Comic Wood slams 'tiresome' Ali G

Victoria Wood won New Faces more than 30 years ago

Victoria Wood has attacked comic Sacha Baron Cohen for his character Ali G's "horrible" brand of "victim" humour.

Baron Cohen is known for his spoof interviews with public figures On his Channel 4 show Da Ali G.

He has as targeted the likes of Tony Benn and Judge James Pickles and taken his show to the US.

But Wood likened his act to "laughing at lunatics". "I find the endless setting up of 'victims' tiresome," she told Radio Times magazine.

She told the Radio Times magazine: "What I can't bear is something like Ali G, where half the people involved don't know what's going on.

"With so many good writers and good performers, it's a shame people can't just write a script and have other people learn it."

It's all got to be done by duping and it's horrible Victoria Wood

On his show, Baron Cohen asked Judge Pickles: "Is it all right to murder someone if they call your mum a slag?"

He also left Mr Benn temporarily speechless by saying: "Do you think people strike just 'cos they is lazy?"

Wood added: "It's all got to be done by duping and it's horrible, like laughing at lunatics."

Antique sketch

Wood rose to fame after winning the talent show New Faces in 1973, with her signature style of songs and stand-up.

Her latest project is a West End musical adaptation of her spoof soap opera Acorn Antiques, which opens at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket on 9 February.

The musical, which is written by Wood and directed by Trevor Nunn, reunites the cast of the original sketch first seen on television nearly 20 years ago.

Julie Walters and Wood herself share the role of Mrs Overall, while original cast members Celia Imrie and Duncan Preston also star.

"I didn't write it with the intention of having that cast," said Wood.

"It never occurred to me they'd want to be in it, and I certainly didn't want to be in it myself. I just wanted to write a musical and thought I'd get people from musical theatre.

"But when I mentioned it to Julie at my 50th birthday, she immediately said, 'Fantastic!' and once she'd agreed to do it, the others agreed, too."