Dinnerladies at 25: why the sitcom is Victoria Wood's greatest achievement

• Twenty-five years ago today, the first episode of dinnerladies was broadcast (and, yes, that lower-case “D” is deliberate), titled Mondays (though it was a Thursday). After a quarter of a century, most sitcoms show their age. The shooting style looks stiff, the canned laughter sounds hollow, or the jokes have the yellowing patina of yesteryear. But the best never grow old.