VICTORIA WOOD SET FOR MORECAMBE AND WISE DRAMA

Victoria Wood starred in the 2007 drama Ballet Shoes

Comedian and actress Victoria Wood is to star in a TV drama about the early years of Morecambe and Wise, playing Eric Morecambe's mother.

The BBC drama chronicles the comedy duo's path from the child talent circuit to mainstream adult success.

The actors who will play Morecambe and Wise as children and adults have yet to be announced.

Doctor Who star Matt Smith is also set to appear in a BBC drama about the novelist Christopher Isherwood.

Isherwood wrote A Single Man, which was adapted into the 2010 Oscar-nominated film starring Colin Firth.

Precocious
The television play will chart how the writer left his domineering mother (played by Lindsay Duncan) for the decadent climate of 1930s Berlin.

Wood who won best actress and best single drama at the Baftas in 2007 for Housewife, 49, will take on the pushy role of Eric Morecambe's mother Sadie.

Morecambe was a reluctant child performer next to precocious star Ernie Wise, but went on to become the funnyman of the comic pairing.

The screenplay is by Peter Bowker, whose other credits include Blackpool and Occupation.

The new dramas have been announced as part of extra investment in BBC Two which will roll out over the next three years.

Transmission dates for the dramas are due to be announced at a later date.