Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads - Commencing June 23rd, BBC One

I really like Imelda Staunton, but TBH I don’t understand why a re-make was needed. IMO there could never be a better version than that of the peerless Patricia Routledge.

I didn’t much care for the Sarah Lancashire one.

I hope they haven’t re-made ‘A Chip In The Sugar’ - I don’t see how that, or to be frank any of the previous ones could be bettered.

You’ll have to try and get younger women then
Lemongrove I like the "plural".
Problem with that is practically all women are younger than me, but not necessarily "young"! Depends on where you draw the baseline! If my memory serves me right, 23 years young would be acceptable!
OoRoo

Tangerine

I thought Talking Heads last night was excellent. The originals were very good too but I haven't seen them for a very long time.

Regarding the one with Sarah Lancashire, what would people's reactions have been if it had been a father in love with his daughter?

Exactly what I was thinking re: Sarah Lancashire

I'm not sure we'd be waxing lyrical about it

I thought Talking Heads last night was excellent. The originals were very good too but I haven't seen them for a very long time.

Regarding the one with Sarah Lancashire, what would people's reactions have been if it had been a father in love with his daughter?

How casually you threw that out, grumppa
A memory to treasure, surely?
Alishka Grumppa was a bit too casual![ I asked if he would share that devastating line with us, but he seems to have forgotten where he threw it! .

Imelda Staunton was excellent, but can’t erase the memory of Patricia Routledge for me.

Sarah Lancashire also very good, though I did find her monologue a bit too long. If it made people feel uncomfortable, I suspect it’s achieving its aim. Our social mores may well constrain some unacceptable but real feelings. It’s the job of art to challenge us.

suziewoozie well duh!! I know!

As mother of sons I felt uncomfortable . I never was in love with a son and wondered was I too inhibited? Or was I sexually frigid? And why did the narrative make me uncomfortable am I not facing up to something deep buried in my psyche?

It's true I think there is a "protective skin" that social mores establish around families to keep them sacrosanct.

Jane that’s the whole point of the use of the word ‘ordinary’.

I have the original Talking Heads on CD and they are absolutely brilliant. Extraordinarily insightful writing brought to life by some of Britain's finest actors. It's the stillness, the weight of the words, the pauses, the lighting and the unexpected twists and turns of the monologues. They epitomise the apparent simplicity that is the mark of true genius.

I never saw the first lot, so was looking forward to the much advertised second go.
i was very disappointed. they felt dated and frankly the Sarah Lancashire one was far, far too long and deeply uncomfortable. AB had written two others some time ago, and forgotten about them, this one being one of them.
I'm not sure I shall watch the other 10.

I am disappointed that the Cream Cracker one is not being included. Maggie Smith or Sheila Hancock would be excellent.

I do know about Oedipus Complex! However, 'An ordinary woman' was not ordinary. It was creepy and, basically, a confrontation with a taboo subject. Mothers just don't fancy their sons or, at least, not ordinary ones!

I wish the two talking heads hadn't been on one after another.

As Jane says, Raquel has come a long way!

I also felt disturbed watching SL. An uncomfortable subject.
SL as always was excellent.

I appreciated Sarah Lancashire’s one more than Imelda Staunton’s. It did seem a bit dated whereas Sarah’s story was new, if a bit weird.

Yes, trisher, Imelda Staunton in Vera Drake was so moving. It really is time she had an honour.

I thought Imelda Staunton was brilliant I watched her in the film Finding your Feet last week and she is so talented. She's played such a range of characters (her Vera Drake was great) isn't it time she had an honour?
Sarah Lancashire's was very disturbing. It revealed many layers of a dysfunctional family. She was very good.

I thought Imelda Staunton was brilliant. What an actress! Her face is so expressive.

I haven't watched the Sarah Lancashire one yet.

An Ordinary Woman, was reversely based on Freud’s theory of Oedipus Complex. He believed it was a stage of development where a child has sexual feelings for the parent of the opposite gender.
I did find it rather uncomfortable viewing, but then that was the point. Sarah Lancashire is very talented.

I loved Imelda Staunton. She looked right apart from anything else. The story was as fresh as if it was written for her.
The Sarah Lancashire one was most odd. Maybe it reflects more of the author's inclinations than those of real women? I can't even imagine a Mum fancying her own son. She acted it very well though. Raquel's come a long way!

I loved A Lady of Letters but didn't quite feel the one with Sarah.

The Sarah Lancashire episode was one, of two, new stories that AH has recently written and so they were never in the original series.

I read that the Cream Cracker one isn’t going to be redone because it was so popular and you can’t improve on perfection.

I must be honest, I don’t really remember any of the series, although I watched them at the time. The first one tonight I thought was good. The second made me very uncomfortable but perhaps that was the point.

Oh dear, I was so looking forward to Imelda Staunton's version as she is a great actress but her version of A Lady of Letters seemed very flat to me. Patricia Routledge's lady had so much more light and shade. From being irritated by her initial nosiness, pomposity and lack of self-awareness , by the end I felt so sorry for her.

Sarah Lancashire was brilliant but I don't remember the original. It was rather a strange subject and uncomfortable subject. I haven't heard of mothers being sexually attracted to their sons or, as she said, "in love" but SL was, in my opinion, certainly very convincing in the part.

I couldn't see the Thora Hird cream cracker under the settee one listed. That was probably the one that struck me the most - and Alan Bennett's one about his monstrous mother.

I sometimes wonder if Alan Bennett based these characters on people he had come across in real life or if he just has immense creativity and imagination.