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

Lady of Letters was so sad

The Lady of Letters character seems to be angrier and more bitter than the original character as played by Patricia Routledge but I enjoyed it very much.
An Ordinary Woman, with Sarah Lancashire, was both repellent and riveting; her acting was astounding in that she made me feel both repulsed by her feelings for her son and yet compassionate for the torture she was in because of those feelings.

I thought that they were both brilliantly done.

Agree, Pittcity. I loved the Imelda Staunton one though.

Just watched the Imelda Staunton one. She is such a brilliant actress. Absolutely riveting.

The Sarah Lancashire one made me feel very uncomfortable.

Watching this now, what a load of old tosh! I can't bear it. DH is engrossed though. Will have to leave the room!

Conversation had turned to a new medical practice of getting patients used to managing without various bits before the actual operation (try this crutch for size sort of thing), and that mild singalong voice piped up, "Now today we're going to practise managing without our appendix."

grumppa

Met Alan Bennett in a friend’s flat about fifty years ago. Very quiet and hardly joining in the conversation, until he came out with a devastating one-liner that had us in fits.

How casually you threw that out, grumppa !

A memory to treasure, surely?

Rufus2

^It’s a rare thing for a man to ‘get’ the way women speak ( especially older women)^
Lemongrove Problem is I'm now finding it hard to "get older women" , speaking or not! Btw; I'm also an "Alan"!
OoRoo

You’ll have to try and get younger women then Rufus ?

I believe Alan Bennett has refused any honours

new series of Talking Heads
Thank you for reminding me of this! The previous ones were brilliant. Opened up an account with the BBC which I hope will give me easy access to this new series!

It’s a rare thing for a man to ‘get’ the way women speak ( especially older women)
Lemongrove Problem is I'm now finding it hard to "get older women" , speaking or not! Btw; I'm also an "Alan"!
OoRoo

Great actors and great writing; what more can we ask.

One of the monologues is 8 minutes longer than the original so I think we can look forward to different interpretations Eloethan.

I'm really looking forward to it too. The original Talking Heads was brilliant.

I wonder if our current actors' interpretations will be very different from the wonderful performances of Thora Hird, Patricia Routledge, Maggie Smith, et al - and, of course, Alan Bennett himself. I thought his monologue was particularly poignant. I'm especially looking forward to Imelda Staunton as I think she is a great actress.

he came out with a devastating one-liner that had us in fits
Grumppa Please share it with us! Haven't been in fits for ages, or is 50 years a bit too much of a stretch for the memory? .

Look forward to this. I saw Alan Bennett in m and s food a couple of years ago, very exciting !

I loved this the first time round, and my favourite was the Thora Hird one about the cream cracker. I'm really looking forward to seeing this new series. Alan Bennett is a genius.

Can't wait to watch this. Just love Alan Bennett.

A lot of them are on You Tube, Witzend.

Met Alan Bennett in a friend’s flat about fifty years ago. Very quiet and hardly joining in the conversation, until he came out with a devastating one-liner that had us in fits.

Adore Patricia Routledge. One of her monologues was heartbreaking.

Really looking forward to these.

We saw some of the originals in the theatre, including the inimitable Maggie Smith as the alcoholic vicar’s wife - her opening line brought the house down. IIRC, ‘Well, Geoffrey’s bad enough but I’m glad I’m not married to Jesus.’

We used to have a video of some of them. Must look for a DVD. Patricia Routledge excellent as always, as the Lady of Letters.

You are correct Doodledog, they are the originals with different actors. I can’t remember a lot of them, just the more memorable ones such as Thora Hird, Patricia Routledge and Alan Bennett and I think there was one with Julie Walters. Perhaps I will remember the others when I see them.

Love Alan Bennett. He's such an old woman! I went away and watched Bed among the lentils after reading this thread!

One of the most chilling is The Outside Dog with the woman who realises she is married to a serial killer.

Also... A Woman Of Letters ( Patricia Routledge)