The BBC has reported that Victoria Wood has died. 

She had been suffering from cancer and was 62.

Wood was a comedy pioneer both on the screen and onstage. After finding fame initially on TV talent show New Faces she made her name with numerous TV series, most notably with her regular partner Julie Walters. Her spoofs on As Seen On TV are as funny now as they ever were.

Her soap send-up Acorn Antiques was eventually made into a West End musical. Invites on the first night said: "dress hygenic". She also wrote the Two Soups sketch, starring Walters as a hapless waitress. 

She had a sitcom hit as well with dinnerladies, which co-starred Walters, Duncan Preston, who also worked regularly with her, and Maxine Peake. 

Onstage she was a phenomenal live performer, famously appearing for long runs at the Royal Albert Hall. She played there for 15 nights in 2001. Before the run she had been in hospital where she had been diagnosed with fibroids. Onstage she made a joke about not having heard about the condition: "Fibroids? I thought it was a breakfast cereal." It was one of ther first comedy shows I reviewed for the London Evening Standard and one of the few that I gave five stars.

It goes without saying that she influenced a generation of comedians. And not just female comedians.

I interviewed Victoria Wood when she was working on the musical version of Acorn Antiques. She had recently separated from her husband Geoffrey Durham and seemed to have a new lease of life. She spoke of her plans to do so many creative things from documentaries and more stage shows to more television work. There was the drama Housewife, 49, a documentary about tea in which she chatted with Morrissey, she co-produced and appeared in a comedy-drama about the early years of Morecambe and Wise and worked on many more projects.

She was awarded a CBE in 2008.

Read tributes to Wood here.

Watch Victoria Wood's classic Two Soups sketch here:

Watch Victoria Wood onstage here