Dvd/150: ALAN BENNETT AT THE BBC (Stephen Frears/Malcolm Mowbray/Giles Foster/John Schlesinger/Richard Eyre/Stuart Burge/Udayan Prasad/Jonathan Stedall, 1972/1994, tv)

A wonderful collection of Alan Bennett's BBC television work including A DAY OUT, SUNSET ACROSS THE BAY, A VISIT FROM MISS PROTHERO, OUR WINNIE, A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE, AN ENGLISHMAN ABROAD, THE INSURANCE MAN, DINNER AT NOON, 102 BOULEVARD HAUSSMANN, A QUESTION OF ATTRIBUTION and PORTRAIT OR BUST.

A 1911 bicycle club's Sunday jaunt; an old couple finding unhappiness in retirement; a retired office worker visited by a boorish ex-colleague; a retarded woman visiting a cemetery with her mother and aunt; an office busybody chattering to the grave; actress Coral Browne meeting spy Guy Burgess in 1958 Moscow; stories from the lives of Kafka and Proust; Sir Anthony Blunt is revealed as a spy, these stories are accompanied by two documentaries of Bennett reflecting on hotels and art galleries.

Among a wide array of acting excellence Patricia Routledge, Coral Browne, Alan Bates, James Fox and Prunella Scales shine.

Shelf or charity shop? Shelf definitely....

Dvd/150: TALKING HEADS (Stuart Burge/Giles Foster/Alan Bennett/Tristram Powell/Patrick Garland/Udayan Prasad/Gavin Miller, 1988/98, tv)

Alan Bennett's incisive monologues never lose the power to draw you in, make you smile but leave you drained at the quietly desperate lives they depict.

They are performed by a dazzling cast: Bennett, Patricia Routledge (twice), Maggie Smith, Stephanie Cole, Julie Walters (twice), Thora Hird (twice), Eileen Atkins, David Haig and Penelope Wilton.

Standouts from Series 1 are Maggie Smith as the depressed vicar's wife whose secret drinking leads to the arms of an Asian shopkeeper and the BAFTA-winning performance by Thora Hird as Doris, reviewing her life in the dying light of day after suffering a fall.

Series 2 wasn't as consistent but several are stunning: David Haig as the park cleaner struggling to hide his secret, Julie Walters as the sour wife realising her husband is a serial killer, and a second BAFTA-winning performance by Hird as Violet, a stroke victim in her 90s.

Shelf or charity shop?  They can soliloquize from the shelf...