Victoria Wood ‘kept cancer illness private from colleagues’ before her death

Her entertainment partner Julie Walters described the loss as 'incalculable'

(Getty Images)

Victoria Wood, who has died after a short cancer illness, kept it private from colleagues, her friend has claimed.

Wood passed away at her north London home surrounded by family on Wednesday, she was 62.

Duncan Preston who starred in Dinnerladies and As Seen on TV with Wood told the Daily Mail he didn’t know she was ill until he received news of her death from her family.

“I don’t think may people did know,” he said. “She’d had cancer for about six months.”

Preston also described his shock at her passing in an article for the Daily Mirror. “The world has lost a great, great comedienne. She was more than a national treasure, she was the champion of the common people,” he wrote.

Preston’s tribute comes as another one of her best-known collaborators Julie Walters said she was “too heart-sore to comment” but in a statement described the loss of Wood as “incalculable”.

Ricky Gervais, Miranda Hart and others from the world of entertainment have also paid tribute to the comedy icon.

Additional reporting by the Press Association.