Talking Heads

[lotusbell]

Anyone remember the original and will you be watching the new one? I studied it at A Level and still have my copy with all my notes in.

[ChicCroissant]

I also studied them as an A level, but as an adult at evening class! Loved Patricia Routledge in the originals, I know people like that. I did see on the TV that they are available to stream and I think there are a couple of new ones.

Is the Sarah Lancashire episode a new one?

[SchadenfreudePersonified]

*very much - not overmuch.

Sorry

[SchadenfreudePersonified]

Ah - the Sarah Lancashire one is new, is it? That explains why it didn't ring any bells

TBH, the originals were so well done it will be hard to equal, never mind better them.

[NecklessMumster]

That was a hard watch and I didn't find it believable....would the vicar really say ' tell your son how you feel'? Did I miss something re the husband? How common is this?

[Walkingtheplank]

Sarah Lancashire was a challenging watch. Her acting is mesmerising but the subject was deeply unpleasant.

I tend to recognise the characters as having traits of someone I know or embarrassingly often little bits of myself. They are characters we see in every day life.
In this one I was agreeing that I'm just an 'ordinary woman' and I love my son - but then it took an unexpected turn, and I dont think I know anyone who feels like that.

[ChiaraRimini]

Just watched the first two, didn't see the original .
Lady of letters was good but the ending was a bit silly and unnecessary, I doubt very much she would have had such a fun time in prison making cocktail dresses and such.
Ordinary Woman was excruciating. I guessed where it was going from the start and was praying it wouldn't. I felt extremely uncomfortable with it as a plot line. If the sexes of parent and child were reversed I don't think it would have been accepted for broadcast.

[notacooldad]

but then it took an unexpected turn, and I dont think I know anyone who feels like that
Well people hardly going to mention it over afternoon tea are they?
Who knows what is common or not when it comes to taboo subjects.
To be honest I definitely didn't experience this with my lads. They either stank of BO or lynx Africa or chatted too much shit to be desirable!

[MargotLovedTom1]

It was horrible, and made me wonder if Alan Bennett actually knows any mothers of teenage boys. Possibly not! The way her friend Louisa said about her own son: "Oh, I fancy him like mad," - this is not how mothers of sons talk . And the vicar - "Oh, it's just a crush!" Very jarring.

[Wingedharpy]

I loved Lady of letters and thought Imelda Staunton was fab-u-lous.
I disagree, @ChiaraRimini, I think the whole point was, she was excruciatingly lonely, after the death of her Mother and her "friend" from the bus, that the companionship of the women's prison was a bit like a girls' boarding school for her.
Love the humour and pathos of Alan Bennett's writing - all delivered in the same line.

The Sarah Lancashire one was a very disturbing watch.
There is a name for it apparently (isn't there always) - the Jocasta complex.
Jocasta was a Greek Queen, who unknowingly, married her son - Oedipus.

It was apparent that SL had always preferred her son to her daughter, and, given that she ended up in a psychiatric unit, presumably she was having some sort of nervous breakdown and this was how it manifested itself.
She said a couple of times "I know when it all started", but, did we find out what the trigger was?

It was not easy to sit through, but, thought provoking nevertheless.

Glad they don't seem to be remaking, "A creamcracker under the settee" as, IMHO, the original would be impossible to beat.

[Defenbaker]

Sarah Lancashire was brilliant, but the storyline was really disturbing. I've not heard of many cases where a mother has sexually abused her son (not that this character actually committed a physical assault), so I guess it's much rarer than fathers abusing their daughters. The character was well written, and I felt sorry for all the characters, although the storyline seemed implausible and the advice from the vicar and social workers didn't ring true.

Had this been written about a father having such an obsession with his daughter, I doubt I would feel any sympathy for him, but by turning the tables in this way, the would-be abuser came across more sympathetically.

[Lockdownlooks]

@Wingedharpy

I loved Lady of letters and thought Imelda Staunton was fab-u-lous.
I disagree, *@ChiaraRimini*, I think the whole point was, she was excruciatingly lonely, after the death of her Mother and her "friend" from the bus, that the companionship of the women's prison was a bit like a girls' boarding school for her.
Love the humour and pathos of Alan Bennett's writing - all delivered in the same line.

The Sarah Lancashire one was a very disturbing watch.
There is a name for it apparently (isn't there always) - the Jocasta complex.
Jocasta was a Greek Queen, who unknowingly, married her son - Oedipus.

It was apparent that SL had always preferred her son to her daughter, and, given that she ended up in a psychiatric unit, presumably she was having some sort of nervous breakdown and this was how it manifested itself.
She said a couple of times "I know when it all started", but, did we find out what the trigger was?

It was not easy to sit through, but, thought provoking nevertheless.

Glad they don't seem to be remaking, "A creamcracker under the settee" as, IMHO, the original would be impossible to beat.

Wingedharpy. She said a couple of times "I know when it all started", but, did we find out what the trigger was?

Was it the thing at the start, something about some cream and a spot. I thought it would turn out as cancer then it went weird.

[MargotLovedTom1]

Winged Harpy i think it all started when her son showed her his penis, as he wanted her to check a spot in it. She said couldn't believe how much he'd changed from the last time she'd seen him naked when he was about 12, and seemed almost quietly thrilled about it.

I agree the acting by SL was exemplary, but it was very creepy.

[MargotLovedTom1]

X-post.

[Comefromaway]

Very weird. Lady of Letters I felt we al know someone a bit like that, not as extreme but an interfering busy body.

But the Sarah Lancashire one felt off. I could have accepted the character but not the friend or the vicar. They just wouldn’t say that & a vicar would have safeguarding training.

[VanGoghsDog]

It all started with him showing her the spot and her seeing his penis and commenting that she hadn't seen it for years and implying it was big.

Yuck.

But, a mental breakdown of some sort I suppose.

[CaptainMyCaptain]

I missed what the Lady of Letters did to end up in prison because my husband was wittering on about pubs opening . I assume she wrote another letter but to whom?

[The80sweregreat]

I remember some of the originals and thought Imelda Staunton was fabulous. A very lonely woman finding new friends in prison : her new life was so much more interesting and vital to her than her old one. It was quite uplifting in an odd way!

The Sarah Lancashire one was disturbing and I was a bit confused if she did actually try to sleep with him or not. She obviously had a break down when he got a girlfriend.
It was an uncomfortable watch and if it had been a man and his daughter it wouldn't have been put on tv I'm sure.
I'm a huge fan of Alan Bennett though and looking forwards to the others.
I ' see ' the story and how it would act out in my minds eye! My dh doesn't understand what I mean by this : it's just words to him but it's really so much more !

[butterpuffed]

Captain , she sent a slew of letters to SS [?] about the couple over the road neglecting their child and going out in the evening leaving him on his own. It turned out that their child had leukaemia, been in hospital all the time, which was where the couple were going in the evening. The child died.

[Comefromaway]

She’d already had a warning for sending malicious letters and following sick child letters was bound over or whatever the legal term is to not do something.

It was implicated she was about to send another letter of complaint.

[cariadlet]

I really can't decide whether to watch them or not. I watched the originals when they were on tv, have listened to the audio versions over and over again and really love them.

It's a great cast and I'm glad that there are a couple of new monologues but I can't see the need to remake the existing ones when the originals were so good.

[User478]

I agree, although I really enjoyed the new ones I didn't feel they brought anything new, I was wondering how they would update them to be more relevant but except for changing a "Piss" to a "Fuck" it hasn't.
Jury is still out on the new ones.
I think the Sarah Lancashire one is going for a similar "urgh" feeling as "Playing Sandwiches" where you feel grubby just for watching it.
DH couldn't be bothered, too wordy.

In Soldering On, was the dad abusing the daughter? There is a few tiny hints, but I don't know.

[User478]

Stupid app, ate my paragraphs. Bet they'll start charging us for them next.

In "A lady of Letters" it is implied that she wrote a letter accusing the new police man of sleeping with the lady down the road, he had been in there for hours and she came out wearing just her nighty. She had also, in the past, written to the pharmacist telling him his wife was a prostitute.

[CaptainMyCaptain]

@butterpuffed

Captain , she sent a slew of letters to SS [?] about the couple over the road neglecting their child and going out in the evening leaving him on his own. It turned out that their child had leukaemia, been in hospital all the time, which was where the couple were going in the evening. The child died.

Yes but I thought she just got a warning about that. OK thanks. Bloody husband. Bloody pub. Priorities man!

[CaptainMyCaptain]

Actually that makes more sense @User478. I missed that bit.

[CaptainMyCaptain]

In Soldering On, was the dad abusing the daughter? There is a few tiny hints, but I don't know. I think so.