Talking Heads (plays)

Talking Heads
Title screen of the series, with animated characterisation of Alan Bennett.
Created by	Alan Bennett
Starring	Alan Bennett Maggie Smith Julie Walters Patricia Routledge Thora Hird David Haig Eileen Atkins Penelope Wilton Stephanie Cole
Music by	George Fenton
Country of origin	UK
No. of episodes	13 (including stand-alone play) (list of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	Innes Lloyd
Running time	30 – 40 mins
Release
Original network	BBC One BBC Radio
Original release	1987 – 1998

Talking Heads is a series of dramatic monologues written for BBC television by British playwright Alan Bennett. The two series were first broadcast in 1988 and 1998, and have since been broadcast on BBC Radio and included on the A-level and GCSE English Literature syllabus.

A West End theatre production, also entitled Talking Heads, opened at the Comedy Theatre in January 1992 for a 10-week season, starring Patricia Routledge and Alan Bennett, who also directed, plus piano interludes by Jeremy Sams.

A few episodes also aired 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 were staged in New York City at the Off-Broadway Minetta Theatre. The entire series is now available on DVD and also in published form.

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.

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.

Each episode consists of an individual monologue and therefore in most episodes only one character appears. The only exception is when Steven Beard features as a policeman in "A Cream Cracker under the Settee". Julie Walters, Patricia Routledge and Thora Hird appear as different characters in both series.