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.
14 Reviews
Excellent platform for actors
lindseywhitburn31 October 2020
A Well-Performed Covers Album
owen-watts22 September 2020
A series of no-brainers led to the belated rebirth of Alan Bennett's seminal TV monologues series "Talking Heads" in the era of the pandemic. After a quick whip-round and you get some of the finest British actors of the modern era and reduced production crews almost doing a "greatest hits" run through on the hauntingly empty sets of Eastenders.
So - not much new here materialwise and mainly of interest for a series of powerful performances - only some cod northern accents spoil the fun but no one is below excellent and I was particularly moved by both Jodie Comer and Tamsin Greig. The best is still undoubtedly the evergreen Lady of Letters performed by the superlative Imelda Staunton. Of the two "new" ones written in 2019, An Ordinary Woman is rather too disturbingly incestuous to even be engaging and The Shrine is unexpectedly touching and majestically done by Monica Dolan. They hardly feel out of step with the originals, either way.
In British culture the Alan Bennett monologue is a well-trodden presentation - and the sparse magnetism and sharp writing is dulled somewhat by how chokingly regimented the single-person narratives have to be. The very slow zoom. The sitting down and fondling a teacup. Those constant fades to black. It's difficult to make it seem or feel dynamic and in the era of experimental TV anthologies like Inside No. 9 or Room 104 settling in for half an hour of stiff theater can be rather tedious.
However - given the times we are in, no-brainer or not, it does feels very apt and in these loooong barely edited performances you do get to really appreciate just how skilled these actors are, it's just a shame the majority aren't the first ones to read it.
So - not much new here materialwise and mainly of interest for a series of powerful performances - only some cod northern accents spoil the fun but no one is below excellent and I was particularly moved by both Jodie Comer and Tamsin Greig. The best is still undoubtedly the evergreen Lady of Letters performed by the superlative Imelda Staunton. Of the two "new" ones written in 2019, An Ordinary Woman is rather too disturbingly incestuous to even be engaging and The Shrine is unexpectedly touching and majestically done by Monica Dolan. They hardly feel out of step with the originals, either way.
In British culture the Alan Bennett monologue is a well-trodden presentation - and the sparse magnetism and sharp writing is dulled somewhat by how chokingly regimented the single-person narratives have to be. The very slow zoom. The sitting down and fondling a teacup. Those constant fades to black. It's difficult to make it seem or feel dynamic and in the era of experimental TV anthologies like Inside No. 9 or Room 104 settling in for half an hour of stiff theater can be rather tedious.
However - given the times we are in, no-brainer or not, it does feels very apt and in these loooong barely edited performances you do get to really appreciate just how skilled these actors are, it's just a shame the majority aren't the first ones to read it.
So wonderful to have some real talent on BBC
Cjchiv24 June 2020
Only seen the 1st three but so happy to see real actors and wonderful writing, I'm so sick of all the reality shows and repeat of films on all the channels it was enlightening to see such talent. I look forward to seeing the rest of the series and will add to this review at the end of the series.
AMAZING!
flamegirllu25 June 2020
How to act!
glenmale26 October 2020
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.
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 lovelier the second time around
globewarmer27 April 2022
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?
Jodie Comer was Superb
daveym-649-44496227 June 2020
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!
Alan Bennett's Talking Heads 2020
studioAT24 June 2020
Talking Heads returns
safenoe2 November 2020
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.
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.
Great acting. Interesting but repetitive scripts. Bleak+++
jim-mckillop13 July 2020
I've watched the first 7 of these programmes. The acting has been uniformly excellent. The scripts are interesting and subtle but seem a bit repetitive after a few episodes. The tone is uniformly bleak and usually full of suppressed anger. I'm not sure if I can take any more!!
Dull, unimaginative and repetitive.
lurpak1 July 2020
Warning: Spoilers
"If you've seen one, you've seen them all", mother used to say as we sat at the breakfast table.she always sat there for serious discussion.
"It's all sex and that, unrequilted love" she said, of course she meant unrequited, but I knew what she meant.
"Have you been to the allotments?", she was right of course, about seeing one, seeing all.
"aye, I went yesterday" I said, I hadn't, but she wouldn't know.
That's Alan Bennett. Rinse and repeat, throw in some thing out the ordinary usually some narrative of a forbidden sexual encounter that he's trying to mitigate, and a passive aggressive dig at some racial grouping, just once mind, as not to make it the feature of the ramble, usually Indian, harping back to the 60s mindset he never really left behind, casual racism that were meant to think comes from the mind of some suburban housewife, so he can maintain cognitive dissonance from his own narrative, There must be one in every episode, then he will make some statement as thought the character is accepting of that culture....at a distance, as though he has the right to be a judge and then benevolent with his acceptance, "applaud me, I'm live and let live". while he projects this abstract acceptability of mitigation for perceived societal sexual deviations for his own middle class mind.
Meanwhile you've set up a minor twist, that comes as no shock to anyone, as you reveal it in quarterly sections, little hint a quarter of the way in, a little reinforcement of if halfway, big confirmation 3/4 of the way through, followed by quiet reflection of the shock, opinion, and acceptance of the last act. Which probably mentions the original opening clue as a closing statement, to show you that the clues were there all along.
As for the wooden, predictable staring out of the windows of the actors. Clearly none of them got to see any of the others works, and all opted to go for the same basic drama 101. Deep in thought, pause, look off from the camera, wait, 3,2,1, next line. Or juicy gossip you have to say with immediacy. Look into the camera, say the line, pull face afterwards to reflect smaller or "what do you think of that?" expression.
It is great to return drama to the tv, play for today is long missed. But it's about time the world woke up to the fact that Alan Bennett has one story, that he's been piping out for his, and our lifetimes. The tragedy is, most people can't see it.
I clicked contains spoilers, but that's an understatement, I've just about spoiled everything Bennett has ever written.because it's all the same, made more evident by watching this series in quick succession.
Independently, if no other er Bennett work was around, then for sure, excellent, imaginative. Cutting and thought provoking. It's when you see all these works together, and reflect on them and his others, you suddenly realise...they're all the same.
"Aye, you've seen one, you've seen them all".
That's Alan Bennett. Rinse and repeat, throw in some thing out the ordinary usually some narrative of a forbidden sexual encounter that he's trying to mitigate, and a passive aggressive dig at some racial grouping, just once mind, as not to make it the feature of the ramble, usually Indian, harping back to the 60s mindset he never really left behind, casual racism that were meant to think comes from the mind of some suburban housewife, so he can maintain cognitive dissonance from his own narrative, There must be one in every episode, then he will make some statement as thought the character is accepting of that culture....at a distance, as though he has the right to be a judge and then benevolent with his acceptance, "applaud me, I'm live and let live". while he projects this abstract acceptability of mitigation for perceived societal sexual deviations for his own middle class mind.
Meanwhile you've set up a minor twist, that comes as no shock to anyone, as you reveal it in quarterly sections, little hint a quarter of the way in, a little reinforcement of if halfway, big confirmation 3/4 of the way through, followed by quiet reflection of the shock, opinion, and acceptance of the last act. Which probably mentions the original opening clue as a closing statement, to show you that the clues were there all along.
As for the wooden, predictable staring out of the windows of the actors. Clearly none of them got to see any of the others works, and all opted to go for the same basic drama 101. Deep in thought, pause, look off from the camera, wait, 3,2,1, next line. Or juicy gossip you have to say with immediacy. Look into the camera, say the line, pull face afterwards to reflect smaller or "what do you think of that?" expression.
It is great to return drama to the tv, play for today is long missed. But it's about time the world woke up to the fact that Alan Bennett has one story, that he's been piping out for his, and our lifetimes. The tragedy is, most people can't see it.
I clicked contains spoilers, but that's an understatement, I've just about spoiled everything Bennett has ever written.because it's all the same, made more evident by watching this series in quick succession.
Independently, if no other er Bennett work was around, then for sure, excellent, imaginative. Cutting and thought provoking. It's when you see all these works together, and reflect on them and his others, you suddenly realise...they're all the same.
"Aye, you've seen one, you've seen them all".
Undeniably good acting... but depressing as hell
taryn_miller2 November 2020
Warning: Spoilers
It takes a great degree of acting skill to carry off these monologues. Some of the performances are captivating. Some are let down by a slow development of the storyline and it's hard to stay engaged. But universally, this entire series is depressing. The characters range from strange creeps to pathetic dolts.
Whilst it's undeniable that it's fascinating to see into the mind of the misfits and miscreants, it's also very disturbing- particularly the ones that discuss sexual offending against children.
I thought I'd love this show, but I didn't. Only have given it 7 stars for the acting- based on the stories and characters themselves, I would give it a 3.
Whilst it's undeniable that it's fascinating to see into the mind of the misfits and miscreants, it's also very disturbing- particularly the ones that discuss sexual offending against children.
I thought I'd love this show, but I didn't. Only have given it 7 stars for the acting- based on the stories and characters themselves, I would give it a 3.
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