View source for Talking to a Stranger

{{Short description|1966 British television series}}
{{More citations needed|date=October 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2012}}
{{About|the British television series|the Hunters & Collectors song|Talking to a Stranger (song)}}
'''''Talking to a Stranger''''' (1966) is a British [[television]] drama, written by [[John Hopkins (screenwriter)|John Hopkins]] for the [[BBC]], 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]] and first shown in the ''[[Theatre 625]]'' series on [[BBC Two|BBC 2]].

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]] in one of her first starring roles on television. The other leads were played by [[Maurice Denham]], [[Margery Mason]] and [[Michael Bryant (actor)|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."<ref name="Guardian"/>

==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]] to determine the [[100 Greatest British Television Programmes]] of the 20th century, it was placed seventy-eighth.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/features/tv/100/list/prog.php?id=78 |title=BFI TV 100 site|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321080206/http://www.bfi.org.uk/features/tv/100/list/prog.php?id=78 |archivedate=21 March 2012}}</ref>

''[[The Observer]]'' TV [[critic]] [[George Melly]] called it "the first authentic masterpiece written directly for television"<ref name="BBC">{{cite web 
 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/cinema/features/talking-to-stranger.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031004041710/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/cinema/features/talking-to-stranger.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 October 2003 |title= BBC Film & Drama website}}</ref> and claimed that "on the evidence of this work alone, the medium can be considered to have come of age."<ref name="ScreenOnline"/>

Dench won the 1967 [[British Academy Television Award for Best Actress]] for her performance.<ref name=debrett>{{cite web |url=http://www.debretts.com/people-of-today-profile?person=12682 |title=Judith Olivia (Judi) Dench |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221085438/http://www.debretts.com/people-of-today-profile?person=12682 |archivedate=21 February 2014 |accessdate=29 January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://awards.bafta.org/keyword-search?keywords=judi+dench |title=BAFTA Awards Search: Judi Dench |publisher=British Academy of Film and Television Arts |access-date=2018-09-09 }}</ref>

==Broadcast==
Originally transmitted on [[BBC Two|BBC2]] as part of the ''[[Theatre 625]]'' anthology strand, the four instalments were shown weekly from 2 to 23 October 1966.<ref name="ScreenOnline">{{cite web |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/499298/index.html|title= British Film Institute ScreenOnline site}}</ref> The first three plays ran 96 minutes and the final play 102 minutes.<ref name="Guardian">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/g2/story/0,,1765037,00.html|title= Law and disorder | work=The Guardian | location=London | date=1 May 2006 | accessdate=24 May 2010 | first=Alan | last=Plater}}</ref>

It was repeated as part of BBC2's twenty-fifth anniversary celebrations in 1989, allegedly because writer [[Alan Bleasdale]] 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]].<ref name="BBC"/>

==International adaptations==
''Talking to a Stranger'' was remade thrice, once for Canadian television in 1971 and twice for [[Belgium|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).<ref>{{imdb title|0338649|Praten tegen een vreemde}}</ref> [[Paul Roland]] was the director of ''Comme des étrangers'' for the Belgian French television.

===Canadian===
The Canadian version, produced by the [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]], was adapted by [[Doris Gauntlett]] and starred Budd Knapp (the father), [[Douglas Rain]] (Alan), [[Martha Henry]] (Terry) and Norma Renault (the mother).<ref>{{cite news |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/270396/Talking-to-a-Stranger/overview|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519181746/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/270396/Talking-to-a-Stranger/overview|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 May 2011|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=[[The New York Times]]|publisher=[[Baseline (database)|Baseline]] & [[All Movie Guide]]|author=Hal Erickson|title= New York Times' Movies online |author-link=Hal Erickson (author)|date=2011| accessdate=24 May 2010}}</ref> This was produced by [[Eric Till]] as four-hour-long episodes and broadcast on Wednesdays at 10:00&nbsp;p.m. (Eastern) from 24 November to 15 December 1971.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.film.queensu.ca/CBC/T.html | first=Blaine | last=Allan | title=Talking to a Stranger | publisher=[[Queen's University at Kingston|Queen's University]] | year=1996 | accessdate=4 May 2012 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924012749/http://www.film.queensu.ca/CBC/T.html | archivedate=24 September 2015 }}</ref>

The episodes of the Canadian adaptation are structured as follows:<ref name=CCF>{{cite web | url=http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/programming/television/programming_popup.php?id=1295 | first=John | last=Corcelli | date=September 2005 | title=Talking to a Stranger | publisher=Canadian Communications Foundation | accessdate=4 May 2012 }}</ref>

# 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==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{imdb title|0060031}}
*{{Screenonline TV title|id=499298}}

{{John Hopkins}}
{{Theatre 625}}

{{italic title}}

[[Category:1966 British television series debuts]]
[[Category:1966 British television series endings]]
[[Category:1966 television plays]]
[[Category:BBC television dramas]]
[[Category:CBC Television original programming]]
[[Category:1960s British drama television series]]