Alan Bennett's Talking Heads

Stunning!

Martin Freeman is awesome in "A chip in the sugar" but Imelda Staunton is sublime in "A lady of letters". Every aspiring actor hoping to win an audition should study this episode as a guide to what acting is.

Alan Bennett is a national treasure. His writing is prosaic but at the same time stunningly beautiful.

I did feel a little uncomfortable with some of the subject matter but Bennett takes no prisoners... life is what life is.

I seem to remember I was uninterested in this revamp of Talking Heads when broadcast, thinking why try to improve on perfection. Then I recently learned there was a new monologue included with Sarah Lancashire, who I revere, talking of an incestuous love for her son; a close friend had that experience so I was very interested and acquired the set. It is a very quiet piece, tragic and moving. Of course I then felt it would be silly not to listen to the rest and it was, as I expected, a deeply disappointing experience. Not that the cast is not a stellar collection of current british acting talent, but just that I am far too fond of the originals. They travel through life with me on my ipod of the moment, Routledge, Hird, Wilton, Bennett, Cole, Atkins - Ive listened a hundred times and they really don't stale and though I know what's coming, I travel on. Mostly with these modern iterations I either started or took a slice from the middle, and I confess there wasn't a single one I listened to in its entirety. Except The Shrine, which is new and nicely done. While I can't say along with one amazon reviewer 'the original was the best' I have to say I do think it may be the case, but one is partial. For those reviewers who say they haven't seen the originals, they are available for a song on ebay. Whatever, the writing remains subtle, surprising, and layered, the common theme being, as Bennett said, 'people in situations to which they are not entirely privy.' But that's all of us, no?

These all are basically a master class in acting. All done with such an intimate and revealing insight. The sense you get while watching is that although the circumstances of our lives may differ the emotional crises we go through are universal. We can all experience moments of true happiness but suffer all the same. Of course some stories grip you more than others but for the most part there's always a sense of sympathy or relatability brought on by these performances.

Lovely to see the 'Talking Heads' format being revived, with new people reading some of the classics from 32 years ago, with Bennett also penning some new ones.

Nice to have something a bit different on the BBC.

Enjoyed a few of these, but they were a little too long and a little dated. For Example, Jodie Comer (Episode 4) performed superbly, but her talking about "Crossroads" on the tv when she clearly wouldn't have been born, could have been updated to Corrie or Eastenders. Excellent all the same, except for Jodie's Accent changes, which were All Over the Place!