TV review: Talking Heads -Nights in the Garden of Spain / The Hand of God

I do like a random connection in my shows and the new 2020 remake of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads has featured Martin Freeman, plus Sarah Lancashire, his intended co-star in James Graham's 2017 comedy Labour of Love, and now Tamsin Greig, who actually appeared as his sparring partner in that play when Lancashire had to pull out. Greig appears in the latest of my double bills, a pair from the second, 1998 series, and although still laced with sadness these are two of the most straightforwardly funny monologues from the collection. The comedy is very dark in Nights in the Garden of Spain, which Marianne Elliott directs, as Greig's quietly unhappy Rosemary uncovers the dark underside of her bland suburban neighbourhood. And all it takes is helping her neighbour deal with the sudden death of her husband - because she's just shot him.

The murderous neighbour becomes a tabloid cause célèbre, but her reasons for killing her husband reveal a history of abuse that makes Rosemary take a new look at her own husband.

She also finds an unexpected new best friend in the murderess, with whom she develops a quasi-romantic relationship on her visits to prison. Elliott beautifully balances the contradictory moods of Nights in the Garden of Spain - like much of Bennett's work in this series it's quietly caustic, its conclusion in a corner of Marbella full of British criminals making clear what he thinks about the people society considers respectable versus the reality. And Greig is just so good - her little sharp intakes of breath and nervous giggles reveal a jumpy, vulnerable woman, whose tragedy is just how brief her moment of true happiness is; but she's also such a natural comic actress that none of the frequent absurdity of the situation is lost, in a piece that jumps effortlessly between the comic and the tragic. Plus, I've not always loved the costume choices on these somewhat rough-and-ready remakes, but the collection of floral blouses for keen gardener Rosemarie is a nice touch.

The series' collection of current and future dames adds another current one to the roster as Kristin Scott Thomas takes on The Hand of God for director Jonathan Kent. Bennett's monologues for the most part find some sympathy for even the most reprehensible characters, but out of the original two series antiques dealer Celia is the most out-and-out monstrous. I don't think anyone could provide quite the same acidity as Eileen Atkins in the role, but Scott Thomas certainly relishes Celia's overwhelming snobbery, as well as her horrible ghoulishness - turning her nose up at people who can't wait to sell their dead loved ones' possessions, she herself practically drools over a rival dealer's deathbed as she hopes to be first in line to buy everything in her house at a bargain price.

It doesn't seem to be one of the first Talking Heads people ever think of but The Hand of God is low-key one of my favourites, and I did wonder if remembering the ending in as much detail as I do would affect my enjoyment this time. But it's such a sharp little piece that there's no fear of that, Scott Thomas reinventing this comic monster as she lays all the little traps that she'll only end up catching herself in down the line. It's pure schadenfreude of course but it does deliver a killer satisfying ending.

Talking Heads by Alan Bennett is available until June 2021 on BBC iPlayer.

Running time: 35 minutes (Nights in the Garden of Spain,) 30 minutes (The Hand of God.)

Photo credit: BBC.