Winner 2001

ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre – Talking Heads II: Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet

Slow Motion Ltd. production for the BBC, WGBH, Boston

In a culture increasingly dominated by youth, ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre: Talking Heads II—Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet brings a perspective rarely found on television today. This extraordinary drama, produced by Slow Motion, Ltd., for the BBC and presented on PBS by WGBH, is a deceptively simple glimpse into the life of a middle-aged woman. Alan Bennett, the distinguished British author of Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet, has, in this piece, chosen a risky and distinctive use of television: a monologue. Directed by Patrick Garland and produced by Mark Shivas with Co-Executive Producers Bennett and Rebecca Eaton, Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet paints an intimate portrait of one woman and the forces that shape her life. The immediacy of the solitary performer speaking directly to the camera reduces this production to its essence: language and performance. We are deeply moved by Bennett’s compassionate display of human frailty in the person of an ordinary, middle-aged Englishwoman who speaks to the viewer as though chatting with an old friend. Impeccably performed by Patricia Routledge, Miss Fozzard innocently tells us her story, completely unaware of the poignant, heart-rending reality that lies beneath the everyday events of her existence. Bennett’s mastery of language and nuance tells us more than Miss Fozzard will ever know. For providing audiences with an exquisitely personal insight into the human condition, a Peabody Award goes to ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre: Talking Heads II—Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet.