Housewife, 49

Written by and starring Victoria Wood, 'Housewife 49' was a lovely one-off drama that was perfect for a quiet, winter Sunday evening. Its broadcast also signifies that ITV may be moving in the right direction with its drama output; which has been truly awful this year, with embarrassments such as the ludicrous 'Bon Voyage'. However, the future looks promising as their winter schedules are packed with drama and improvement has been shown recently with 'Mysterious Creatures', the acclaimed final 'Prime Suspect' and this wartime tale.

The drama followed Nella Last (played by Victoria Wood in a nice change from her usual work in comedy) through the Second World War as she, against the wishes of her reserved husband, volunteers to aid the war effort with other housewives. Nella is initially ignored or looked down on by the other housewives, but, battling depression and low self-esteem, slowly gains their respect and admiration.

The performances are first-rate, from Wood's sympathetic portrait of a woman who is eager to please all, to David Threlfall (of 'Shameless' fame), who is magnificently restrained as Nella's husband, and when he finally shows some love to his wife it is irresistibly joyous. Excellent support comes from Stephanie Cole as an uptight housewife, and Ben Crompton and Christopher Harper as Nella's sons.

Overall, a very entertaining, tender and heart-warming piece of TV drama.

Nella Last's story deserved to be told even if in adapted guise long since. My greatest praise goes to Victoria Wood. As a comedian I always understood and was revived by her humour, wit and writing. But as a "so called serious actress" I was totally blown away by her performance in this. Far more so than in the delightful "Pat and Margaret". Stephanie Cole is up to her standard of excellency on this one, too and then some. The period art direction is almost flwaless. For a non-Britain it actually feels flawless...

Also: I simply adore the NOT-Hollywoodesque-nonsense ending.

Definitely 10 out of 10 for this one

As a long time fan of Ms Wood, I was very happy to watch this sojourn into the drama world. The writing contained her usual naturalistic flow, the evocation of 1940's Barrow was superb and the journey portrayed by Ms Wood as Ella was totally believable.

The subtle way in which she dealt with such issues as those raised by her son Cliff was heartening and again true of the period. Her grasp of the historical perspective, the way families lived and coped with the war was so very true and at the end of the film I was left with a sense of having witnessed real life not a drama.

Great acting from David Threlfall and Stephanie Cole.

The best thing on TV over Christmas by far!

"Housewife, 49" is a remarkable film in how it captures a picture of life that commonly goes unseen. Victoria Wood, the star of the film, is quite good. She offers a performance that's very easy to get into, full of emotional complexity and human depth. I was quite impressed by David Threlfall, who plays Wood's husband here. He convincingly captures a certain generation and personality of man that you don't often see on film. Not abusive or offensive, but emotionally distance and overly self-controlled. Stephanie Cole is good, but she isn't given much to work with here. The script tends to wander a bit too much at times. The entire subplot revolving around people reading the letters seems tacked-on and ultimately unnecessary.

I'm glad I saw this. It offers up a close human insight. The TV movie format holds things down a bit, but the best is made of it. "Housewife, 49" is a good film.

Comidienne Victoria Wood makes a surprisingly good straight actress in this drama, which lovingly recreates the atmosphere of the 1940s. Based on the real diaries of a depressed woman unexpectedly liberated by the war, it is, however, possessed of a certain slowness and obviousness, although the individual scenes are immaculately constructed. Overall, it lacks the human depth of Mike Leigh's 'Vera Drake', another portrait of the same times, as well as that film's dramatic intent. But it's funny to see David Threlfall playing a very different, but equally useless, man of the house, following his turn as Frank Gallacher in 'Shameless'.