First Look at Jodie Comer, Imelda Staunton, Martin Freeman, and More in Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads

The BBC has revealed first-look photos and a release date for the brand new TV adaptation of Alan Bennett’s ’Talking Heads’.

The original monologues, which were first broadcast on the BBC in 1988 and 1998, featured an impressive star cast, and the 2020 version of the show doesn’t fall short either.

The 2020 version of ‘Talking Heads’ will boast an all-star line-up including Jodie Comer, Martin Freeman, Tamsin Greig, Lesley Manville, Imelda Staunton, Sarah Lancashire, Lucian Msamati, Maxine Peake, Rochenda Sandall, Kristin Scott Thomas, Harriet Walter, and Monica Dolan.

MARTIN FREEMAN AS GRAHAM WHITTAKER. ©LONDON THEATRE COMPANY/ZAC NICHOLSON/BBC

The original version attracted the likes of Dame Julie Walters, Maggie Smith, Patricia Routledge, Stephanie Cole, Dame Thora Hird, Dame Eileen Atkins, David Haig and Dame Penelope Wilton, alongside Alan Bennett himself, who portrayed Graham Whittaker in ‘A Chip In The Sugar’, a role now inherited by Martin Freeman.

At the time, the monologues won two Baftas, an RTS award and have also been included on the A-level and GCSE English Literature syllabus.

JODIE COMER AS LESLEY. ©LONDON THEATRE COMPANY/ZAC NICHOLSON/BBC

The new series includes twelve monologues, each performed by a different actor, ten of which are retellings of the original pieces. The other two are new stories written by Bennett last year. The first, titled ‘An Ordinary Woman’, sees Sarah Lancashire sitting at a kitchen table next to a pot of coffee and the other new work, called ‘The Shrine’, will be performed by Monica Dolan, in which she is also seated at a kitchen table. The plots for these two new stories are yet to be revealed.

Martin Freeman portrays Graham Whittaker, a middle-aged repressed homosexual with a history of mental health issues, who suddenly finds his life challenging as his mother, with whom he still lives under the same roof, rekindles an old flame with a man from her past.

SARAH LANCASHIRE. ©LONDON THEATRE COMPANY/ZAC NICHOLSON/BBC

Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer plays Lesley, an aspiring actress who is offered what she believes to be her big break in a new film for the West German market. It’s likely she is not aware of the fact that she is appearing in a soft porn film. In the original series, the role was played by Dame Julie Walters.

IMELDA STAUNTON AS IRENE RUDDOCK. ©LONDON THEATRE COMPANY/ZAC NICHOLSON/BBC

Irene Ruddock is played by Harry Potter’s Imelda Staunton. She is a single, middle-aged woman who lives near Bradford. Irene is not afraid to speak her mind so She frequently writes to her MP, the police, the chemist to inform them of the social issue she witnesses around her. Things take a weird turn as Irene begins to suspect her neighbours of child neglect.

MONICA DOLAN. ©LONDON THEATRE COMPANY/ZAC NICHOLSON/BBC

Thanks to the contained nature of the monologues, they could be filmed with casts and crews socially distancing and following safe working practises during the coronavirus outbreak, using existing sets at BBC Elstree Studios.

Here is the full cast for the new version of the show:

• Jodie Comer in ‘Her Big Chance’
• Monica Dolan in ‘The Shrine’
• Martin Freeman in ‘A Chip In The Sugar’
• Tamsin Greig in ‘Nights In The Garden of Spain’
• Sarah Lancashire in ‘An Ordinary Woman’
• Lesley Manville in ‘Bed Among The Lentils’
• Lucian Msamati in ‘Playing Sandwiches’
• Maxine Peake in ‘Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet’
• Rochenda Sandall in ‘The Outside Dog’
• Kristin Scott Thomas in ‘The Hand Of God’
• Imelda Staunton in ‘A Lady Of Letters Harriet Walter in Soldiering On’

The series will be broadcast on BBC One from 9pm on Tuesday 23 June 2020 with a double-bill.

After this, all 12 monologues will be made available to watch on BBC iPlayer.