 in 1976.She met long-term collaborator Julie Walters in the early 1970s, when Wood applied for Manchester Polytechnic, and coincidentally met again when they appeared in the same theatre revue "In at the Death" in 1978 (for which Wood wrote a brief sketch).Its success led to the commissioning of Wood's first play "Talent" (in 1978), starring Hazel Clyne (in a role originally written for Walters), for which Wood won an award for the Most Promising New Writer.