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.

Not having seen the original Talking Heads that debuted over 30 years ago, I was keen to watch this special pandemic rendition of Talking Heads which revived 10 of the episodes from series 1 and 2. Alan Bennett wrote 2 new ones pre-pandemic. The tone is subtle yet searing at times. Some episodes work better than others, but still worth watching.

Hopefully it won't take another pandemic for Alan to bring back Talking Heads for another series. I'd like to see Danny Dyer, any of the Harry Potter stars, any of the Spice Girls, Ant or Dec make an appearance in a new series.

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?

I've loved it ! My particular favorite is Martin Freeman in A Chip in the Sugar. Such an amazing performance !

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.