Alan Bennett’s talking heads has been revived for ‘lockdown’ by the BBC for 12 episodes (including two entirely new ones) and my brief review of each episode is below:
Imelda Staunton in ‘A Lady of Letters’ kicks off this revival season in solid but unspectacular fashion. Staunton is a brilliant actress and is really good here, and while the story is interesting, it never really clicks and fees particularly gripping or must-see.
Sarah Lancashire in ‘An Ordinary Woman’ is truly riveting, uncomfortable, and totally unique television. Lancashire plays a woman who suddenly becomes sexually attracted to her 15 year old son, and details the internal struggles she is going through, all while trying to maintain her perception as an ordinary woman. Extraordinary writing and acting.
Harriet Walter in ‘Soldering On’ starts off slow and seemingly innocuous, but as revelations start to come to light about her family and her recently deceased husband, then the narrative quickly becomes interesting and allows Walter to go to some emotional places.
I have written a full review (posted 23rd June) about Jodie Comer in ‘Her Big Chance’ so you can find out my in-depth thoughts there, but it was easily one of the highlights of the series and Comer (despite her recent personal image issues) is a remarkable talent.
Lucian Msamatis in ‘Playing Sandwiches’ plays a seemingly nice man who eventually reveals his horrifying true side, especially relating to children. The remarkable thing about this is how he maintains a calm tone and the show just takes you on the rollercoaster with him, witnessing the horrors ordinary people can commit.
Martin Freeman in ‘A Chip in the Sugar’ is mainly the story of a man struggling to cope with his elderly mother meeting a potential love interest. As the episode develops, we dive into the mental health challenges Freeman’s character goes through, and also doubt the motives of the people involved. This is far from the strongest episode of the revival, but it is still compelling enough to watch. Freeman delivers another great performance to add to his resume.
Rochenda Sandall in ‘The Outside Dog’ starts off as a story about a woman and her negative feeling’s towards her husbands dog, but quickly unravels into a gripping murder mystery that keeps drip feeding new secrets to us. Sandall delivers a really ferocious performance that stands high alongside the likes of Lancashire and Comer in this revival series.
Lesley Manville in ‘Bed Among the Lentils’ is one of the more low-key and slightly disappointing entires in the series for me. While Manville is on form and is a legendary performer, but she just can’t grip you enough into this middling story to make it memorable for me.
Tamsin Greig in ‘Nights in the Garden of Spain’ is another slightly disappointing entry in my opinion. While it’s well written and Greig is a great actress, it just never quite gripped me the way it should have, and that’s absolutely necessary in a monologue.
Kristin Scott Thomas In ‘The Hand of God’ delivers the sort of strong performance we have come to expect from her, and the story itself really took some interesting turns as it went on, but the first half felt like quite a drag and this means the ending can’t fully make up for that.
Maxine Peake in ‘Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet’ is probably the weakest entry of the season. It has a bizarre topic that should allow for a classic Bennett story, but it just doesn’t go anywhere and fails to deliver on its promise.
Monica Dolan in ‘The Shrine’ delivers another strong performance but an middling story again means that the way ‘Talking Heads’ was broadcast was very top heavy, with most of the more interesting and better stores airing towards the end of the series.
One amusing factor about this series is that the BBC cleverly used the empty Eastenders sets to film on, but that also means anyone familiar with the show will have some very recognisable locations back on their screen, even as the soap is on a Covid induced hsitus from our screen.
This was the perfect thing for the BBC to re-launch during lockdown, as it could be filmed under social distancing conditions, and it gives a talented new generation to actors to speak those dark and complicated words. A real bright spark in lockdown programming.
Rating = 4/5
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