I was 17-years-old when I first saw "Talking to a Stranger" on (then) National Educational Television's "NET Playhouse," and again a year later as I was about to enter university. Like that other viewer who commented on it, it was the first time I had ever heard of or seen Judi Dench and was blown away by this feisty, complex character with the gravelly voice who raged out against God while vehemently declaring she does not believe in Him (and liberally quoting scripture throughout) and mucking about in her self-made squalor called a life. What strength of character! As for the other leading roles, I had long admired British character actor Maurice Denham as the father (he is so marvelous in "84 Charing Cross Road" for a recent example), and first saw Margery Mason as the harridan housekeeper for Albert Finney in his small self-directed film "Charlie Bubbles" (1967). Michael Bryant (another totally new face to me--he played Lenin in 1971's "Nicholas and Alexandra") is incredible as the sensitive and self-denying son who lives a life 180 degrees from his sister Terry's; his is responsible, directed, mature, respectable but somehow unfulfilled. Thrusting the four of them together as members of the what we would call "disfunctional" Stephens family over one seemingly ordinary turned fateful weekend made me sit up and take notice of acting and scriptwriting as I had never seen them before. If you get to see this quartet of masterpieces (and I implore you to do so, there is nothing even close to it and you owe the experience to yourself), you will especially never forget the closing lines in the second and fourth episodes and realize the truths spoken by these people will change you forever. The series speaks volumes about relationships between parents and their children and the unsatisfactory aspects of marriage, even longtime ones. Finally, allow yourself closure by sitting through the end credits, with their melancholy, Brahms-like music and the profiles of the four protagonists framing the screen. You'll find that Terry, Alan, and Mr. and Mrs. Stephens have become people you came to know intimately, intensely and for whom you have come to care about very much indeed. Kudos to writer John Hopkins and director Christopher Morahan. (By the way, "Talking to a Stranger" was nominated for a collective Emmy Award for excellence in American television in 1969 and for whatever reason did NOT win; go figure!)