{"id":242811,"date":"2026-01-13T19:45:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T19:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/242811\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T19:45:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T19:45:07","slug":"dont-forget-marti-caines-place-in-comedy-history-tv-comedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/242811\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t forget Marti Caine\u2019s place in comedy history | TV comedy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">With regard to your review of the new Victoria Wood documentary (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/film\/2026\/jan\/09\/becoming-victoria-wood-review-intimate-and-hilarious-portrait-of-the-trailblazing-standup\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">9 January<\/a>), while I\u2019ve no wish to diminish Wood\u2019s genius or the challenges that she faced, it feels a bit of a stretch to say that by 1985 there was \u201cdoubt that a woman could front a comedy programme, let alone a northern woman\u201d. The great and often overlooked Marti Caine (who hailed from Sheffield and who, like Wood, had featured on ITV\u2019s New Faces) had already fronted five or six series of her own before As Seen On TV came along.<br \/>Colin Daffern <br \/>Salford, Greater Manchester<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\"> The pride Jonny Yaxley has in his work as a gravedigger at a natural burial ground made up of meadow and woodland, and his peaceful acceptance of the inevitability of death, made the article about him an unexpectedly moving read (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/lifeandstyle\/2026\/jan\/09\/experience-best-gravedigger-britain-good-funeral-awards\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Experience, 9 January<\/a>). There can be few better places to rest a while than under a tree in a meadow. <br \/>Sue Barton<br \/>Sessay, North Yorkshire<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\"> When I first read that Donald Trump had said that the only thing limiting his power as commander in chief was his \u201cmorality\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/jan\/08\/trump-power-international-law\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Report, 8 January<\/a>), I misread it as \u201cmortality\u201d. Perhaps that would have been more accurate.<br \/>Margaret Roberts<br \/>Sheffield<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\"> As an expatriate north-easterner from County Durham, I\u2019ve always considered that the north doesn\u2019t start until one crosses the Tees (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/lifeandstyle\/2026\/jan\/09\/when-actions-speak-louder-than-words\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Letters, 9 January<\/a>). <br \/>Gordon Blunt<br \/>Market Harborough, Leicestershire<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\"> The north does not begin in Sheffield. The north ends there. <br \/>Pete Bibby<br \/>Sheffield <\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\"> Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/tv-and-radio\/2026\/jan\/13\/mailto:guardian.letters@theguardian.com?body=Please%20include%20your%20name,%20full%20postal%20address%20and%20phone%20number%20with%20your%20letter%20below.%20Letters%20are%20usually%20published%20with%20the%20author%27s%20name%20and%20city\/town\/village.%20The%20rest%20of%20the%20information%20is%20for%20verification%20only%20and%20to%20contact%20you%20where%20necessary.\" data-link-name=\"in body link \" https:=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">email<\/a> us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/tone\/letters\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">letters<\/a> section.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With regard to your review of the new Victoria Wood documentary (9 January), while I\u2019ve no wish to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,282],"class_list":{"0":"post-242811","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}