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.

I thought Sarah Lancashire was very weak and the writing was poor.

Certainly agree re: the writing.

From the very beginning I thought "What 15 year old would blithely show his mother his genitals and ask 'Is that a spot'?"

I wish they hadn't "updated" the scripts.

They've lost a lot of their punch.

I agree the David Haig version was far better. It's ages since I've seen it though so can't remember all the details - what was different about the ending?

There's no chirpy music in the 1998 version, the actor stays in close up, and after Wilfred tells us about the place where he used to hike, the three lights in the prison background go off sharply one by one, then he bursts into tears and covers his face. The actor in the new version also threw away the 'It's the one bit in my life that feels right and it's that bit that's wrong' line.

Tried the Martin Freeman one. That was MF doing an impression of Reece Shearsmith!
Original was softer but had more bite, somehow. Understandable if Alan Bennett took it for himself, I suppose. He has an archness and well-suppressed rage that is just about discernible, about the possibility his life might be overturned by the interloper in bookie’s gloves,

@southeastdweller

I agree the David Haig version was far better. It's ages since I've seen it though so can't remember all the details - what was different about the ending?

There's no chirpy music in the 1998 version, the actor stays in close up, and after Wilfred tells us about the place where he used to hike, the three lights in the prison background go off sharply one by one, then he bursts into tears and covers his face. The actor in the new version also threw away the 'It's the one bit in my life that feels right and it's that bit that's wrong' line.

Ahh I see - changes of interpretation rather than content!

Totally agree about that line being thrown away - it's one of the most powerful moments in the piece and it was just glossed over.

Bed among the lentils "chicken wings in a tuna fish sauce" - subtle bits of genius. Think the Jodie Comer just suffered from being the most dated - very hard to do as a modern take

chicken wings in a tuna fish sauce"
It sounds disgusting.

Loved Imelda, and Harriet (poor woman!! :-(). Sarah was incredible but yes yes, as the mother of a 15 year old boy myself, I found it deeply uncomfortable viewing!

I read it that she was clearly deeply unhappy in her marriage and blatantly ignored by her husband and landed on a totally inappropriate, but omnipresent and unavoidable target for her deep seam of sexual longing in her son, who now has the body of a man... And who showed her affection and really SAW her unlike anyone else in her life it would appear. And her mother's love for him twisted and got confused... But yes, a hard watch.

I have to confess I am half way through Jodie's and have turned it off... Very disappointing. I really like her usually, but this feels like she is really hamming it up... Think I could do a better job personally!

In response to a PP, if my 15 year old son was worried about a lump on his genitals he would definitely ask me and show me. He has indeed done exactly this. Thank god. Would absolutely hate to think my sons would be too embarrassed to ask me about something like that that was worrying them.

I wasn't really convinced by Jodie in Her Big Chance. I thought Julie Walters did a better job bringing out the humour and vulnerability in that character.

I noticed another change for the reboot. In Her Big Chance when Lesley is recounting a conversation with her and Simon and Scott, she says to us in the original "I've a feeling Scott may be gay. I normally like them only I think he's one of the one's that's turned bitter". But curiously these two lines aren't in the 2020 version .

Thought Martin freeman's was the best so far. Played it beautifully with such timing.

I missed the last 5 mins of Martin Freeman's what happened?
Is the lady in this episode in one of the houses from eastenders ?

Dancingonmylonesome I thought that, Scott being filmed in a house from Eastenders. I think it is the house Kat lived in? The leopard print wallpaper in the hall?

This one has gone over my head a bit. So Stuart is the killer but gets acquitted because they have no evidence... Although the wife finds the blood stained trousers on the kennel? Was the dog guarding them????

About not Scott!!!!

I thought Sarah Lancashire was brilliant - she captured the horrifying dilemma of being in incest love with her son and being terrified, as his mother, about what it would do to him. She was both mother and lover, and the conflict was killing her.

It was also bloody convincing in that she wasn't going to give up either role.

The reason it is seen to be more ok for women to be incestuous than men, is, to state the bleeding obvious, that women don't rape. Or do much else in the way of sexual assault.

I thought Martin Freeman was wonderful. Best so far.

@MrsSiba: And mine. I didn't get the outside dog one at all.
Why didn't she dob him in to the police?
He sounded vile and she didn't seem to like him much plus, she hated the dog - turn him in and get rid of both.
Can anyone explain it to me ?

He sounded vile and she didn't seem to like him much plus, she hated the dog - turn him in and get rid of both*.
Can anyone explain it to me ?
Clearly she was in an abusive relationship .
As I understand it she found the evidence after the verdict was read out. It was set in the 80s Double jeopardy wasnt abolished until the early 2000's
This gave her price he did it but she couldnt do anything about it.
That's how I interpreted it.

Yes, she was in an abusive relationship. The sex she had with him wasn't consensual and he talked to her like she was nothing. She didn't talk about her family or friends or a job so she was dependent on him in a few ways.

Couldn't take to the Jodie Comer one at all yet people were raving about her performance on Twitter ! She tried to do both Julie Walters and Patricia Routledges way of speaking but it didn't work v boring !

I have loved all tbe acting. The mannerisms, accents and gestures have been superb. I think the team have done great as the direction was done over Zoom and all socially distanced.
I've not loved all the stories though for example I got fed up with the Mrs Fozard one.
On the whole I've enjoyed watching them as I hadnt seen them previously.

The outside dog one. I couldn't understand it at first but watched it again with DH. I think there is the double jeopardy point made by another poster but also he'd accepted the money from the paper to 'tell his story' so I suppose she felt compelled to stick to that. She was too scared to leave him (he was obviously violent) and had nowhere else to go.

The Jodie Comer one was the weakest, I found myself losing interest and she is usually a terrific actor.

I think they were all filmed on EastEnders sets. They were available and suitable for social distancing.

Jodie cromer one was good I thought : her eyes were so expressive.
The park keeper one was very disturbing.

The dog one I really liked, Julie Walters did it the first time round.

I take it to mean that first she is suspicious that he is the killer but in denial, then he is acquitted and she later finds evidence that confirms she's living with a murderer, and she's stuck with him.

I also really liked 'Miss Fozzard finds her Feet', Maxine Peake brings something different to Patricia Routledge, but both excellent.