"Talking to a Stranger" (1966) TV mini-series

Director:

Christopher Morahan

Writer:

John Hopkins (writer)

Release Date:

14 February 1969 (USA)

Plot Keywords:

TV Mini-Series

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy. Another 1 win

Cast

Judi Dench	...	Terry Stevens - Daughter
Margery Mason	...	Sarah Stevens - Mother
Michael Bryant	...	Alan Stevens - Brother
Maurice Denham	...	Edward 'Ted' Stevens - Father
Pinkie Johnstone	...	Jess
Emrys James	...	Gordon Lester
Timothy Carlton	...	Geoffrey Lawrence
Calvin Lockhart	...	Leonard Ngana
Ann Mitchell	...	Mother as a young woman
Frederick Pyne	...	Father as a young man
Barry Stanton	...	Father's Friend
Gaynor Jones	...	Terry as a child
Keith Kent	...	Alan as a child
Windsor Davies	...	Detective Sergeant Wilson
Maryann Turner	...	Mrs. Hayter (as Mariann Turner)

Runtime:

90 min (4 episodes)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

Consisted of four episodes, telling the same events from each major character's point of view: - Anytime You're Ready I'll Sparkle (Terry's story) - No Skill or Special Knowledge Is Required (Father's story) - Gladly, My Cross-Eyed Bear (Alan's story) - The Innocent Must Suffer (Mother's story)

Quotes:

Terry Stevens - Daughter: I should be dead.
Alan Stevens - Brother: What?
Terry Stevens - Daughter: Well, you know, just a little maybe, around the edges.

Movie Connections:

Remade as "Talking to a Stranger" (1971)

A unique TV drama.

John Hopkins was well-known to British television viewers as a contributor to the highly-successful series 'Z cars' when he wrote 'Talking to a Stranger' for the then very young channel BBC2 under the 'Theatre 625' banner. A suburban family - father (Maurice Denham), mother (Margery Mason), son Alan (Michael Bryant) and daughter Terry (Judi Dench), gather for a weekend at the family home, and the traumatic events of that weekend are told over four ninety-minute episodes, first from the daughter's point-of-view, then from the father's, the brother's, and finally the mother's. This unique approach gave us, the audience, insights into behaviour which in preceding episodes had seemed as baffling to us as it did to the other characters. To know all is to forgive all; by the end of the fourth episode we knew all, but the family never would, and they would never forgive. The weekend had shattered them beyond repair.

TV lost John Hopkins to the movies, and the days are long gone when any channel would be brave enough to allow a dramatist six hours of prime time television to explore four characters over one weekend, so I think its unique status will remain unchallenged. Sadly, it isn't, as far as I'm aware, available on commercial video, but some of us took the chance to record it when it was re-shown during a BBC 2 anniversary evening. It was gratifying to discover that time had not lent enchantment to it; it is every bit as sharp and observant as it was when it was first aired. George Melly in the Observer called it "the first authentic masterpiece written directly for television"; I wouldn't go so far as to add that it is the only one, but the only other contender I can bring to mind is 'This Story of Yours' written by...you've guessed it - John Hopkins. But it was subsequently made into the Sean Connery/Ian Bannen film 'The Offence', and it's difficult to see how 'Talking to a Stranger' could be done justice by anything other than television. So perhaps I will go so far as to say it's the only authentic masterpiece written directly for television. It is what television movies could have been, could still be, but probably never will be; an art-form in their own right, rather than the scaled-down version of made-for-cinema movies that they have become.