The week in TV: Talking Heads; Perry Mason; The Luminaries; The School That Tried to End Racism - review

Alan Bennett’s masterly monologues were rebooted with top-notch performers; Matthew Rhys makes a superb young Perry Mason; and Channel 4 conducted an anti-racism experiment

Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads (BBC1) | iPlayer
Perry Mason (Sky Atlantic) | sky.com
The Luminaries (BBC1) | iPlayer
The School That Tried to End Racism (C4) | All 4

Occasionally an alignment of the heavens is nudged into place that has you believing in the concept of serendipity. The first weeks of lockdown happened to see a sprawl of empty Elstree studios (what with ’Stenders taking a break from its relentless uplifting smileathon) coincide with Nicholas Hytner and a dozen of our seriously finest, wisest actors thrumming their actorly knuckles in savage uncreative boredom. And hadn’t Alan Bennett just last year added a couple of monologues to his ’88 and ’98 Talking Heads, which gobbled a slew of awards and were due a revival; and, actually, did the BBC have anything better to do?

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from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Bh7tYd