I have an old Western Digital external HDD (80GB) and I think it has finally failed. Is there a company that can possibly recover the data from the drive to another external HDD?

The data isn't critical, but it is several years of photos and some of my wife's documents.

If it is dead oh well, my wife will hate me.

Check out an app called HDD Regenerator. It's hit or miss, but I've actually used it once a few years ago successfully. As for getting the platters serviced, be aware you're talking in the thousands to tens of thousands for recovery in many cases.