’ - taking it to read a job of light duties. Bren told Nicola that she needed a job where she was totally alone so she could not upset anyone, but was not expecting to be left totally alone in the kitchen for an unexpected overnight shift.
Butternut. Twinkle told Bren that she would not bother painting it at all, that she would have the whole place condemned because it was ‘manky, manky, manky!’. This episode (‘catering’) saw no actual catering take place because of the misunderstanding as to when the painting was going to be done.
Marbella. Tony wanted Bren to join the group, but she gave the money to her mother instead. It was a combination of Petula blowing up her caravan and Stan’s upset over his father’s death that caused her to change her mind about the money, but it did prove just how nice Bren was.
Her husband. They were alone in the canteen, checking out the Christmas tree lights when they kissed, and they came apart when they heard someone on the stairs. After Bren had switched the light back on, her husband came in and she introduced them.
Philippa. Philippa got into a real tizzy over the last-minute bits and pieces, and even screeched at Stan when he tried to tell her about the traffic situation. Of course, it didn’t help matters much that Jean and Dolly were going off at tangents in the discussion!
Viagra. There followed a lovely speech from Dolly regarding the effects of this drug on a woman - “What will it do when it gets down there and finds nothing to pump up?”. She also complained that she might start driving with one arm out of the open window, and having difficulties aiming at the toilet bowl.
Henry Kelly. Jean applied to the programme on Bren’s behalf while she was on Prozac; even though Bren initially was not pleased about being invited on the show, she went along and did very well for the first round. She was unable to get to the studio in time for the next so she did not try for the big prize.
A bouncy castle. She said that children would be lining up their shoes and paying to jump all over her. The uniforms were bad, though, dungarees with big bold stripes.
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