The BBC has begun filming a new series of Alan Bennett’s award-winning Talking Heads monologues, to be aired “in the coming months”. The series first ran on the BBC in 1988, and introduced us to a whole new set of characters who were both tragic and comic. This new set of monologues will feature remakes of 10 of the original monologues, alongside two new ones that Bennett wrote last year.
British TV stars Jodie Comer, Maxine Peake and Tamsin Greig will be taking part. Bennett said: “In such difficult circumstances, that the BBC should choose to remount both series of Talking Heads, and produce two entirely new ones, is a comfort and a huge compliment, I hope a new generation of actors will get and give as much pleasure as we did 20 and 30 years ago.”
Filming is already taking place at Elstree Studios and the production team is: “following the latest government guidelines on Covid-19 to ensure that the series is made safely and responsibly.”
Piers Wenger, controller of BBC drama said: “Covid-19 has laid waste to drama production in the UK, but it has also posed a challenge: how do we adhere to restrictions while still offering British viewers the chance to lose themselves in great stories at this time of national need?
“Full of insight, wit, daring and compassion, these are stories of individual lives – but of great resonance. I am so grateful to Alan, Nicholas Hytner, Kevin Loader and the whole team for the caution, ingenuity and wisdom which they have shown in bringing these stories to the screen.”
A production of Talking Heads had recently returned to the stage with Jan Ravens and Julia Watson. The monologues that will air on BBC One in the coming months are:
• Jodie Comer in Her Big Chance (1988), directed by Josie Rourke
• Monica Dolan in The Shrine (2019), directed by Nicholas Hytner
• Tamsin Greig in Nights in the Garden of Spain (1998), directed by Marianne Elliott
• Sarah Lancashire in An Ordinary Woman (2019), directed by Nicholas Hytner
• Lesley Manville in Bed Among the Lentils (1988), directed by Nicholas Hytner
• Lucian Msamati in Playing Sandwiches (1998), directed by Jeremy Herrin
• Maxine Peake in Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet (1988), directed by Sarah Frankcom
• Rochenda Sandall in The Outside Dog (1998), directed by Nadia Fall
• Kristin Scott Thomas in The Hand of God (1998), directed by Jonathan Kent
• Imelda Staunton in A Lady of Letters (1988), directed by Jonathan Kent
• Harriet Walter in Soldiering On (1988), directed by Marianne Elliott
