Talking to a Stranger
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''Talking to a Stranger'' (1966) is a British
television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
drama, written by John Hopkins for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
, which consists of four separate plays recounting the events of one weekend from the viewpoints of four members of the same family. The play cycle was directed by Christopher Morahan and produced by
Michael Bakewell Michael Bakewell (born 1931) is a British television producer. Bakewell was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire in England. He is best known for his work during the 1960s, when he was the first Head of Plays at the BBC, after Sydney Newman divid ...
and first shown in the ''
Theatre 625 ''Theatre 625'' is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production and ...
'' series on
BBC 2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
. Unlike many 1960s BBC productions, the series survived intact, and has been rebroadcast and released on home media.


Episodes

The four episodes were individually subtitled ''Anytime You're Ready I'll Sparkle'', ''No Skill or Special Knowledge is Required'', ''Gladly, My Cross-Eyed Bear'' and ''The Innocent Must Suffer''. They were respectively the stories of the daughter, Terry; the father, Ted; the son, Alan and the mother, Sarah. Her viewpoint is recounted after her suicide. The role of the daughter Terry provided a major early role for
Judi Dench Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Regarded as one of Britain's best actresses, she is noted for her versatile work in various films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her ...
in one of her first starring roles on television. The other leads were played by Maurice Denham,
Margery Mason Margery Mason (27 September 1913 – 26 January 2014) was an English actress and director. She was the artistic director of the Repertory Theatre in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland in the 1960s. Career Mason played Sarah Stevens, the ...
and Michael Bryant. According to Hopkins, he was seven months late delivering the scripts and, when he was commissioned by the BBC, all he had in his head was the final line of the final play: "Somebody hold me."


Reception and awards

Frequently hailed by critics as one of the most important and affecting television dramas of the 1960s, in a 2000 poll of industry professionals conducted by the
British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
to determine the
100 Greatest British Television Programmes The BFI TV 100 is a list of 100 television programmes or series that was compiled in 2000 by the British Film Institute (BFI), as chosen by a poll of industry professionals, with the aim to determine the best British television programmes of any ...
of the 20th century, it was placed seventy-eighth. ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'' TV
critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...
George Melly Alan George Heywood Melly (17 August 1926 – 5 July 2007) was an English jazz and blues singer, critic, writer, and lecturer. From 1965 to 1973 he was a film and television critic for ''The Observer''; he also lectured on art history, with an e ...
called it "the first authentic masterpiece written directly for television" and claimed that "on the evidence of this work alone, the medium can be considered to have come of age." Dench won the 1967 British Academy Television Award for Best Actress for her performance.


Broadcast

Originally transmitted on
BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
as part of the ''
Theatre 625 ''Theatre 625'' is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production and ...
'' anthology strand, the four instalments were shown weekly from 2 to 23 October 1966. The first three plays ran 96 minutes and the final play 102 minutes. It was repeated as part of BBC2's twenty-fifth anniversary celebrations in 1989, allegedly because writer
Alan Bleasdale Alan George Bleasdale (born 23 March 1946) is an English screenwriter, best known for social realist drama serials based on the lives of ordinary people. A former teacher, he has written for radio, stage and screen, and has also written novels. ...
refused to allow his 1982 drama '' Boys from the Blackstuff'' to be re-shown unless ''Talking to a Stranger'' also featured as part of the celebratory season. It was screened again by the BBC in 2003, this time on the digital channel
BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002
.


International adaptations

''Talking to a Stranger'' was remade thrice, once for Canadian television in 1971 and twice for Belgian television. The version for the Belgian Flemish television, ''Praten tegen een vreemde'', was adapted by Pieter De Prins and directed by Lode Hendrickx (1969). Paul Roland was the director of ''Comme des étrangers'' for the Belgian French television.


Canadian adaptation

The Canadian version, produced by the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...
, was adapted by Doris Gauntlett and starred Budd Knapp (the father), Douglas Rain (Alan), Martha Henry (Terry) and Norma Renault (the mother). This was produced by
Eric Till Eric Till (born 24 November 1929) is an English film and television director working in Canada, the United States, and Europe since the 1960s. His 1977 film ''It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet'' was entered into the 10th Moscow International Film Fes ...
as four-hour-long episodes and broadcast on Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. (Eastern) from 24 November to 15 December 1971. The episodes of the Canadian adaptation were structured as follows: # Terry faces pregnancy while estranged from her husband # Terry's mother commits suicide, as seen through the viewpoint of her husband # The family faces the aftermath of the suicide, under the viewpoint of Terry's brother Alan # The final episode recounts the first, under the viewpoint of the mother


Video releases

The original production is included in ''The Judi Dench Collection'' boxset which has been issued in both Region 1 and Region 2 DVD versions.


References


External links

* * {{italic title 1966 British television series debuts 1966 British television series endings 1966 television plays BBC television dramas CBC Television original programming 1960s British drama television series