Talking Heads (series)

"Talking Heads" is a series of dramatic monologues written for BBC television by the acclaimed British playwright Alan Bennett. The two series were first broadcast in 1988 and 1998, respectively. The pieces have since been broadcast on BBC Radio, performed in live theatre, and included on the A-level and GCSE English Literature syllabus. They have also played on PBS in the United States as part of its "Masterpiece Theatre" programme. In 2002, seven of the pieces were performed at the Tiffany Theater in Los Angeles for a highly-praised engagement. In 2003, several of the monologues premiered in New York at the Minetta Theatre. The entire series is now available on DVD and also in published form.

ummary

There are two seasons of "Talking Heads", each composed of six episodes, along with a thirteenth play, "A Woman of No Importance", which, while not released alongside "Talking Heads", generally fits into the canon. "A Woman of No Importance" was written considerably earlier than the other twelve instalments.

Although the plays deal with a variety of subjects, there are certain recurring themes, such as loneliness, hubris, and romantic irony.

Most of the plays give some hint as to where they are set - mostly in Leeds, although not, as Bennett stresses,Fact|date=March 2008 the real Leeds, rather one that exists in his head. For example, Matthias Robinsons, in which Miss Fozzard works, closed in the 1960s.

Episodes

Actors are named for the BBC television versions.

*Patricia Routledge plays Miss Schofield in "A Woman of No Importance"

:Peggy Schofield, clerical worker and self-described linchpin of her office, finds that when her strict regime is disrupted, her world crumbles around her. Her health deteriorates and she is rapidly spirited away to hospital, where she reconstructs her office routine, appropriating doctors, other hospital staff and patients as replacements for her co-workers. It is soon revealed, through hints that she has lost her job and her co-workers haven't bothered to visit, that she is not as popular and significant as she assumed.

"Talking Heads 1 — (1987)"
*Alan Bennett plays Graham Whittaker in "A Chip in the Sugar"

:Graham is a middle-aged man with a history of mild mental health problems, living with his mother in Leeds. He is an absolutely stereotypical Guardian reader — he wears flares, avoids deodorant, is environmentally conscious, likes date and walnut bread, and is very anti-Thatcher. It is also hinted that he is a closet homosexual. His life is dramatically disrupted when his mother, who he is effectively "married" to, meets her old flame Frank Turnbull after 52 years. Turnbull is bigoted, right-wing, and racist — the opposite of Graham — but he is also well-dressed and well-off, and his reactionary instincts chime with the forgetful and easily-manipulated Mrs Whittaker (whose previous husband, Graham's father, presumably died in hospital — Graham refers to doctors "wheeling him into the theatre"). Graham becomes increasingly jealous as Mr Turnbull takes an ever-growing hold on Mrs Whittaker's life, to the extent he proposes marriage — simultaneously suggesting Graham moves out of the house to a hostel. But Mr Turnbull is hiding a secret, and when Graham finds out he triumphantly confronts his mother with the information, restoring the status quo and his comfortable life but destroying her hopes of happiness in the process.
*Maggie Smith plays Susan in "Bed Among the Lentils"

:Susan, an alcoholic, nervous vicar's wife, distracts herself from her ambitious, and, as she sees him, vainly insensitive husband and his doting parishioners by conducting an affair with a nearby grocer, Ramesh Ramesh, discovering something about herself and God in the process. Interestingly, she does not feel cheated when Ramesh Ramesh moves on to marry. {Anna Massey took the role in the BBC Audio Tape version}
*Patricia Routledge plays Irene in "A Lady of Letters"

:Irene Ruddock is not afraid to speak, or rather write, her mind: she writes letters to her MP, the police, the chemist - everyone she can, to remedy the social ills she sees around her. After one too many accusations of misconduct from Irene's pen, she is sent to prison - where, for the first time in her life, she truly feels free.
*Julie Walters plays Lesley in "Her Big Chance"

:Lesley is an aspiring actress, who, after a series of unpromising extra roles on television programmes such as "Crossroads", finds what she believes to be her big break as the adventurous Travis in a new film for the West German market. It is not clear to what extent Lesley understands that she is appearing in a soft pornographic film.
*Stephanie Cole plays Muriel in "Soldiering On"

:Muriel is a strong woman, and always has been — a pillar of the community, a regular charity worker, and a volunteer for Meals on Wheels; and looking after her mentally ill daughter, Margaret, has fortified her resolve — so, after the death of her husband, Muriel is well-prepared to cope with the crisis. However, given her son's ineptitude (or dishonesty) with money, and the vile secret behind Margaret's illness, Muriel finds that she needs to adapt in order to 'soldier on.'
*Thora Hird plays Doris in "A Cream Cracker under the Settee"

:Doris, aged seventy-five, is a tidy woman — and when she suffers a fall after trying to clear up after her considerably less thorough home help, Zulema, it becomes apparent that her constant nagging may have been responsible for her husband's early death. Alone and injured, she wonders whether the only place left for her in society is a care home which she distrusts. Resisting this with all her being, she decides she'd rather die on her own in considerable pain than move into the care home and never move out.

"Talking Heads 2 — (1998)"
* Eileen Atkins plays Celia in "The Hand of God"

:Celia is a covetous antiques dealer who brazenly aids elderly neighbours for the sole purpose of being in a good position to buy their treasures on the cheap when they die. She's particularly put out when one elderly woman whom she's cared for, living in a house chock full of antiques, dies and leaves everything to a distant Canadian relative. Celia is somewhat soothed when the Canadian gives her a small box of the woman's things, which includes a curious drawing of a finger. Celia is particularly pleased that she makes a hundred pounds selling the picture, but then later learns to her horror that it is a lost Michelangelo masterpiece worth millions, which the buyer says on national television he bought in a "junk shop." The figure is a study of the central image of the hand of God on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
* Patricia Routledge plays Miss Fozzard in "Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet"

:Miss Fozzard is a lonely, middle-aged department store clerk in the Soft Furnishings Department whose free time is mostly spent caring for her brother after he suffers a stroke. Her one joy in life is her regular visits to her podiatrist, but when he retires, she finds her life consumed with a burgeoning relationship with his replacement, a decidedly kinky fellow with an all-consuming foot fetish. While Miss Fozzard would be the last to admit it, she ventures into benign prostitution as she allows her new podiatrist to pay her to model a variety of footwear whilst also indulging in other activities. It is this that gives her the satisfaction her life was missing, as she begins to stop caring what other people think.
* David Haig plays Wilfred Paterson in "Playing Sandwiches"

:Wilfred is, we discover over time, a reformed paedophile living under a false identity and working as a much-praised maintenance man in a public park. However, as a superior begins to pressure him for bureaucratic historical information to include in his personnel file, the pressure causes Wilfred to resume his old ways with horrifying results. Incarcerated, he contemplates on his condition, remarking 'It's the one part of my life that feels right... and that's the bit that's wrong.'
* Julie Walters plays Marjory in "The Outside Dog"

:Clean freak Marjory gradually comes to realise that her partner, who works in a slaughterhouse, is using his employment to cover the fact that he's a particularly evil criminal. Marjory finds her husband's sexual advances distasteful but does not reject them. She is so alienated from life that she subsumes all emotion in her domestic routine. She displays no outward signs of horror or shame when he's arrested and prosecuted, as it gets him out of the house. When he's found not guilty because of a lack of evidence, she's more concerned about the very fact that he's coming back to mess up her house again than with the fact that she'll be staying with a serial murderer.
* Penelope Wilton plays Rosemary in "Nights in the Gardens of Spain"

:Rosemary is a lonely woman who takes it upon herself to tend to a female neighbour's garden after the latter is arrested for murdering her abusive husband. The two women become close friends in a tender relationship which has the potential to bring both of them real happiness. As the case of her newfound friend is investigated, a darker and more perverted side of Rosemary's own husband is revealed. Sadly, Rosemary's neighbour dies of cancer before the potential of their friendship can be fully realised and Rosemary must passively continue with the non-marriage she has with her highly repressed, golf-playing husband.
* Thora Hird plays Violet in "Waiting for the Telegram"

:Violet is a confused, elderly woman in a nursing home who has been told by the excited staff she will soon be receiving a congratulatory telegram from the Queen in honour of her one hundredth birthday. This, however, perplexes Violet as she wanders far back in her memory to an age where telegrams brought news of death on a battlefield. Violet ruminates about a long-lost love and a more recent friend, a gay male nurse at the home named Francis, who has recently died of AIDS.

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/comedy/progpages/talkingheads.shtml BBC7: Talking Heads]
*imdb title|id=0092462|title=Talking Heads
*imdb title|id=0173599|title=Talking Heads 2