Wood splits from husband

Friends of Victoria Wood and Geoffrey Durham said today the couple "just drifted apart" as news of their separation after 22 years of marriage was announced.

The 49-year-old comedienne and actress said their decision to split was made with "great sadness" and insisted no one else was involved.

One friend of the couple, who live in Highbury, said: "Victoria and Geoffrey simply drifted apart. I think they outgrew each other. It has come as a tremendous shock to their friends. They haven't decided what to do about their living arrangements, although I suspect Victoria will stay in their Highbury home and he will move out.

"Both are still close friends and intend for their relationship to stay that way."

Her spokesman, Neil Reading, said: "The separation is entirely amicable - there are no other parties involved. They have asked for their privacy to be respected."

The pair are now discussing arrangements and say their priority is to ensure their two children, Grace, 14, and Henry, 10, are protected. The split has come as a shock in showbusiness circles because their marriage was considered one of the strongest in the industry.

The couple met in the Seventies when they were struggling actors in the North. Wood described the meeting as "love at first sight."

They were viewed as the perfect item but Wood's career took off, while his was often overshadowed.

Now an OBE, Wood shot to fame after winning the ITV talent show New Faces in 1974 and went on to success with her own comedy show tours and a number of television series, including Dinnerladies.

Durham, 53, who regularly appears on the Channel 4 show Countdown, is on a tour of Britain with his magic show.

Wood, who had years of therapy to overcome a compulsive eating addiction, has said that she doesn't see herself as a wife.

She said: "I think of myself as a comedienne, a mother, a person. But definitely not as a wife and I think of Geoffrey and me as living together.

"We used to fight to try to change each other, but since we both had therapy, life has become more peaceful.

"Our problem was that we did everything together, lived together, worked together. Then we had children and I pushed him out for a while."