Victoria Wood changed my life!

That’s exactly what happened to Sally Bankes who says of Victoria Wood: “It was the privilege of my life to have known her the way I did.”

Sally, 56, was a leading contributor at the recent tribute to Victoria at The Met in Bury, which saw friends and colleagues – including Duncan Preston and Thelma Barlow – reminiscing fondly about the comedy legend.

Victoria mentored, supported and gave Sally roles in two of her biggest projects.

“She was an amazing woman and was the most supportive person both creatively and personally.”

Sally first became enchanted with Victoria back in 1978 when she saw the television version of Talent, Victoria’s award-winning first play.

“I just thought she was so ordinary and because I’m not glamorous I realised that you didn’t have to be glamorous to make people laugh. She was hilarious in her observational humour. Her act was based on those things that we all think but don’t say out loud. I thought: ‘That’s what I want to do’.”

However, to please her parents, Sally joined NatWest Bank at the age of 17, relegating her acting ambitions to a hobby.

“I joined local theatre groups where I met some really fantastic and inspiring people. It was a lovely hobby but I was never brave enough to say that I wanted to go to drama school.

“I had a really lovely career at the bank for 20 years. I did a lot of training and team-leading and progressed through the ranks to become a manager. I found that role difficult because I was very much a customer service girl. That to me was about performing, it was like being on stage.”

When she turned 36, Sally lost a close friend to cancer, and then her mother was also diagnosed with the condition. It made her re-examine her life.

“I thought if I die tomorrow I’m going to regret not having a try at being a professional actor.”

She began researching, paid off her mortgage and set aside some money to see her through.

While she was still at the bank, she took a week’s holiday to attend a course on television acting at the Actors’ Studio in London.

“It was the best £300 I ever spent.”

Sally admits she was terrified on her last day at the bank but her courage paid off and, even without an agent, she landed a small part in the Kay Mellor series, Fat Friends.

“I wrote to Kay Mellor directly, explaining my background and describing myself as ‘the thinking man’s Pauline Quirke’.

“It was a glorified extra role but, crucially, my character had a name and occasional lines. It was the best place because I could sit and see what went on on a telly set and learn without any pressure on me. I could watch Alison Steadman work and watch Ruth Jones and James Corden form their magnificent partnership, and I could sit and ask pertinent questions about the business to Meera Syal.

“I learned so much and was invited back for the second series. That was my three years at drama college.”

She then got a London-based agent and found herself working at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford and voicing a Lego character for a CD Rom, amongst other things.

It was while going for an audition that she had her first encounter with the woman who would change her life.

“The lift door was closing at the underground so I called out for the person in there to hold it.

“It was Victoria! I just wanted to tell her that she was marvellous and she was the reason I was now doing what I was doing. I made a bit of a fool of myself by telling her how much I admired her and how it was a pleasure sharing a lift with her. She smiled politely and thanked me and then she was gone.”

The next time their paths crossed it was more fortuitous.

Sally had gone down to London to audition for a role in a television film.

“I read the script on the train and as it pulled into Euston I thought I’d check who I was supposed to be meeting at television centre. When I found out it was Victoria I let out a scream.”

The audition could not have gone any better and Sally won the role of nosy neighbour Mrs Whittaker in Housewife, 49, which Victoria wrote and starred in.

“We really bonded on that set and I became friends with Vic, not just a colleague. It was a blessing to spend time with her, we chatted and she gave me lots of tips. She even wrote more lines for my character.”

One day during filming, Sally spent hours in make-up and wardrobe only to find there had been a scheduling mix-up and she wasn’t needed that day.

“Vic said that it wasn’t fair to put me through all that for nothing so she wrote me some dialogue there and then. It was one of the funniest lines in the film, which shows what a genius she was.”

Victoria wanted Sally to appear in her stage musical That Day We Sang but because Sally had got a six-month filming contract in Budapest, it was impossible.

“I told her how scared I was because it was a big production and was being produced by Ridley Stott. Vic just sat me down and said: ‘It’s only acting, and you’re really good at that, Sally.’ It’s those little nuggets of hers that I treasure.”

By the time Sally got a role in the ten-month touring production of Acorn Antiques, which Victoria also directed, the two had become firm friends and Victoria would greet Sally with a big hug and call her ‘Banksey’.

“We became friends for life on that tour. It cemented my place in her little gang because she knew she could trust me and we communicated with each other outside of work.”

When That Day We Sang transferred to Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre, Sally was finally able to accept the significant role of Dorothy, as well as the role of Pauline.

She was down to reprise the role in the television version starring Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton. However, filming had to be brought forward so it clashed with the theatre run meaning Sally couldn’t accept it.

“Vic was very apologetic and she told me I would have been really funny in it, but it was not to be,” said Sally.

She remained in contact with Victoria and knew she was ill, but not to what extent.

Victoria tragically died of cancer on April 20, 2016, at the age of 62.

“I think all our lives were a little poorer from that days onwards,” said Sally sadly.

But thanks to Victoria’s faith and belief in her, and her genuine friendship, Sally will forever have a special place in her heart for the inspirational ‘Vic’.