Talking Heads

Talking Heads is a 1988 TV series of dramatic monologues written for BBC television by British playwright Alan Bennett. The first series was broadcast on BBC1 in 1988, and adapted for radio on BBC Radio 4 in 1991. A second series was broadcast on BBC Two in 1998. They have since been included on the A-level and GCSE English Literature syllabus. Some episodes aired on PBS in the United States as part of its Masterpiece Theatre programme. In 2020, the BBC remade 10 of the existing episodes, with two brand new stories. Summary There are two series of Talking Heads, six monologues in each, along with an earlier (1982) play, A Woman of No Importance, which, while not released alongside Talking Heads, generally fits into the canon. Although the plays deal with a variety of subjects, there are certain recurring themes, such as death, illness, guilt and isolation. All of the characters are childless with the notable exception of Muriel in "Soldiering On"; Violet in "Waiting for the Telegram" is told she has a son, but she does not remember him. Most of the plays give some hint as to where they are set, mostly in Leeds, although not (as Bennett stresses) the "real" Leeds, but rather one that exists in his head. For example, Matthias Robinsons, in which Miss Fozzard works, closed in the 1970s.