It’s the one and only Alan

FOR reasons I believe we may already have touched upon, television is currently having to go through a less-is-more phase. And what could be more less-is-more-ish (yes, I do realise that’s gibberish, thanks for pointing it out) than ALAN BENNETT’STALKING HEADS, making a timely return tonight to BBC1 (9pm, 9.30pm).

To those who weren’t around to catch the original Talking Heads series (there were two, going out in 1988 and 1998 respectively), this 12-part remake, which includes a couple of new pieces, may actually come as something of a shock.After all, each episode consists of just one actor talking to us for half an hour. That’s it. No fuss, no frills, no fancy-dan whizz-bang production. No car chase.

I mean, who on earth puts something quite so…what’s the word, plain on prime-time telly these days? Well, it turns out the

BBC does.And well done them for being so bold.

(After I’d typed that last sentence, my computer flashed up an automated message, saying: “Are you sure you really meant to write that? It’s not like you…”)

Bennett’s monologues were, and remain, things of beauty. He’s the master at capturing those tiny quirks of everyday speech, those funny turns of phrase, and giving his characters shape through what they say rather than what they do.

There’s pretty much nothing happening on screen (hence the fact these pieces have worked just as nicely on the radio) and yet every story will almost certainly have you absorbed.

(I say “almost certainly” for the benefit of those who feel the summer’s TV highlight is Love Island: Australia).

The first episode is a classic,A Lady Of Letters, starring Imelda Staunton (in the original it was Patricia Routledge).

Her curtain-twitching character is forever penning letters of complaint, and not without some success.

Indeed her local MP, she boasts, replied to her latest missive just this morning. (“He’s Labour,” she concedes, “but it’s always very good notepaper and beautifully typed…”). So what’s to discourage her from taking all this meddling too far?

Elsewhere, lockdown has enabled choirmaster Gareth Malone to do two very significant things.

First, he’s grown a beard that’s both red and grey, which is nothing if not striking.And second, he’s launched another of his inspirational projects.

THE CHOIR: SINGING FOR BRITAIN (BBC2, 9pm) has evolved from a mass online singing session into something altogether more meaningful, as Gareth and some of his singers work on songs that reflect their lives right now.