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Talking Heads is the BBC's answer to the question plaguing every TV network right now: How to fill schedules when the coronavirus has led to production shutdowns across the world. The British network has commissioned new versions of 10 of writer Alan Bennett's classic monologues, first performed in 1987 and 1998, plus two new ones.
Each monologue features a new actor and was filmed in a socially distanced set that had been left empty when U.K. soap opera Eastenders had to suspend filming. Among the actors tackling Talking Heads are Jodie Comer, Imelda Staunton, and numerous actors that will already be familiar to Anglophiles.
Who is in the cast of Talking Heads?
Episode 1: "A Lady of Letters"
Imelda Staunton - Irene Ruddock
Originally played by Patricia Routledge
After playing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix's Dolores Umbridge, one woman obsessed by writing endless rules, Imelda Staunton now plays Irene, a woman who deals with her loneliness by writing endless letters of complaint. As well as being Oscar-nominated for her role in Vera Drake, Staunton has been announced as the final actor to be playing Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown.
Episode 2: "An Ordinary Woman"
Sarah Lancashire - Gwen
Starring in one of the two new monologues is Happy Valley star Sarah Lancashire, best known in the U.K. for forging a career as a dramatic actor after finding fame in the soap opera Coronation Street. Speaking to Radio Times, she described Gwen as "a complex and troubled woman in her middle years."
Episode 3: "Soldiering On"
Harriet Walter - Muriel
Originally played by Stephanie Cole
Made a Dame for her services to drama in 2011, Harriet Walter has recently been seen in Killing Eve, Belgravia, and Succession. In Talking Heads, she plays Muriel, a recent widow and pillar of the community trying to look after her daughter, who has mental health problems.
Episode 4: "Her Big Chance"
Jodie Comer - Lesley
Originally played by Julie Walters
Though Villanelle in Killing Eve is the role that has given Jodie Comer worldwide fame, winning her an Emmy in 2019, Comer has also starred in British shows like My Mad Fat Diary, The White Princess and Doctor Foster. Now, she takes on the role of Lesley, an actor who does not realize that the new project she is starring in is a porn film.
Episode 5: "Playing Sandwiches"
Lucian Msamati - Wilfred
Originally played by David Haig
In the controversial role of a pedophile trying to rebuild his life is Lucian Msamati, most recently seen in HBO's His Dark Materials and also a star of Game of Thrones, Taboo, and The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.
Episode 6: "A Chip in the Sugar"
Martin Freeman - Graham
Originally played by Alan Bennett
Taking on the role of the repressed gay mother's boy dealing with his mom finding a new boyfriend (as originally played by Talking Heads writer Alan Bennett himself) is Martin Freeman. After finding fame in The Office U.K., Freeman has starred in the global smash hit Sherlock, The Hobbit trilogy of films, and recent FX comedy Breeders.
Episode 7: "The Outside Dog"
Rochenda Sandall - Marjory
Originally played by Julie Walters
Rochensa Sandall, former star of Line of Duty and Netflix's Criminal, here plays a clean freak who slowly realizes that her abusive husband is a dangerous criminal.
Episode 8: "Bed Among the Lentils"
Lesley Manville - Susan
Originally played by Maggie Smith
Two years after getting an Oscar nomination for her role in Phantom Thread, Lesley Manville (Harlots, Maleficent, Another Year) will play Susan, an alcoholic vicar's wife who starts an affair with a local greengrocer.
Episode 9: "Nights in the Garden of Spain"
Tamsin Greig - Rosemary
Originally played by Penelope Wilton
Rosemary is a woman who is planning a move to Spain against her will because of her husband, who develops a relationship with a neighbor after the latter kills her husband. Appearing as the character is Tamsin Greig, a recent star of Belgravia best known for Britcoms like Green Wing, Black Books, and Friday Night Dinner.
Episode 10: "The Hand of God"
Kristin Scott Thomas - Celia
Originally played by Eileen Atkins
Oscar-nominated for her role in the Best Picture-winning English Patient, Kristin Scott Thomas is also known for Four Weddings and a Funeral, Only God Forgives, and Gosford Park. Now, she portrays an antiques dealer who helps out her elderly neighbors, hoping they will leave her possessions in their wills.
Episode 11: "Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet"
Maxine Peake - Miss Fozzard Originally played by Patricia Routledge
Though well known in the U.K. for her roles in projects like Dinnerladies, the original U.K. Shameless, and Three Girls, Maxine Peake is probably best known in the U.S. for her lead role in the "Metalhead" episode of Black Mirror. In Talking Heads, she plays a middle-aged woman who cares for their disabled brother and whose life changes after a run-in with a podiatrist.
Episode 12: "The Shrine"
Monica Dolan - Lorna
The second original Talking Head is courtesy of W1A, A Very English Scandal, and Vanity Fair actor Monica Dolan.
Speaking to the BBC, she said of her character: "My character is called Lorna and we find out almost immediately that she has been newly widowed, that her husband Clifford has died in an accident. When we meet her at the beginning she is utterly shattered. She might not appear it, but she is a deeply unconventional person who goes back to the origins of what grief really means, not our well-worn and glib expressions of it."
Talking Heads is streaming now on BBC iPlayer and is coming soon to the U.S.
