BBC Television Shakespeare
Encyclopedia
The BBC Television Shakespeare was a set of television adaptations of the plays
of William Shakespeare
, produced by the BBC
between 1978 and 1985.
, a veteran BBC producer, who was on-location at Glamis Castle
in Angus
, Scotland
shooting J.M. Barrie
's The Little Minister
for the BBC Play of the Month
series. During filming, it occurred to Messina that the castle would make a perfect location for an adaptation of Shakespeare's As You Like It
for the series. By the time he had returned to London, however, the concept had grown considerably, and Messina now envisioned an entire series devoted exclusively to the dramatic work of Shakespeare; a series which would adapt all thirty-seven of Shakespeare's plays.
At first, Messina envisioned the series as having six seasons of six episodes each, with the plan being to adapt the three Henry VI plays into a two-part episode. This idea was soon rejected however, as it was felt to be an unacceptable compromise, and it was decided to simply have one season with seven episodes. Initially, Messina also wanted to shoot the plays in chronological order of how they were written, but this was rejected because it was felt that doing so would necessitate the series beginning with a run of relatively little known plays. Another early concept of Messina's which had to be rejected was the idea of shooting the eight sequential history plays (Richard II
, Henry IV, Part 1
, Henry IV, Part 2
, Henry V
, Henry VI, Part 1
, Henry VI, Part 2
, Henry VI, Part 3
and Richard III
) in chronological order of the events they depict, with linked casting and the same director for all eight adaptations (David Giles). During the early planning stages for Richard II and Henry IV, Part 1 however, the plan for linked casting fell apart when it was discovered that although Jon Finch
(Henry Bolingbroke in Richard II) could return as Henry IV, Jeremy Bulloch
as Henry 'Hotspur' Percy and David Swift as the Earl of Northumberland were unable to do so, and the parts had to be recast, thus undermining the concept of shooting the plays as one sequence. Ultimately, during the first season, Richard II, although still directed by Giles, was treated as a stand-alone piece, whilst Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2 and Henry V (all also directed by Giles) were treated as a trilogy during the second season, with linked casting between them. The second four plays were then directed by Jane Howell during the fifth season as one unit, with a common set and linked casting, with most of the cast playing multiple roles in the four plays. For example, Ron Cook
, who played Richard III
, also appeared in minor roles in Henry VI, Part 1 and Henry VI, Part 2.
with Margaretta Scott
as Rosalind and Ion Swinley as Orlando. Later that evening, a fourteen-minute segment from the wooing scene of Henry V was screened, directed by George More O'Ferrall
and starring Henry Oscar
as Henry and Yvonne Arnaud
as Katherine. O'Ferrall would oversee numerous productions of Shakespeare over the course of 1937; a ten-minute excerpt from Mark Antony's funeral speech in Julius Caesar
, starring Henry Oscar (11 February); a ten-minute excerpt from Much Ado About Nothing
with Henry Oscar as Benedick and Margaretta Scott as Beatrice (also 11 February); a twenty-five minute extract from Macbeth
, with Henry Oscar as Macbeth and Margaret Rawlings
as Lady Macbeth (25 March); a thirty-minute extract from Twelfth Night, with John Wyse as Orsino and Greer Garson
as Olivia (14 May); and a sixty seven-minute extract from Othello
starring Baliol Holloway as Othello, D.A. Clarke-Smith
as Iago and Celia Johnson
as Desdemona. O’Ferrall also produced a 1938 broadcast of a live thirty-minute extract from an Old Vic production of Macbeth, directed by Michel Saint-Denis
and starring Laurence Olivier
and Judith Anderson
. 1938 also saw the first full-length broadcast of a Shakespeare play; Dallas Bower
's modern dress production of Julius Caesar at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre
starring Ernest Milton as Caesar and D.A. Clark-Smith as Mark Antony. These transmissions came to an end with the onset of war in 1939 and none of them survive now.
After the war, Shakespearean adaptations were screened less frequently, although there were numerous live transmissions of actual plays; for example, a one hundred-minute abridged version of Orson Welles
' legendary modern dress Mercury Theatre
production of Julius Caesar, starring Welles himself; a twenty five-minute extract from Stephen Thomas' Regent's Park
production of A Midsummer Night's Dream
, starring Alexander Knox
as Oberon and Thea Holme as Titiana; and a one hundred and forty-minute version of Dallas Bower's production of The Tempest
, with Peggy Ashcroft
as Miranda and John Abbott
as Prospero. In 1948, George More O'Ferrall directed and produced a made-for-TV two-part adaptation of Hamlet
with John Byron as Hamlet, Sebastian Shaw
as Claudius, Margaret Rawlings as Gertrude and Muriel Pavlow
as Ophelia.
There were also three multi-part Shakespearean adaptations shown during the 1950s and 1960s. The first was The Life and Death of Sir John Falstaff (1959). Produced and directed by Ronald Eyre
and starring Roger Livesey
as Falstaff
, the series took all of the Falstaff scenes from the Henry IV plays and The Merry Wives of Windsor
and adapted them into seven half-hour episodes. The second was An Age of Kings (1960). Produced by Peter Dews
and directed by Michael Hayes, the show comprised fifteen one-hour episodes which adapted all eight of Shakespeare's sequential history plays. The third was the Peter Dews produced The Spread of the Eagle (1963), which featured nine one-hour episodes adapting, in chronological order of the real life events, Coriolanus
, Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra
.
However, The Spread of the Eagle was not a huge success, and afterwards, the BBC returned to smaller screenings with less financial risk. In 1964, for example, the John Barton
adaptation of the three Henry VI plays and Richard III into a three-parter called The Wars of the Roses by the Royal Shakespeare Company
was aired over a four-week period. Another 1964 production was Hamlet at Elsinore, directed by Philip Saville
and produced by Peter Luke
. Starring Christopher Plummer
as Hamlet, Robert Shaw
as Claudius, Michael Caine
as Horatio and Donald Sutherland
as Fortinbras, the entire play was shot on-location in Denmark at the real Elsinore Castle. Additionally, The Play of the Month series screened several Shakespearian adaptations over the years; Romeo and Juliet
(1967), The Tempest (1968), Julius Caesar (1969), Macbeth (1970), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1971), The Merchant of Venice
(1972), Love's Labour's Lost
(1974) and King Lear
(1975).
. So large was the project that the BBC couldn't finance it alone and required an American partner who would guarantee access to the United States market, deemed essential for the series to recoup its costs. Financing took over two years to secure, with Time–Life acting as the series' largest underwriter
. Later, Exxon
, Metropolitan Life and Morgan Guaranty Trust also provided financing. However, because they had invested so much in the project, the backers were able to suggest terms.
The most important of these was that the productions must be traditional interpretations of the plays set in either Shakespeare's time (1564 to 1616) or in the period of the events depicted (such as ancient Rome for Julius Caesar or c1400 for Richard II). A two and a half hour maximum running time was also required but this was swiftly jettisoned when it became clear that the major tragedies in particular would have suffered severely if truncated too heavily. The restriction regarding conservative interpretations was non-negotiable. The financiers were primarily concerned with ratings
and the restrictions worked to this end, ensuring the plays had "maximum acceptability to the widest possible audience." Partly because of this, although later productions under Messina's successors Jonathan Miller
and Shaun Sutton
, would be more experimental, in its early years the series developed a reputation for being overly conventional. Later in the series when Miller tried to persuade directors such as Peter Brook
, Ingmar Bergman
, William Gaskill
and John Dexter
to direct adaptations, he failed.
During Messina's tenure as producer (seasons one and two), as per the financiers' restrictions the adaptations tended to be conservative, but when Jonathan Miller took over at the start of season three, he revamped things. Messina had favoured a broadly 'realistic' approach which worked to simplify the texts for audiences unfamiliar with Shakespeare. Miller was against dilution. According to Martin Wiggins, Miller came from,
and Rembrandt. This allowed directors to stamp more of their aesthetic credo on the productions. Miller's aesthetic policies continued under Shaun Sutton who took over at the start of season six. The project was Sutton's retirement job after twelve years as the head of BBC Drama and he was under strict orders to bring the series to a close as it had run over by twelve months during Miller's reign. Sutton was successful and the series closed with a broadcast of Titus Andronicus
roughly twelve months late. Messina's gamble in 1978 proved successful as the series was a financial success, having more than broken even by 1982.
All productions were shot on video
with multiple cameras
in Studio 1 at the BBC Television Centre
studios, with the exception of two first season episodes, As You Like It and Henry VIII
, which were shot on location. Also worth noting is that composer
William Walton
, who had scored Olivier's three Shakespearean films (Henry V
, Hamlet
and Richard III
) came out of retirement to write the theme music
for the show.
Romeo and Juliet
Rebecca Saire was only fourteen when the production was filmed, an unusually young age for an actress playing Juliet (even though she is only thirteen in the play itself).
King Richard the Second
As You Like It
Filmed at Glamis Castle
in Scotland, this was one of only two productions shot on location, the other being Henry VIII. Director Basil Colemen initially felt that the play should be filmed over the course of a year, with the change in seasons from winter to summer marking the ideological change in characters, but he was forced to shoot entirely in May, even though the play begins in winter.
Julius Caesar
Director Herbert Wise felt that Julius Caesar should be set in the Elizabethan era
, but he was compelled by the financiers to set it in a Roman milieu
. Wise felt that Shakespeare had written the play specifically as a commentary on Elizabethan culture, and that interpreting it literally as being a play about Ancient Rome
trivialised the story.
Measure for Measure
Director Desmond Davis based the brothel
in the play on a traditional Western saloon and the prison
on a typical horror film
dungeon
.
The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight
Shot at Leeds Castle
, Penhurst Place
and Hever Castle
and in the actual rooms in which some of the real events took place.
The First Part of King Henry the Fourth, with the life and death of Henry surnamed Hotspur
The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth, including his death and the coronation of King Henry the Fift
The Life of Henry the Fift
Director John Gorrie interpreted the play as an English country house
comedy, and incorporated influences ranging from Luigi Pirandello
's Il Gioco delle Parti
to ITV
's Upstairs, Downstairs
. Gorrie also set the play during the English Civil War
, hoping the use of cavalier
s and roundhead
s would help focus the dramatisation of the conflict between festivity
and Puritan
ism.
The Tempest
The special effects seen in this episode were not developed especially for use here. They had been developed for Top of the Pops
and Doctor Who
.
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
The Taming of the Shrew
The casting of John Cleese as Petruchio was not without controversy at the time. Cleese had never performed Shakespeare before, and was not a fan of the first two seasons of the BBC Television Shakespeare, and took some persuading from Miller that the BBC Shrew would not be, as Cleese feared "about a lot of furniture being knocked over, a lot of wine being spilled, a lot of thighs being slapped and a lot of unmotivated laughter." As such, Miller told Cleese that the episode would interpret Petruchio as an early Puritan, and that the part was not to be acted along the traditional lines of the swaggering bully a la Richard Burton
in Franco Zeffirelli
's adaptation
. In tandem with this interpretation, the song sung at the end of the play is a musical version of Psalm
128, which was often sung in Puritan households at the end of a meal during Shakespeare's own day.
The Merchant of Venice
All's Well That Ends Well
In line with producer Jonathan Miller's new aesthetic policy, director Elijah Moshinsky composed many of the shots of the film as live action replicas of the work of Johannes Vermeer.
The Winter's Tale
Timon of Athens
Michael Bogdanov
was originally hired to direct this episode, but he resigned after his modern-dress interpretation was considered too radical.
Antony and Cleopatra
During the shooting of the scene with the snake, the snake crawled down the back of Jane Lapotaire's dress.
Othello
James Earl Jones
was originally hired to play the role of Othello, but Equity, the English Actor's Guild, refused to issue a work permit. During production itself, Jonathan Miller based the visual design on the work of El Greco
.
Troilus and Cressida
Director Jonathan Miller used the work of gothic painter Lucas Cranach
as a visual influence during the production, and several of Cranach's paintings can be seen in Ajax's tent.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Elijah Moshinsky based the fairies in the play on the baroque
eroticism
of Rembrandt and Peter Paul Rubens.
King Lear
Jonathan Miller had previously directed an adaptation of King Lear in 1975 for the BBC series Play of the Month. Like the BBC Shakespeare version, Miller's previous production starred Michael Hordern as Lear and Frank Middlemass as the Fool. Originally, however Robert Shaw was cast as Lear but died in 1978 before production began.
Cymbeline
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Director David Jones originally wanted to shoot the episode in Stratford-upon-Avon
but was restricted to a studio setting. Jones got around this by basing his set on the house which belonged to Shakespeare's son-in-law, John Hall
.
The First Part of Henry the Sixt
The Second Part of Henry the Sixt
This episode was filmed on the same set as The First Part of Henry the Sixt. However, designer Oliver Bayldon altered the set so it would appear that the paint work was flaking and peeling, and the set falling into a state of disrepair, as England descended into an ever increasing state of chaos.
The Third Part of Henry the Sixt
This episode was filmed on the same set as The First Part of Henry the Sixt and The Second Part of Henry the Sixt. However, designer Oliver Bayldon altered the set so it would appear to be completely falling apart, as England descended into an even worse state of chaos.
The Tragedy of Richard III
This episode was filmed on the same set as the three Henry VI plays. However, designer Oliver Bayldon altered the set so it would appear to be a ruin, as England reached its lowest point of chaos. At 239 minutes, Howell's The Tragedy of Richard III was the longest episode in the entire series, and when the series was released on DVD in 2005, it was the only adaptation split over two disks.
Macbeth
The Comedy of Errors
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
The music in this episode was created by Anthony Rooley
, who wrote new arrangements of works from Shakespeare's own time, such as John Dowland
's piece 'Lachrimae
'. Performed by The Consort of Musicke
, other musicians whose music was used include William Byrd
, Thomas Campion
, Anthony Holborne
, John Johnson
, Thomas Morley
and Orazio Vecchi
. According to director Don Taylor, the use of the young actors dressed as cherub
s was to convey the idea that the characters lived in a 'Garden of Courtly Love', which was slightly divorced from every day reality.
The Tragedy of Coriolanus
Director Elijah Moshinsky modelled the relationship between Coriolanus and his mother after that between Rose Kennedy and her sons.
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Much Ado About Nothing
A production of Much Ado About Nothing directed by Donald McWhinnie and starring Penelope Keith
and Michael York
was the first production to be recorded in the series, but was thought unsatisfactory for US audiences, and never broadcast. During the reshoot for season seven, director Stuart Burge initially thought about shooting the entire episode against a blank tapestry background, with no set whatsoever, but it was felt that audiences may not respond well to this, and the idea was scrapped.
Love's Labour's Lost
Director Elijah Moshinsky used the paintings of Jean-Antoine Watteau
, the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
and the writing of Pierre de Marivaux
as inspiration during the making of this episode, which is the only play of the thirty-seven to be set in the eighteenth century.
Titus Andronicus
Because Titus was broadcast several months after the rest of the seventh season, it was rumoured that the BBC were worried about the violence in the play and that disagreements had arisen about censorship. This was inaccurate however, with the delay caused by a BBC strike in 1984. Initially, director Jane Howell wanted to set the play in present day Northern Ireland
, but she ultimately settled on a more conventional approach. All the body parts seen throughout were based upon real autopsy photographs, and were authenticated by the Royal College of Surgeons. The costumes of the Goths were based on punk outfits, with Chiron and Demetrius specifically based on the band KISS
. According to Howell, the reason the Roman populace all wear identical generic masks without mouth was to convey the idea also that the Roman people were faceless and voiceless.
(1623), however, numerous changes were made throughout the series.
Shakespeare's plays
William Shakespeare's plays have the reputation of being among the greatest in the English language and in Western literature. Traditionally, the 37 plays are divided into the genres of tragedy, history, and comedy; they have been translated into every major living language, in addition to being...
of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, produced by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
between 1978 and 1985.
Origins
The concept for the series originated in 1976 with Cedric MessinaCedric Messina
Cedric Messina was a South African born British television producer and director for the BBC of mainly classic drama...
, a veteran BBC producer, who was on-location at Glamis Castle
Glamis Castle
Glamis Castle is situated beside the village of Glamis in Angus, Scotland. It is the home of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and is open to the public....
in Angus
Angus
Angus is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross and Dundee City...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
shooting J.M. Barrie
J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright...
's The Little Minister
The Little Minister
The Little Minister is a 1934 American drama film directed by Richard Wallace. The screenplay by Jane Murfin, Sarah Y. Mason, and Victor Heerman is based on the 1891 novel and subsequent 1897 play of the same title by J. M. Barrie. It was the fifth feature film adaptation of the works, following...
for the BBC Play of the Month
Play of the Month
Play of the Month is a BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays which were usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles...
series. During filming, it occurred to Messina that the castle would make a perfect location for an adaptation of Shakespeare's As You Like It
As You Like It
As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
for the series. By the time he had returned to London, however, the concept had grown considerably, and Messina now envisioned an entire series devoted exclusively to the dramatic work of Shakespeare; a series which would adapt all thirty-seven of Shakespeare's plays.
At first, Messina envisioned the series as having six seasons of six episodes each, with the plan being to adapt the three Henry VI plays into a two-part episode. This idea was soon rejected however, as it was felt to be an unacceptable compromise, and it was decided to simply have one season with seven episodes. Initially, Messina also wanted to shoot the plays in chronological order of how they were written, but this was rejected because it was felt that doing so would necessitate the series beginning with a run of relatively little known plays. Another early concept of Messina's which had to be rejected was the idea of shooting the eight sequential history plays (Richard II
Richard II (play)
King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by some scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's...
, Henry IV, Part 1
Henry IV, Part 1
Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. It is the second play in Shakespeare's tetralogy dealing with the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV , and Henry V...
, Henry IV, Part 2
Henry IV, Part 2
Henry IV, Part 2 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed written between 1596 and 1599. It is the third part of a tetralogy, preceded by Richard II and Henry IV, Part 1 and succeeded by Henry V.-Sources:...
, Henry V
Henry V (play)
Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to be written in approximately 1599. Its full titles are The Cronicle History of Henry the Fifth and The Life of Henry the Fifth...
, Henry VI, Part 1
Henry VI, part 1
Henry VI, Part 1 or The First Part of Henry the Sixt is a history play by William Shakespeare, and possibly Thomas Nashe, believed to have been written in 1591, and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England...
, Henry VI, Part 2
Henry VI, part 2
Henry VI, Part 2 or The Second Part of Henry the Sixt is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1591, and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England...
, Henry VI, Part 3
Henry VI, part 3
Henry VI, Part 3 or The Third Part of Henry the Sixt is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1591, and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England...
and Richard III
Richard III (play)
Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...
) in chronological order of the events they depict, with linked casting and the same director for all eight adaptations (David Giles). During the early planning stages for Richard II and Henry IV, Part 1 however, the plan for linked casting fell apart when it was discovered that although Jon Finch
Jon Finch
Jon Finch is an English actor noted for many Shakespearean roles. Perhaps his most notable role was the title role in Roman Polanski's 1971 film adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth. His other famous role was as a down-and-out ex-RAF pilot wrongly accused of murder in Alfred Hitchcock's...
(Henry Bolingbroke in Richard II) could return as Henry IV, Jeremy Bulloch
Jeremy Bulloch
Jeremy Bulloch is an English actor. He is best known for the role inside the costume of the bounty hunter Boba Fett in the original Star Wars trilogy, though he did not voice the character...
as Henry 'Hotspur' Percy and David Swift as the Earl of Northumberland were unable to do so, and the parts had to be recast, thus undermining the concept of shooting the plays as one sequence. Ultimately, during the first season, Richard II, although still directed by Giles, was treated as a stand-alone piece, whilst Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2 and Henry V (all also directed by Giles) were treated as a trilogy during the second season, with linked casting between them. The second four plays were then directed by Jane Howell during the fifth season as one unit, with a common set and linked casting, with most of the cast playing multiple roles in the four plays. For example, Ron Cook
Ron Cook
Ron Cook is an English actor who has been active in the theatre, film and television since the 1970s. He is from South Shields, Co Durham, England and is a graduate of Rose Bruford College.- Stage appearances :...
, who played Richard III
Richard III of England
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...
, also appeared in minor roles in Henry VI, Part 1 and Henry VI, Part 2.
Shakespeare on the BBC
The BBC had screened many Shakespearean adaptations before, but never on this scale. The first broadcast was on the afternoon of 5 February 1937; an eleven-minute scene from As You Like It, directed by Robert AtkinsRobert Atkins (actor)
Sir Robert Atkins, CBE was an English actor, producer and director.Born in Dulwich, London, England, Atkins was most famous for his participation in the theatre. An early graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he also appeared many times on film and in television, though not with the...
with Margaretta Scott
Margaretta Scott
Margaretta Scott was an English stage, screen and television actress whose career spanned over seventy years. She is best remembered for playing the eccentric widow Mrs...
as Rosalind and Ion Swinley as Orlando. Later that evening, a fourteen-minute segment from the wooing scene of Henry V was screened, directed by George More O'Ferrall
George More O'Ferrall
George More O'Ferrall was a British film and television director.-Selected filmography:*The Holly and the Ivy *Angels One Five *The Heart of the Matter...
and starring Henry Oscar
Henry Oscar
Henry Oscar was an English stage and film actor.Born as Henry Wale, he changed his name and began acting in 1911 and appeared in a wide range of films, including Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much , Fire Over England , The Four Feathers , Hatter's Castle ,...
as Henry and Yvonne Arnaud
Yvonne Arnaud
Yvonne Arnaud was a French-born pianist, singer and actress.Germaine Yvonne Arnaud was born in 1892. She entered the Paris Conservatoire at age 9, studying piano under Alphonse Duvernoy and other teachers...
as Katherine. O'Ferrall would oversee numerous productions of Shakespeare over the course of 1937; a ten-minute excerpt from Mark Antony's funeral speech in Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar (play)
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, also known simply as Julius Caesar, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It portrays the 44 BC conspiracy against...
, starring Henry Oscar (11 February); a ten-minute excerpt from Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....
with Henry Oscar as Benedick and Margaretta Scott as Beatrice (also 11 February); a twenty-five minute extract from Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
, with Henry Oscar as Macbeth and Margaret Rawlings
Margaret Rawlings
Margaret Rawlings was a distinguished English stage actress, born in Osaka, Japan, daughter of the Rev George William Rawlings and his wife Lilian . She died two weeks three days before her 90th birthday....
as Lady Macbeth (25 March); a thirty-minute extract from Twelfth Night, with John Wyse as Orsino and Greer Garson
Greer Garson
Greer Garson, CBE was a British-born actress who was very popular during World War II, being listed by the Motion Picture Herald as one of America's top ten box office draws in 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, and 1946. As one of MGM's major stars of the 1940s, Garson received seven Academy Award...
as Olivia (14 May); and a sixty seven-minute extract from Othello
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
starring Baliol Holloway as Othello, D.A. Clarke-Smith
D. A. Clarke-Smith
D. A. Clarke-Smith was a British actor.He was born on 2 August 1888 at Montrose, Scotland. He was educated at the University of Oxford, studying law and voice culture, and while there joined the Oxford University Dramatic Society. His stage career was interrupted by the First World War...
as Iago and Celia Johnson
Celia Johnson
Dame Celia Elizabeth Johnson DBE was an English actress.She began her stage acting career in 1928, and subsequently achieved success in West End and Broadway productions. She also appeared in several films, including the romantic drama Brief Encounter , for which she received a nomination for the...
as Desdemona. O’Ferrall also produced a 1938 broadcast of a live thirty-minute extract from an Old Vic production of Macbeth, directed by Michel Saint-Denis
Michel Saint-Denis
Michel Saint-Denis , dit Jacques Duchesne, was a French actor, theater director, and drama theorist whose ideas on actor training have had a profound influence on the development of European theater from the 1930s on.Michel Saint-Denis was born in Beauvais, France, the nephew of Jacques Copeau, who...
and starring Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
and Judith Anderson
Judith Anderson
Dame Judith Anderson, AC, DBE was an Australian-born American-based actress of stage, film and television. She won two Emmy Awards and a Tony Award and was also nominated for a Grammy Award and an Academy Award.-Early life:...
. 1938 also saw the first full-length broadcast of a Shakespeare play; Dallas Bower
Dallas Bower
Dallas Bower was a British film and television director and producer.-Selected filmography:Director* The Path of Glory * Alice in Wonderland * The Second Mrs Tanqueray...
's modern dress production of Julius Caesar at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre
Royal Shakespeare Theatre
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre is a 1,040+ seat thrust stage theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company dedicated to the British playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It is located in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon - Shakespeare's birthplace - in the English Midlands, beside the River Avon...
starring Ernest Milton as Caesar and D.A. Clark-Smith as Mark Antony. These transmissions came to an end with the onset of war in 1939 and none of them survive now.
After the war, Shakespearean adaptations were screened less frequently, although there were numerous live transmissions of actual plays; for example, a one hundred-minute abridged version of Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
' legendary modern dress Mercury Theatre
Mercury Theatre
The Mercury Theatre was a theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and John Houseman. After a string of live theatrical productions, in 1938 the Mercury Theatre progressed into their best-known period as The Mercury Theatre on the Air, a radio series that included one of the...
production of Julius Caesar, starring Welles himself; a twenty five-minute extract from Stephen Thomas' Regent's Park
Regent's Park
Regent's Park is one of the Royal Parks of London. It is in the north-western part of central London, partly in the City of Westminster and partly in the London Borough of Camden...
production of A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
, starring Alexander Knox
Alexander Knox
Alexander Knox was a Canadian actor and author of adventure novels set in the Great Lakes area during the 19th century.-Biography:...
as Oberon and Thea Holme as Titiana; and a one hundred and forty-minute version of Dallas Bower's production of The Tempest
The Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
, with Peggy Ashcroft
Peggy Ashcroft
Dame Peggy Ashcroft, DBE was an English actress.-Early years:Born as Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft in Croydon, Ashcroft attended the Woodford School, Croydon and the Central School of Speech and Drama...
as Miranda and John Abbott
John Abbott (actor)
John Kefford was an English character actor professionally known as John Abbott. His memorable roles include the invalid Frederick Fairlie in the 1948 movie The Woman in White and the pacifist Ayelborne in the Star Trek episode "Errand of Mercy"...
as Prospero. In 1948, George More O'Ferrall directed and produced a made-for-TV two-part adaptation of Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
with John Byron as Hamlet, Sebastian Shaw
Sebastian Shaw (actor)
Sebastian Lewis Shaw was an English actor, director, novelist, playwright and poet. During his 65-year career, Shaw appeared in dozens of stage performances and more than 40 film and television productions....
as Claudius, Margaret Rawlings as Gertrude and Muriel Pavlow
Muriel Pavlow
Muriel Lilian Pavlow is a British actress. Her mother was French and her father was Russian.-Film career:She began work as a child actor with John Gielgud and the Royal Shakespeare Company...
as Ophelia.
There were also three multi-part Shakespearean adaptations shown during the 1950s and 1960s. The first was The Life and Death of Sir John Falstaff (1959). Produced and directed by Ronald Eyre
Ronald Eyre
Ronald Eyre was an English theatre director, actor and writer.Eyre was born at Mapplewell, near Barnsley, Yorkshire and he taught at Giggleswick School. He became a leading director for the cinema, opera, television and the theatre...
and starring Roger Livesey
Roger Livesey
Roger Livesey was a British stage and film actor. He is most often remembered for the three Powell & Pressburger films in which he starred: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, I Know Where I'm Going! and A Matter of Life and Death...
as Falstaff
Falstaff
Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare. In the two Henry IV plays, he is a companion to Prince Hal, the future King Henry V. A fat, vain, boastful, and cowardly knight, Falstaff leads the apparently wayward Prince Hal into trouble, and is...
, the series took all of the Falstaff scenes from the Henry IV plays and The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy by William Shakespeare, first published in 1602, though believed to have been written prior to 1597. It features the fat knight Sir John Falstaff, and is Shakespeare's only play to deal exclusively with contemporary Elizabethan era English middle class life...
and adapted them into seven half-hour episodes. The second was An Age of Kings (1960). Produced by Peter Dews
Peter Dews (director)
Peter Dews was an English stage director.Born and educated in Wakefield, Yorkshire he then took an M.A. at University College, Oxford...
and directed by Michael Hayes, the show comprised fifteen one-hour episodes which adapted all eight of Shakespeare's sequential history plays. The third was the Peter Dews produced The Spread of the Eagle (1963), which featured nine one-hour episodes adapting, in chronological order of the real life events, Coriolanus
Coriolanus
Gaius Marcius Coriolanus was a Roman general who is said to have lived in the 5th century BC. He received his toponymic cognomen "Coriolanus" because of his exceptional valor in a Roman siege of the Volscian city of Corioli. He was then promoted to a general...
, Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607. It was first printed in the First Folio of 1623. The plot is based on Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives and follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony...
.
However, The Spread of the Eagle was not a huge success, and afterwards, the BBC returned to smaller screenings with less financial risk. In 1964, for example, the John Barton
John Barton (director)
John Bernard Adie Barton CBE is a theatrical director. He is the son of Sir Harold Montagu and Lady Joyce Barton. He married Anne Righter, a university lecturer, in 1968....
adaptation of the three Henry VI plays and Richard III into a three-parter called The Wars of the Roses by the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
was aired over a four-week period. Another 1964 production was Hamlet at Elsinore, directed by Philip Saville
Philip Saville
Philip Saville is a British television direction and screenwriting from the late 1950s...
and produced by Peter Luke
Peter Luke
-Early years:Peter Ambrose Cyprian Luke was born in St Albans. He had wanted to be a painter, and went to art school for 2 years before World War II occurred. He was awarded the Military Cross for his efforts. Some time after, he worked under producer Sydney Newman on the British television drama...
. Starring Christopher Plummer
Christopher Plummer
Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...
as Hamlet, Robert Shaw
Robert Shaw (actor)
Robert Archibald Shaw was an English actor and novelist, remembered for his performances in The Sting , From Russia with Love , A Man for All Seasons , the original The Taking of Pelham One Two Three , Black Sunday , The Deep and Jaws , where he played the shark hunter Quint.-Early life...
as Claudius, Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
as Horatio and Donald Sutherland
Donald Sutherland
Donald McNichol Sutherland, OC is a Canadian actor with a film career spanning nearly 50 years. Some of Sutherland's more notable movie roles included offbeat warriors in such war movies as The Dirty Dozen, , MASH , and Kelly's Heroes , as well as in such popular films as Klute, Invasion of the...
as Fortinbras, the entire play was shot on-location in Denmark at the real Elsinore Castle. Additionally, The Play of the Month series screened several Shakespearian adaptations over the years; Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
(1967), The Tempest (1968), Julius Caesar (1969), Macbeth (1970), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1971), The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...
(1972), Love's Labour's Lost
Love's Labour's Lost
Love's Labour's Lost is one of William Shakespeare's early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s, and first published in 1598.-Title:...
(1974) and King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
(1975).
Production
As such, the BBC Television Shakespeare project was the most ambitious engagement with Shakespeare ever undertaken by either a television or film production companyProduction company
A production company provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.- Tasks and functions :...
. So large was the project that the BBC couldn't finance it alone and required an American partner who would guarantee access to the United States market, deemed essential for the series to recoup its costs. Financing took over two years to secure, with Time–Life acting as the series' largest underwriter
Underwriting
Underwriting refers to the process that a large financial service provider uses to assess the eligibility of a customer to receive their products . The name derives from the Lloyd's of London insurance market...
. Later, Exxon
Exxon
Exxon is a chain of gas stations as well as a brand of motor fuel and related products by ExxonMobil. From 1972 to 1999, Exxon was the corporate name of the company previously known as Standard Oil Company of New Jersey or Jersey Standard....
, Metropolitan Life and Morgan Guaranty Trust also provided financing. However, because they had invested so much in the project, the backers were able to suggest terms.
The most important of these was that the productions must be traditional interpretations of the plays set in either Shakespeare's time (1564 to 1616) or in the period of the events depicted (such as ancient Rome for Julius Caesar or c1400 for Richard II). A two and a half hour maximum running time was also required but this was swiftly jettisoned when it became clear that the major tragedies in particular would have suffered severely if truncated too heavily. The restriction regarding conservative interpretations was non-negotiable. The financiers were primarily concerned with ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
and the restrictions worked to this end, ensuring the plays had "maximum acceptability to the widest possible audience." Partly because of this, although later productions under Messina's successors Jonathan Miller
Jonathan Miller
Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE is a British theatre and opera director, author, physician, television presenter, humorist and sculptor. Trained as a physician in the late 1950s, he first came to prominence in the 1960s with his role in the comedy revue Beyond the Fringe with fellow writers and...
and Shaun Sutton
Shaun Sutton
Shaun Alfred Graham Sutton OBE was an English television writer, director, producer and executive, who worked in the medium for nearly forty years from the 1950s to the 1990s...
, would be more experimental, in its early years the series developed a reputation for being overly conventional. Later in the series when Miller tried to persuade directors such as Peter Brook
Peter Brook
Peter Stephen Paul Brook CH, CBE is an English theatre and film director and innovator, who has been based in France since the early 1970s.-Life:...
, Ingmar Bergman
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. Described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera", he is recognized as one of the most accomplished and...
, William Gaskill
William Gaskill
William 'Bill' Gaskill is a British theatre director.He worked alongside Laurence Olivier as a founding director of the National Theatre from its time at the Old Vic in 1963...
and John Dexter
John Dexter
John Dexter was an English theatre, opera, and film director.- Theatre :Born in Derby, England, Dexter left school at the age of fourteen to serve in the British army during World War II. Following the war, he began working as a stage actor before turning to producing and directing shows for...
to direct adaptations, he failed.
During Messina's tenure as producer (seasons one and two), as per the financiers' restrictions the adaptations tended to be conservative, but when Jonathan Miller took over at the start of season three, he revamped things. Messina had favoured a broadly 'realistic' approach which worked to simplify the texts for audiences unfamiliar with Shakespeare. Miller was against dilution. According to Martin Wiggins, Miller came from,
outside the BBC's tradition of painstaking research and accurate historical verisimilitudeA change by Miller that was met with great delight by directors was his tendency to encourage the adaptations to be more adventurous than Messina had permitted, pushing the definition of "traditional". Miller adopted a visual and design policy of sets and costumes inspired by great paintings of the era in which the play were written, though the style was dominated by the post-Shakespearean 17th century artists Johannes VermeerVerisimilitude (literature)Verisimilitude, with the meaning "of being true or real" is a likeness or resemblance of the truth, reality or a fact's probability. It comes from Latin verum meaning truth and similis meaning similar.-Original roots:...
. Messina's approach had treated the plays in realistic terms as events which had once taken place and which could be literally represented on screen. Miller saw them as products of a creative imagination, artefacts in their own right to be realised in production using the visual and conceptual materials of their period. This led to a major reappraisal of the original production guidelines."
Johannes Vermeer
Johannes, Jan or Johan Vermeer was a Dutch painter who specialized in exquisite, domestic interior scenes of middle class life. Vermeer was a moderately successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime...
and Rembrandt. This allowed directors to stamp more of their aesthetic credo on the productions. Miller's aesthetic policies continued under Shaun Sutton who took over at the start of season six. The project was Sutton's retirement job after twelve years as the head of BBC Drama and he was under strict orders to bring the series to a close as it had run over by twelve months during Miller's reign. Sutton was successful and the series closed with a broadcast of Titus Andronicus
Titus Andronicus
Titus Andronicus is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, and possibly George Peele, believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy, and is often seen as his attempt to emulate the violent and bloody revenge plays of his contemporaries, which were...
roughly twelve months late. Messina's gamble in 1978 proved successful as the series was a financial success, having more than broken even by 1982.
All productions were shot on video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
with multiple cameras
Multiple-camera setup
The multiple-camera setup, multiple-camera mode of production, or multicam is a method of filmmaking and video production. Several cameras—either film or professional video cameras—are employed on the set and simultaneously record or broadcast a scene...
in Studio 1 at the BBC Television Centre
BBC Television Centre
BBC Television Centre at White City in West London is the headquarters of BBC Television. Officially opened on 29 June 1960, it remains one of the largest to this day; having featured over the years as backdrop to many BBC programmes, it is one of the most readily recognisable such facilities...
studios, with the exception of two first season episodes, As You Like It and Henry VIII
Henry VIII (play)
The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight is a history play by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, based on the life of Henry VIII of England. An alternative title, All is True, is recorded in contemporary documents, the title Henry VIII not appearing until the play's publication...
, which were shot on location. Also worth noting is that composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
William Walton
William Walton
Sir William Turner Walton OM was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera...
, who had scored Olivier's three Shakespearean films (Henry V
Henry V (1944 film)
Henry V is a 1944 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play of the same name. The on-screen title is The Cronicle History of King Henry the Fift with His Battell Fought at Agincourt in France . It stars Laurence Olivier, who also directed. The play was adapted for the screen by Olivier, Dallas...
, Hamlet
Hamlet (1948 film)
Hamlet is a 1948 British film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, adapted and directed by and starring Sir Laurence Olivier. Hamlet was Olivier's second film as director, and also the second of the three Shakespeare films that he directed...
and Richard III
Richard III (1955 film)
Richard III is a 1955 British film adaptation of William Shakespeare's historical play of the same name, also incorporating elements from his Henry VI, Part 3. It was directed and produced by Sir Laurence Olivier, who also played the lead role. The cast includes many noted Shakespearean actors,...
) came out of retirement to write the theme music
Theme music
Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...
for the show.
Romeo and JulietRomeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
- Directed by Alvin RakoffAlvin RakoffAlvin Rakoff is a Canadian film and television director who has spent the bulk of his career in England and directed more than 100 high profile television plays, as well as a dozen feature films and numerous stage productions...
- Taping dates: 31 January-5 February 1978
- First transmitted in the UK: 3 December 1978
- First transmitted in the US: 14 March 1979
- Patrick RyecartPatrick RyecartPatrick Geoffrey Ryecart is an English actor.Ryecart was born in Leamington Spa. He has predominantly acted on British television shows since the mid-seventies including Lillie, Romeo and Juliet, The Professionals, Minder, Rumpole of the Bailey, Lovejoy, Coming Home, and Holby City...
as Romeo - Rebecca SaireRebecca SaireRebecca Saire is a British actress and writer who achieved early notability when, at the age of fourteen, she played Juliet for the BBC Television Shakespeare series.- Personal life :...
as JulietJulietJuliet is one of the title characters in William Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet, the other being Romeo. She is the daughter of old Capulet, head of the house of Capulet. The story has a long history that precedes Shakespeare himself.... - Celia JohnsonCelia JohnsonDame Celia Elizabeth Johnson DBE was an English actress.She began her stage acting career in 1928, and subsequently achieved success in West End and Broadway productions. She also appeared in several films, including the romantic drama Brief Encounter , for which she received a nomination for the...
as the NurseNurse (Romeo and Juliet)The Nurse is a major character in William Shakespeare's classic drama Romeo and Juliet. It is revealed later in the play by Lord Capulet that the Nurse's real name might be Angelica . She is the personal servant, guardian of Juliet Capulet, and has been since Juliet was born... - Michael HordernMichael HordernSir Michael Murray Hordern was an English actor, knighted in 1983 for his services to the theatre, which stretched back to before the Second World War.-Personal life:...
as Lord Capulet - John GielgudJohn GielgudSir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
as the Chorus - Anthony AndrewsAnthony Andrews-Life and career:Andrews was born in London, the son of Geraldine Agnes , a dancer, and Stanley Thomas Andrews, a musical arranger and musical conductor. He grew up in the North Finchley district of London...
as MercutioMercutioMercutio a fictional character in William Shakespeare's 1597 tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. He is a close friend of Romeo, and Romeo's cousin Benvolio, and also a blood relative to Prince Escalus and Count Paris. As such, being neither a Montague nor a Capulet, Mercutio is one of the few in Verona... - Alan RickmanAlan RickmanAlan Sidney Patrick Rickman is an English actor and theatre director. He is a renowned stage actor in modern and classical productions and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company...
as TybaltTybaltTybalt is a fictional character and the main antagonist in William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. He is Lady Capulet's nephew, Juliet's hot-tempered cousin and Romeo's rival. Tybalt shares the same name as the character Tibert/Tybalt the "Prince of Cats" in Reynard the Fox, a point of... - Joseph O'ConorJoseph O'ConorJoseph O'Conor was an Anglo-Irish actor and playwright.- Early years :O'Conor was born in Dublin on 14 February 1916, the son of Frances and Daniel O'Conor. His family moved to London, where he attended the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, the University of London and RADA...
as Friar Laurence - Laurence NaismithLaurence NaismithLaurence Naismith was an English actor.Naismith appeared in films such as Carrington VC , Richard III , Sink the Bismarck! , Jason and the Argonauts , and Diamonds Are Forever . He also starred in a children's ghost film The Amazing Mr Blunden...
as Prince Escalus - Jacqueline HillJacqueline HillJacqueline Hill was a British actress known for her role as Barbara Wright in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. As the history teacher of the Doctor's granddaughter, Susan Foreman, Barbara Wright was the first of the companions to appear in the show in 1963, with Hill speaking...
as Lady Capulet - Christopher StrauliChristopher StrauliChristopher Strauli is an English film, television and theatre actor. He is probably most famous for appearing as Norman Binns in the British sitcom Only When I Laugh, alongside James Bolam, Peter Bowles, Richard Wilson and Derrick Branche.-Early life and education:He was born in Harpenden,...
as BenvolioBenvolioBenvolio Montague is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's drama Romeo and Juliet.-Sources:In 1554, Matteo Bandello published the second volume of his Novelle which included his version of Giuletta e Romeo. Bandello emphasises Romeo's initial depression and the feud between the families,... - Christopher Northey as ParisCount ParisIn William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Count Paris is a suitor of Juliet Capulet. He is handsome, somewhat self-absorbed, very wealthy, and is a kinsman of Prince Escalus...
- Peter HenryPaul Henry (actor)Paul Henry, is a British actor, best known for his role in the soap opera, Crossroads.Born in Birmingham, he attended the city's Alderlea Boys School in Shard End with Jeff Lynne, later leader of the Electric Light Orchestra pop group. Henry trained at the Birmingham School of Speech and Drama,...
as Peter - Roger Davidson as Balthasar
- John PaulJohn Paul (actor)John Paul was a British actor.He is best known for his television roles, particularly as Dr Spencer Quist in Doomwatch and Marcus Agrippa in I, Claudius , both for BBC Television....
as Montague - Zulema Dene as Lady Montague
- Esmond KnightEsmond KnightEsmond Penington Knight was an English actor.He was an accomplished actor with a career spanning over half a century. For much of his career Esmond Knight was virtually blind...
as Old Capulet - David SibleyDavid Sibley (actor)David Sibley is an English actor, best known for character roles in several cult television series: as twisted radio DJ Tom Everett in BBC television detective series Shoestring ; and in Doctor Who as Pralix...
as Samson - Jack Carr as Gregory
- Bunny Reed as Abraham
- Vernon DobtcheffVernon DobtcheffVernon Dobtcheff is a French and British actor.Dobtcheff was born in Nîmes, France, to a family of Russian descent. He attended Ascham Preparatory School in Eastbourne, Sussex, England, in the 1940s, where he won the Acting Cup...
as Apothecary - John SavidentJohn SavidentJohn Savident is a British actor, best known for playing the part of Fred Elliott in the soap opera Coronation Street from 1994 to 2006. And also was a frequent guest on Soccer AM alongside fellow actor Jack 'The Rigger' Spooner....
as Friar John
Behind-the-scenes
Rebecca Saire was only fourteen when the production was filmed, an unusually young age for an actress playing Juliet (even though she is only thirteen in the play itself).
King Richard the SecondRichard II (play)King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by some scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's...
- Directed by David Giles
- Taping dates: 12–17 April 1978
- First transmitted in the UK: 10 December 1978
- First transmitted in the US: 28 March 1979
- Derek JacobiDerek JacobiSir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...
as Richard IIRichard II of EnglandRichard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III... - Jon FinchJon FinchJon Finch is an English actor noted for many Shakespearean roles. Perhaps his most notable role was the title role in Roman Polanski's 1971 film adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth. His other famous role was as a down-and-out ex-RAF pilot wrongly accused of murder in Alfred Hitchcock's...
as Henry BolingbrokeHenry IV of EnglandHenry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke... - John GielgudJohn GielgudSir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
as John of Gaunt, Duke of LancasterJohn of Gaunt, 1st Duke of LancasterJohn of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster , KG was a member of the House of Plantagenet, the third surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault... - Charles GrayCharles Gray (actor)Charles Gray was an English actor who was well-known for roles including the arch-villain Blofeld in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, Sherlock Holmes' brother Mycroft Holmes in the Granada television series, and as The Criminologist in the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show in...
as Edmund Langley, Duke of YorkEdmund of Langley, 1st Duke of YorkEdmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, 1st Earl of Cambridge, KG was a younger son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault, the fourth of the five sons who lived to adulthood, of this Royal couple. Like so many medieval princes, Edmund gained his identifying nickname from his... - Wendy HillerWendy HillerDame Wendy Margaret Hiller DBE was an Academy Award-winning English film and stage actress, who enjoyed a varied acting career that spanned nearly sixty years. The writer Joel Hirschorn, in his 1984 compilation Rating the Movie Stars, described her as "a no-nonsense actress who literally took...
as the Duchess of YorkIsabella of Castile, Duchess of YorkInfanta Isabella of Castile, Duchess of York was a daughter ofKing Peter of Castile and María de Padilla. She was a younger sister of Constance, Duchess of Lancaster.... - Mary MorrisMary MorrisMary Morris was a British actress.-Life and career:She was the daughter of Herbert Stanley Morris, the botanist, and his wife Sylvia Ena de Creft-Harford. She was educated at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.She made her stage debut in Lysistrata at the Gate Theatre, London, in 1935...
as the Duchess of GloucesterEleanor de BohunEleanor de Bohun was the elder daughter and co-heiress with her sister Mary de Bohun, of their father Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford. Her mother was Lady Joan Fitzalan, daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel and his second wife Eleanor of Lancaster.-Marriage:In 1376 she... - David Swift as the Duke of NorthumberlandHenry Percy, 1st Earl of NorthumberlandHenry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, 4th Baron Percy, titular King of Mann, KG, Lord Marshal was the son of Henry de Percy, 3rd Baron Percy and a descendent of Henry III of England. His mother was Mary of Lancaster, daughter of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, son of Edmund, Earl of Leicester and...
- Clifford RoseClifford RoseClifford Rose is a British classical actor.He was born in Herefordshire. He was educated at the King's School, Worcester and King's College London, before appearing in rep and with the Royal Shakespeare Company....
as the Bishop of CarlisleThomas MerkeThomas Merke was an English priest and Bishop of Carlisle from 1397 to 1400. Educated at Oxford University, be became a Benedictine monk at Westminster Abbey. He was consecrated bishop about 23 April 1397... - Charles KeatingCharles Keating (actor)Charles Keating is a British actor of stage, screen, and television, and narrator of audiobooks.Of Irish Catholic extraction, Keating was born on October 22, 1941 in London, England, the son of Charles James Keating and Margaret Shevlin...
as Duke of AumerleEdward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of YorkSir Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York, 2nd Earl of Cambridge, Earl of Rutland, Earl of Cork, Duke of Aumale KG was a member of the English royal family who died at the Battle of Agincourt.... - Richard Owens as Thomas MowbrayThomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of NorfolkThomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, KG, Lord Marshal and Earl Marshal was an English nobleman.-Life:...
- Janet Maw as the QueenAnne of BohemiaAnne of Bohemia was Queen of England as the first wife of King Richard II. A member of the House of Luxembourg, she was the eldest daughter of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, and Elizabeth of Pomerania....
- Jeffrey HollandJeffrey HollandJeffrey Holland is an English actor well known for roles in television sitcoms, as well as BBC Radio comedy, including Week Ending.-Early life and career:...
as the Duke of SurreyThomas Holland, 1st Duke of SurreyThomas Holland, 1st Duke of Surrey, 3rd Earl of Kent, 4th Baron Holland, KG, Earl Marshal was an English nobleman.-Early life and family:... - Jeremy BullochJeremy BullochJeremy Bulloch is an English actor. He is best known for the role inside the costume of the bounty hunter Boba Fett in the original Star Wars trilogy, though he did not voice the character...
as Henry 'Hotspur' Percy - Robin SachsRobin SachsRobin David Sachs is an English actor.Sachs was born in London, the son of actors Leonard Sachs and Eleanor Summerfield...
as BushyJohn BussySir John Bussy of Hougham in Lincolnshire was a Member of Parliament representing Lincolnshire or Rutland eleven times from 1383 to 1398 as a Knight of the Shire and was also Speaker of the House of Commons at the three Parliaments between 1393 and 1398... - Damien ThomasDamien ThomasDamien Thomas is a British actor noted for his roles in British films and television, such as his role as Richard Mason in the 1983 BBC production of Jane Eyre....
as Bagot - Alan Dalton as Green
- David Dodimead as Lord RossWilliam de Ros, 7th Baron de RosWilliam de Ros, 7th Baron de Ros of Helmsley, KG was Lord Treasurer of England.He was a son of Thomas de Ros, 5th Baron de Ros and Beatrice Stafford, daughter of Ralph Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford. He was also a younger brother of John de Ros, 6th Baron de Ros.-Career:His older brother died...
- John Flint as Lord Willoughby
- Carl Oatley as Earl BerkeleyThomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron BerkeleyThomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley the Magnificent was an English peer born in the Berkeley Castle, Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England to Maurice de Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley and Elizabeth le Despencer....
- William Whymper as Sir Stephen Scroop
- John Barcroft as Earl of SalisburyJohn Montacute, 3rd Earl of Salisbury`John Montacute, 3rd Earl of Salisbury and 5th and 2nd Baron Montacute, KG was an English nobleman, one of the few who remained loyal to Richard II after Henry IV became king.-Early life:...
- David Garfield as Welsh Captain
- Desmond Adams as Sir Pierce of Exton
- Bruno BarnabeBruno BarnabeBruno Barnabe was a British film and stage actor. He performed in the West End, on Broadway, and in Egypt, Australia, and New Zealand.- Biography :...
as Abbot of Westminster - Jonathan Adams as Gardener
- Alan Collins as Gardener's Man
- John Curless as Lord Fitzwater
- Terry Wright as Murderer
As You Like ItAs You Like ItAs You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
- Directed by Basil Coleman
- Taping dates: 30 May-16 June 1978
- First transmitted in the UK: 17 December 1978
- First transmitted in the US: 28 February 1979
- Helen MirrenHelen MirrenDame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
as RosalindRosalind (As You Like It)Rosalind is a fictional character and the romantic female lead in the comedy As You Like It by William Shakespeare.She is the daughter of the exiled Duke Senior and niece to his usurping brother Duke Frederick. After angering her uncle, she leaves his court for exile in the Forest of Arden... - Brian Stirner as OrlandoOrlando (As You Like It)Orlando is a fictional character and the romantic male lead in the comedy As You Like It by William Shakespeare.Orlando is the youngest son of the deceased Sir Rowland de Boys and a brother to Oliver. He was resents the harsh treatment he receives at Oliver's hands and complains that Oliver...
- Richard PascoRichard PascoRichard Edward Pasco, CBE is a British stage, screen and TV actor.-Early life:Pasco was born in Barnes, London, the son of Phyllis Irene and Cecil George Pasco. He was educated at the King's College School, Wimbledon...
as Jaques - Angharad ReesAngharad ReesAngharad Mary Rees is a Welsh actress, best-known for her British television roles during the 1970s, garnering notice for her leading role as Demelza in the 1970s BBC drama series Poldark.-Career:...
as Celia - James BolamJames BolamJames Christopher Bolam, MBE is a British actor, best known for his roles as Jack Ford in When the Boat Comes In, Trevor Chaplin in The Beiderbecke Trilogy, Terry Collier in The Likely Lads and its sequel Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, Roy Figgis in Only When I Laugh, Dr Arthur Gilder in...
as TouchstoneTouchstone (As You Like It)Touchstone is an interesting fictional character in Shakespeare's play As You Like It. Touchstone is the court fool or jester, portrayed as a wise man with a dry, cynical wit. Throughout the play he comments on the other characters of the play and thus, contributes to a better understanding of the... - Clive FrancisClive Francis-Early life:He is the son of actors Raymond Francis and Margaret Towner. He was born in Eastbourne.His father played Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Lockhart in the 1960s series No Hiding Place and his mother still acts today - most recently she played Jira, Anakin Skywalker's friend, in Star...
as Oliver - Richard EastonRichard EastonRichard Easton is a Canadian actor. He is best known in for his portrayal of Brian Hammond in the 1970s BBC serial The Brothers.-Biography:...
as Duke Frederick - Tony ChurchTony ChurchJames Anthony "Tony" Church was a British Shakespearean actor, who has appeared on stage and screen. In 1989 he became the Dean of the National Theatre Conservatory, which is the teaching arm of the Denver Center Theatre Company in Denver, Colorado.-Stage:Church was educated at Hurstpierpoint...
as Duke Senior - John Quentin as Le Beau
- Maynard Williams as Silvius
- Victoria PlucknettVictoria PlucknettVictoria Plucknett is a Welsh television actress, best known for playing the character of Diane Ashurst in the Welsh soap opera Pobol y Cwm and Mary in The Duchess of Duke Street.-Television:*How Green Was My Valley...
as Phebe - Marilyn Le Conte as Audrey
- Tom McDonnell as Amiens
- David Lloyd MeredithDavid Lloyd MeredithDavid Lloyd Meredith was a British actor. He came from a Welsh family background, but was born in London....
as Corin - Arthur HewlettArthur HewlettArthur Hewlett was a British actor.He is best remembered for his roles on television, including Quatermass and the Pit, Police Surgeon, The Avengers, The Saint, No Hiding Place, The Baron, The Troubleshooters, Menace, Follyfoot, The Changes, Blake's 7, Doctor Who Arthur Hewlett (12 March 1907...
as Adam - Jeffrey HollandJeffrey HollandJeffrey Holland is an English actor well known for roles in television sitcoms, as well as BBC Radio comedy, including Week Ending.-Early life and career:...
as William - Timothy BatesonTimothy BatesonTimothy Dingwall Bateson was a British actor. The son of Dingwall Bateson, a solicitor later knighted, he was educated at Uppingham School and Wadham College, Oxford....
as Sir Oliver Martext - David ProwseDavid ProwseDavid Prowse, MBE is an English former bodybuilder, weightlifter and actor, most widely known for playing the role of Darth Vader in physical form. In Britain, he is also remembered as having played the Green Cross Code man...
as Charles the Wrestler - John Moulder-BrownJohn Moulder BrownJohn Moulder-Brown is a British actor who started his career as a child; he is best remembered for his role in the 1971 classic Deep End....
as Hyman - Paul Bentall as Jacques de Boys
- Chris SullivanChris Sullivan (actor)Chris Sullivan is an American actor, vocal percussionist, and a regular cast member of the American public television show for children The Electric Company....
as Dennis
Behind-the-scenes
Filmed at Glamis Castle
Glamis Castle
Glamis Castle is situated beside the village of Glamis in Angus, Scotland. It is the home of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and is open to the public....
in Scotland, this was one of only two productions shot on location, the other being Henry VIII. Director Basil Colemen initially felt that the play should be filmed over the course of a year, with the change in seasons from winter to summer marking the ideological change in characters, but he was forced to shoot entirely in May, even though the play begins in winter.
Julius CaesarJulius Caesar (play)The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, also known simply as Julius Caesar, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It portrays the 44 BC conspiracy against...
- Directed by Herbert WiseHerbert WiseHerbert Wise is an Austrian-born film and television producer and director.He was born as Herbert Weisz in Vienna, Austria and began his career as a director at Shrewsbury Repertory Company in 1950. He was at Hull Rep and then as Director of Productions at Dundee Rep 1952-55...
- Taping dates: 26–31 July 1978
- First transmitted in UK: 11 February 1979
- First transmitted in the US: 14 February 1979
- Richard PascoRichard PascoRichard Edward Pasco, CBE is a British stage, screen and TV actor.-Early life:Pasco was born in Barnes, London, the son of Phyllis Irene and Cecil George Pasco. He was educated at the King's College School, Wimbledon...
as Brutus - Charles GrayCharles Gray (actor)Charles Gray was an English actor who was well-known for roles including the arch-villain Blofeld in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, Sherlock Holmes' brother Mycroft Holmes in the Granada television series, and as The Criminologist in the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show in...
as Julius CaesarJulius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.... - Keith MichellKeith MichellKeith Michell is an Australian actor, particularly noted for his television and film performances as King Henry VIII of England.- Early life :He was born in Adelaide and brought up in Warnertown, near Port Pirie...
as Marcus AntoniusMark AntonyMarcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar... - David CollingsDavid CollingsDavid Collings is a British actor. He has played many different roles on various television programmes, including the leading dramatic role in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment in 1964....
as CassiusGaius Cassius LonginusGaius Cassius Longinus was a Roman senator, a leading instigator of the plot to kill Julius Caesar, and the brother in-law of Marcus Junius Brutus.-Early life:... - Virginia McKennaVirginia McKennaVirginia A. McKenna OBE is a British stage and screen actress, author and wildlife campaigner.-Early career:McKenna trained as an actress at the Central School of Speech and Drama then worked on stage in London's West End theatres before making her motion picture debut in 1952...
as Portia - Elizabeth SpriggsElizabeth Spriggs-Early life and career:Born in Buxton, Derbyshire as Elizabeth Jean Williams, Spriggs had an unhappy childhood and grew up entirely without affection, particularly from her distant, domineering father, a master builder and farmer. She studied at the Royal College of Music and taught speech and...
as CalpurniaCalpurnia PisonisCalpurnia Pisonis , daughter of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, sister of Lucius Calpurnius Piso, "the Pontifex", was a Roman woman and the third and last wife of Julius Caesar. Calpurnia was the great-granddaughter of a lieutenant of Lucius Cassius Longinus, whose name was Lucius Piso... - Sam DastorSam DastorSam Dastor is an actor best known for his appearances in British television series.He is perhaps best remembered for playing Cassius Chaerea in the 1976 BBC adaptation of I, Claudius...
as CascaServilius CascaPublius Servilius Casca Longus was one of the assassins of Gaius Julius Caesar, who was murdered on 15 March, 44 BC.... - Jon LaurimoreJon LaurimoreJon Laurimore is a British actor, known for his television appearances.His credits include: The Avengers, The Prisoner, Z-Cars, Dixon of Dock Green, Public Eye, Warship, Sutherland's Law, The Onedin Line, Spy Trap, Rock Follies, Space: 1999, Doctor Who , I, Claudius, Target, Secret...
as Flavius - John SterlandJohn SterlandJohn Sterland is an Canadian film and television actor.Sterland was born in 1927 in Winnipeg to English-born parents.-Films:* The Dirty Dozen – Ambulance driver*The Man Outside - Spencer...
as MarullusGaius Epidius MarcellusGaius Epidius Marcellus was a Roman tribune most famous for the diadem incident.The fear of Caesar becoming autocrate, thus ending the Roman Republic, grew stronger when someone placed a diadem on the statue of Caesar on the Rostra. The tribunes, Gaius Epidius Marcellus and Lucius Caesetius... - Garrick HagonGarrick HagonGarrick Hagon is a film, stage, television and radio actor best known for his role as Biggs Darklighter in Star Wars: A New Hope. His many films include Batman, Spy Game, Me and Orson Welles and The Message...
as Octavius CaesarAugustusAugustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian... - Brian Coburn as MessalaMarcus Valerius Messalla CorvinusMarcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus was a Roman general, author and patron of literature and art.-Family:He was the son of politician Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger Although, some dispute his parentage and claim another descendant of Marcus Valerius Corvus to be his father.Messalla Corvinus is...
- Leonard Preston as TitiniusTitiniusTitinius was a nomen of ancient Rome.* Marcus Titinius, tribune 450 BC* Lucius Titinius Pansa Saccus, consular tribune 400 BC, 396 BC* Marcus Titinius, magister equitum 302 BC* Gaius Titinius Gadaeus, bandit in slave revolt used by Gaius Marius...
- Alexander Davion as Decius BrutusDecimus Junius Brutus AlbinusDecimus Junius Brutus Albinus was a Roman politician and general of the 1st century BC and one of the leading instigators of Julius Caesar's assassination...
- Darien AngadiDarien AngadiDarien Angadi was an English actor.Darien was born in Stoke Newington, and attended Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School where he was a prolific performer in school plays. In 1965 whilst at the school, he was a member of the school team for BBC Television's Television Top of the Form...
as Cinna - Andrew Hilton as Lucilius
- Anthony Dawes as LigariusQuintus LigariusQuintus Ligarius was a Roman soldier, circa 50 BC. He was accused of treason for having opposed Julius Caesar in a war in Africa, but was defended so eloquently by Cicero that he was pardoned and allowed to return to Rome. He later conspired with Brutus in the assassination of Julius Caesar.-In...
- Roger Bizley as Metellus CimberTillius CimberLucius Tillius Cimber was a Roman senator, one of the assassins of Julius Caesar and the one to give the signal for the attack on him.-Assassin:...
- Manning Wilson as CiceroCiceroMarcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
- Ronald ForfarRonald ForfarRonald Forfar is a British-based actor who has appeared in many roles since the 1970s, including the role of Freddie Boswell in Carla Lane's comedy Bread....
as The Soothsayer - Patrick Marley as Artemidorus
- William SimonsWilliam SimonsWilliam Simons is a Welsh actor, born in Swansea on 17 November 1940.He started acting as a child. But, he is best known for his role as Yorkshireman PC Alf Ventress in Heartbeat, a part he played for its entire 18-year run....
as TreboniusTreboniusGaius Trebonius was a military commander and politician of the late Roman Republic, a trusted associate of Julius Caesar who was later among those instigating the plot to assassinate the Dictator.-Biography:... - John Tordoff as Cinna the PoetHelvius CinnaGaius Helvius Cinna was an influential neoteric poet of the late Roman Republic, a little older than the generation of Catullus and Calvus.His magnum opus Zmyrna established his literary fame; a mythological epic poem focused on the incestuous love of Smyrna for her father Cinyras, treated after...
- Philip York as Young CatoCato the YoungerMarcus Porcius Cato Uticensis , commonly known as Cato the Younger to distinguish him from his great-grandfather , was a politician and statesman in the late Roman Republic, and a follower of the Stoic philosophy...
- Christopher GoodChristopher GoodChristopher Good is a British actor best known for his work on television.Good has made many one-off or short-lived appearances in drama and comedy programmes, with Murder Most Horrid, Rumpole Of The Bailey, Danger UXB, The Choir and Pie In The Sky being among them...
as Clitus - Robert Oates as Pindarus
- Jonathan Scott-TaylorJonathan Scott-TaylorJonathan Scott-Taylor is a Brazil-born English former actor.He was born in São Paulo, Brazil to English parents; his father was a consultant for the fishery industry in Brazil at the time. Scott-Taylor started going to drama school at age 11. He played the character of Jim Hawkins in a stage...
as Lucius - Maurice Thorogood as Strato
- Michael Greatorex as Varro
- Nicholas GecksNicholas GecksNicholas Gecks is an actor who appeared in Series Four of Rumpole of the Bailey as his modernising colleague Charles Hearthstoke.Gecks starred as Father Mike in the 1983 film Forever Young.-Notes:...
as Volumnius - Michael Jenkinson as Dardanius
- Roy SpencerRoy Spencer (actor)Roy Spencer is a British actor and special effects technician who was born in Heanor, Derbyshire, but grew up in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire.Spencer has appeared in several films and TV shows, including two roles in Doctor Who, as Manyak in The Ark and as Frank Harris in Fury from the Deep.He also...
as LepidusMarcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir)Marcus Aemilius Lepidus , was a Roman patrician who rose to become a member of the Second Triumvirate and Pontifex Maximus. His father, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, had been involved in a rebellion against the Roman Republic.Lepidus was among Julius Caesar's greatest supporters... - Terence Conoley as Popilius
- Noel JohnsonNoel JohnsonNoel Johnson was an English actor.He was the radio voice of Dick Barton special agent on BBC radio and Dan Dare pilot of the future over Radio Luxembourg....
as PubliusPublius VolumniusPublius Volumnius was a 1st-century BC Roman philosopher, and a friend and companion of Marcus Junius Brutus who led the conspiracy to assassinate Julius Caesar...
Behind-the-scenes
Director Herbert Wise felt that Julius Caesar should be set in the Elizabethan era
Elizabethan era
The Elizabethan era was the epoch in English history of Queen Elizabeth I's reign . Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history...
, but he was compelled by the financiers to set it in a Roman milieu
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. Wise felt that Shakespeare had written the play specifically as a commentary on Elizabethan culture, and that interpreting it literally as being a play about Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
trivialised the story.
Measure for MeasureMeasure for MeasureMeasure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604. It was classified as comedy, but its mood defies those expectations. As a result and for a variety of reasons, some critics have labelled it as one of Shakespeare's problem plays...
- Directed by Desmond DavisDesmond DavisDesmond Davis is a British film and television director.-Early career:After serving a long apprenticeship as a clapper boy in the 1940s, with Britain's Army Film Unit, Davis eventually worked his way up to focus puller and camera operator in low-budget British films of the 1950s...
- Taping dates: 17–22 May 1978
- First transmitted in the UK: 18 February 1979
- First transmitted in the US: 11 April 1979
- Kenneth ColleyKenneth ColleyKenneth Colley is an English actor. A long-time character actor, he came to wider prominence through his role as Admiral Piett in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi....
as the Duke - Kate NelliganKate NelliganPatricia Colleen "Kate" Nelligan is a Canadian BAFTA award winning stage, film and television actress.-Early life:Nelligan, the fourth of six children, was born in London, Ontario, the daughter of Josephine Alice , a schoolteacher, and Patrick Joseph Nelligan, a factory repairman and municipal...
as Isabella - Tim Pigott-SmithTim Pigott-SmithTim Pigott-Smith is an English film and television actor.-Early life:Pigott-Smith was born in Rugby, Warwickshire, the son of Margaret Muriel and Harry Thomas Pigott-Smith, who was a journalist. He was educated at Wyggeston Boys' School, Leicester, King Edward VI School Stratford-upon-Avon, and...
as Angelo - Christopher StrauliChristopher StrauliChristopher Strauli is an English film, television and theatre actor. He is probably most famous for appearing as Norman Binns in the British sitcom Only When I Laugh, alongside James Bolam, Peter Bowles, Richard Wilson and Derrick Branche.-Early life and education:He was born in Harpenden,...
as Claudio - John McEnery as Lucio
- Jacqueline PearceJacqueline PearceJacqueline Pearce is a British actress.-Career:Jacqueline Pearce trained at the British stage school RADA and at Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio in Los Angeles....
as Mariana - Frank MiddlemassFrank MiddlemassFrancis George Middlemass was an English actor, who even in his early career played older roles. He is best remembered for his television roles as Rocky Hardcastle in As Time Goes By, Algy Herries in To Serve Them All My Days and Dr. Alex Ferrenby in Heartbeat...
as Pompey - Alun ArmstrongAlun Armstrong (actor)Alun Armstrong is a prolific British character actor. Armstrong grew up in County Durham in North East England. He first became interested in acting through Shakespeare productions at his grammar school. Since his career began in the early 1970s, he has played, in his words, "the full spectrum of...
as Provost - Adrienne CorriAdrienne CorriAdrienne Corri is an actress of Italian parentage.She is probably best known for her role as the rape victim Mrs. Alexander in the 1971 Stanley Kubrick film A Clockwork Orange, and for her appearances as Valerie in Jean Renoir's The River and as Lara's mother in David Lean's Dr. Zhivago...
as Mistress Overdone - Ellis JonesEllis Jones (actor)Ellis Jones is a British director and actor. He became known for his role as a young apprentice named 'Hal Adden', a pun that goes some way towards characterising the 1970s children's comedy series Pardon My Genie.He went on to appear in many other television productions, such as "The Squirrels",...
as Elbow - John Clegg as Froth
- William Sleigh as Barnardine
- Neil McCarthy as Abhorson
- Yolanda VazquezYolanda VazquezYolanda Vazquez is a film, television and theatre actress best known for appearing in the film The Air Up There. More recently, she had a cameo in the well-received British indie science fiction thriller, Children of Men...
as Juliet - Eileen Page as Francesca
- Kevin StoneyKevin StoneyKevin Stoney was an English actor, best known for his television roles.During World War II, Stoney served with the Royal Air Force....
as Escalus - Godfrey Jackman as Friar Thomas
Behind-the-scenes
Director Desmond Davis based the brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
in the play on a traditional Western saloon and the prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
on a typical horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
dungeon
Dungeon
A dungeon is a room or cell in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with medieval castles, though their association with torture probably belongs more to the Renaissance period...
.
The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the EightHenry VIII (play)The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight is a history play by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, based on the life of Henry VIII of England. An alternative title, All is True, is recorded in contemporary documents, the title Henry VIII not appearing until the play's publication...
- Directed by Kevin BillingtonKevin BillingtonKevin Billington is an English film director, most of whose work was done in television throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including the cult classic "The rise and rise of Michael Rimmer" starring Peter Cook.-External links:...
- Taping dates: 27 November 1978 – 7 January 1979
- First transmitted in UK, 25 February 1979
- First transmitted in the US: 25 April 1979
- John StrideJohn StrideJohn Stride is an English actor best known for his television work during the 1970s. Stride was born in London, the son of Margaret and Alfred Teneriffe Stride...
as Henry VIIIHenry VIII of EnglandHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France... - Claire BloomClaire BloomClaire Bloom is an English film and stage actress.-Early life:Bloom was born in the North London suburb of Finchley, the daughter of Elizabeth and Edward Max Blume, who worked in sales...
as KatharineCatherine of AragonCatherine of Aragon , also known as Katherine or Katharine, was Queen consort of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England and Princess of Wales as the wife to Arthur, Prince of Wales... - Ronald PickupRonald Pickup-Life and career:Pickup was born in Chester, England, the son of Daisy and Eric Pickup, who was a lecturer. Pickup was educated at The King's School, Chester, trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and became an Associate Member of RADA.His television work began with an episode...
as CranmerThomas CranmerThomas Cranmer was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build a favourable case for Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon which resulted in the separation of the English Church from...
, Archbishop of CanterburyArchbishop of CanterburyThe Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group... - Barbara KellermanBarbara KellermanBarbara R. Kellerman is an English actress, noted for her film and television roles. She trained at Rose Bruford College. Kellerman's Jewish parents had fled Nazi Germany and settled in Leeds, briefly living in Manchester before returning to Leeds by 1952...
as Anne BullenAnne BoleynAnne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the... - Timothy WestTimothy WestTimothy Lancaster West, CBE is an English film, stage and television actor.-Career:West's craggy looks ensured a career as a character actor rather than a leading man. He began his career as an Assistant Stage Manager at the Wimbledon Theatre in 1956, and followed this with several seasons of...
as Cardinal Wolsey - Julian GloverJulian GloverJulian Wyatt Glover is a British actor best known for such roles as General Maximilian Veers in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, the Bond villain Aristotle Kristatos in For Your Eyes Only, and Walter Donovan in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.-Personal life:Glover was born in...
as the Duke of BuckinghamEdward Stafford, 3rd Duke of BuckinghamEdward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, KG was an English nobleman. He was the son of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and the former Lady Catherine Woodville, daughter of the 1st Earl Rivers and sister-in-law of King Edward IV.-Early life:Stafford was born at Brecknock Castle in Wales... - John RoweJohn Rowe (actor)-TV:*BBC Television Shakespeare - Henry VIII *Juliet Bravo *When the Boat Comes In *Chambers *Agatha Christie's Poirot...
as Cromwell - Lewis FianderLewis Fiander- Biography :Fiander was born in Melbourne and educated at Trinity Grammar School, Kew, the son of Mona Jane and Walter Lewis Fiander. Moving to the UK from his native Australia, initially to appear in the play "The One Day of the Year", he appeared in such films as Dr. Phibes Rises Again, Dr....
as the Duke of SuffolkCharles Brandon, 1st Duke of SuffolkCharles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, 1st Viscount Lisle, KG was the son of Sir William Brandon and Elizabeth Bruyn. Through his third wife Mary Tudor he was brother-in-law to Henry VIII. His father was the standard-bearer of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond and was slain by Richard III in person at... - Alan Leith as Sergeant-at-Arms
- Tony ChurchTony ChurchJames Anthony "Tony" Church was a British Shakespearean actor, who has appeared on stage and screen. In 1989 he became the Dean of the National Theatre Conservatory, which is the teaching arm of the Denver Center Theatre Company in Denver, Colorado.-Stage:Church was educated at Hurstpierpoint...
as Prologue - John BaileyJohn Bailey (actor)John Bailey was a British actor with an extensive television repertoire.He played Edward Waterfield in the Doctor Who story The Evil of the Daleks in 1967, alongside Patrick Troughton and Marius Goring; and had previously appeared in the serial The Sensorites in 1964; and returned as Sezon in The...
as Griffith - David TroughtonDavid TroughtonDavid Troughton is an English actor, best known for his Shakespearean roles on the British stage.- Biography :David Troughton was born in Hampstead, North London. He comes from a theatrical family: he is the son of Doctor Who actor Patrick Troughton, elder brother of Michael Troughton, and father...
as Surveyor - John NettletonJohn Nettleton (actor)John Nettleton is an English actor.One of his most notable roles was that of Sir Arnold Robinson, the Cabinet Secretary in Yes Minister and President of the Campaign for Freedom of Information in the follow-up Yes, Prime Minister...
as Lord ChamberlainCharles Somerset, 1st Earl of WorcesterCharles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester was the legitimised son of Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset and Joan Hill.-Biography:He was born around 1460 to Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset and Joan Hill... - Charles Lloyd PackCharles Lloyd PackCharles Lloyd-Pack was a British film, television and stage actor.He was born in London, England. He was seen in several horror movies produced by the Hammer Studios including Dracula, The Man Who Could Cheat Death, The Revenge of Frankenstein and The Reptile and Quatermass 2, the film version of...
as Lord Sandys - Nigel LambertNigel LambertNigel Lambert is best known for his role as the narrator of the first series of the BBC comedy series Look Around You.He is the voice of Mr Curry in The Adventures of Paddington Bear television series and also "Papa" in the Dolmio pasta sauce puppet commercials.He also contributed extensively to...
as Sir Thomas LovellThomas LovellSir Thomas Lovell was an English soldier and administrator, Speaker of the House of Commons and Secretary to the Treasury.-Early life:... - Adam Bareham as Sir Henry Guildford
- Jeremy KempJeremy KempJeremy Kemp is an English actor. He is known for his roles in the miniseries The Winds of War, The Blue Max and Z-Cars....
as the Duke of NorfolkThomas Howard, 2nd Duke of NorfolkThomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal , styled Earl of Surrey from 1483 to 1514, was the only son of John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk by his first wife, Katherine Moleyns... - Jack McKenzie as Sir Nicholas VauxNicholas Vaux, 1st Baron Vaux of HarrowdenNicholas Vaux, 1st Baron Vaux of Harrowden was a soldier and courtier in England and an early member of the House of Commons...
- Michael Poole as Cardinal Campeius
- Peter VaughanPeter VaughanPeter Vaughan is an English character actor, known for many supporting roles in a variety of British film and television productions. He has worked extensively on the stage, becoming known for roles such as police inspectors, Soviet agents and similar parts...
as Gardiner, Bishop of WinchesterStephen GardinerStephen Gardiner was an English Roman Catholic bishop and politician during the English Reformation period who served as Lord Chancellor during the reign of Queen Mary I of England.-Early life:... - David RintoulDavid RintoulDavid Rintoul is a stage and television actor.Rintoul was born in Aberdeen, Scotland. He studied at Edinburgh University and won a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London....
as Lord AbergavennyGeorge Nevill, 5th Baron BergavennyGeorge Nevill, 5th and de jure 3rd Baron Bergavenny KG, PC was an English courtier. He held the office of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.-Life:... - David Dodimead as the Bishop of LincolnJohn LonglandJohn Longland was the English Dean of Salisbury from 1514 to 1521 and bishop of Lincoln from 1521 to his death in 1547.He was King Henry VIII's confessor and was said to have been one of those who first persuaded the King that he should annul his marriage to Katherine of Aragon.During the English...
- Oliver CottonOliver CottonOliver Cotton is an English actor, known for his work on stage, TV and film.After training at the Drama Centre London, he has worked extensively at the Royal National Theatre playing in many productions including The Royal Hunt of the Sun, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Much Ado About...
as the Earl of SurreyThomas Howard, 3rd Duke of NorfolkThomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was a prominent Tudor politician. He was uncle to Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, two of the wives of King Henry VIII, and played a major role in the machinations behind these marriages... - John Rhys-DaviesJohn Rhys-DaviesJohn Rhys-Davies is a Welsh actor and voice actor. He is perhaps best known for playing the charismatic Arab excavator Sallah in the Indiana Jones films and the dwarf Gimli in The Lord of the Rings trilogy...
as CapuciusEustace ChapuysEustace Chapuys was a Savoyard diplomat who served as the Imperial ambassador to England from 1529 until 1545 and is best known for his extensive and detailed correspondence.-Life:... - John RoganJohn Rogan (actor)John Rogan is an Irish actor who has appeared in many films and TV programmes over the past thirty years. Rogan was born and educated in Waterford, Ireland and was best known as a stage actor in many productions ranging from Shakespearean plays to musicals and contemporary drama...
as Dr. ButtsWilliam ButtsSir William Butts was a member of King Henry VIII of England's court and served as the King's physician.He had his portrait painted by Hans Holbein the Younger in 1543, and was knighted the following year... - Jack MayJack MayJack May was an English actor. Born in Henley-on-Thames, he was educated at Forest School, Walthamstow and after war service with the Royal Indian Navy in India was offered a place at RADA, but he instead went to Merton College, Oxford...
as the Lord Chancellor
Behind-the-scenes
Shot at Leeds Castle
Leeds Castle
Leeds Castle, southeast of Maidstone, Kent, England, dates back to 1119, though a Saxon fort stood on the same site from the 9th century. The castle is built on islands in a lake formed by the River Len to the east of the village of Leeds....
, Penhurst Place
Ashburnham and Penhurst
Ashburnham and Penhurst are civil parishes in the Rother district of East Sussex, England, situated to the west of Battle. The two parishes share a joint parish council which also covers the settlements of Brownbread Street, Ponts Green and Ashburnham Forge...
and Hever Castle
Hever Castle
Hever Castle is located in the village of Hever near Edenbridge, Kent, south-east of London, England. It began as a country house, built in the 13th century...
and in the actual rooms in which some of the real events took place.
The First Part of King Henry the Fourth, with the life and death of Henry surnamed HotspurHenry IV, Part 1Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. It is the second play in Shakespeare's tetralogy dealing with the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV , and Henry V...
- Directed by David Giles
- Taping dates: 7–12 March 1979
- First transmitted in the UK: 9 December 1979
- First transmitted in the US: 26 March 1980
- Anthony QuayleAnthony QuayleSir John Anthony Quayle, CBE was an English actor and director.-Early life:Quayle was born in Ainsdale, Southport, in Lancashire to a Manx family....
as Sir John FalstaffFalstaffSir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare. In the two Henry IV plays, he is a companion to Prince Hal, the future King Henry V. A fat, vain, boastful, and cowardly knight, Falstaff leads the apparently wayward Prince Hal into trouble, and is... - Jon FinchJon FinchJon Finch is an English actor noted for many Shakespearean roles. Perhaps his most notable role was the title role in Roman Polanski's 1971 film adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth. His other famous role was as a down-and-out ex-RAF pilot wrongly accused of murder in Alfred Hitchcock's...
as King Henry the FourthHenry IV of EnglandHenry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke... - David GwillimDavid GwillimDavid Gwillim is an English actor, best known for playing Prince Hal in the BBC Television Shakespeare Henry IV, Part I and Henry IV, Part II and the title role in Henry V which were broadcast in 1979, and John Bold in The Barchester Chronicles broadcast in 1982.- Biography :Gwillim was born in...
as Hal, Prince of WalesHenry V of EnglandHenry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster.... - Tim Pigott-SmithTim Pigott-SmithTim Pigott-Smith is an English film and television actor.-Early life:Pigott-Smith was born in Rugby, Warwickshire, the son of Margaret Muriel and Harry Thomas Pigott-Smith, who was a journalist. He was educated at Wyggeston Boys' School, Leicester, King Edward VI School Stratford-upon-Avon, and...
as Henry 'Hotspur' Percy - Michele DotriceMichele DotriceMichele Dotrice is an English actress best known for her portrayal of Betty, the long-suffering wife of Frank Spencer, played by Michael Crawford, in the BBC sitcom Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em, which ran from 1973 to 1978....
as Lady Percy - Brenda BruceBrenda BruceBrenda Bruce was a British actress. She had a long and successful career in the theatre, radio, film, and television.-Early life:Brenda Bruce was born in Manchester...
as Mistress Quickly - Rob EdwardsRob Edwards (actor)Rob Edwards is a British actor.His television credits include: Doctor Who , An Englishman's Castle, Secret Army, The Fourth Arm, By the Sword Divided, The Practice, Casualty, A Touch of Frost, Dangerfield, Midsomer Murders and Dalziel and Pascoe.He attended RGS...
as Prince John of LancasterJohn of Lancaster, 1st Duke of BedfordJohn of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, KG , also known as John Plantagenet, was the third surviving son of King Henry IV of England by Mary de Bohun, and acted as Regent of France for his nephew, King Henry VI.... - David BuckDavid BuckDavid Buck was an English actor. His most famous role was in the animated film The Lord of the Rings , for which he provided the voice of Gimli...
as the Earl of Westmorland - Robert Brown as Sir Walter Blunt
- Clive SwiftClive SwiftClive Walter Swift is an English character comedy actor and songwriter. He is best known for his role as character Richard Bucket in the British television series Keeping Up Appearances. He is less known for his role as character Roy in the British television series The Old Guys...
as Thomas Percy, Earl of WorcesterThomas Percy, 1st Earl of WorcesterThomas Percy, 1st Earl of Worcester, KG was an English medieval nobleman best known for taking part in the rebellion with his nephew Henry Percy, known as 'Harry Hotspur', and brother Northumberland .-Lineage:... - Bruce PurchaseBruce PurchaseBruce Purchase was a New Zealand-born actor known for his roles on stage and television. Born in Thames, New Zealand, he won a scholarship to study acting in England, training at RADA, and went on to become a founding actor-member of Laurence Olivier's National Theatre...
as Henry Percy, Earl of NorthumberlandHenry Percy, 1st Earl of NorthumberlandHenry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, 4th Baron Percy, titular King of Mann, KG, Lord Marshal was the son of Henry de Percy, 3rd Baron Percy and a descendent of Henry III of England. His mother was Mary of Lancaster, daughter of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, son of Edmund, Earl of Leicester and... - Robert MorrisRobert Morris (actor)Robert Morris is a British actor.His film credits include: Frankenstein Created Woman and Quatermass and the Pit....
as Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March - John CairneyJohn CairneyJohn Cairney is a Scottish film and television actor.-Partial filmography:* Ill Met by Moonlight * Miracle in Soho * Windom's Way * A Night to Remember * Operation Bullshine...
as Archibald, Earl of Douglas - David NealDavid NealDavid Neal was a popular British television actor, active in the 1960s, 1970, 1980s, and 1990s. He is chiefly remembered for a prolific range of supporting roles in major productions....
as Scroop, Archbishop of York - Norman Rutherford as Sir Michael
- Richard Owens as Owen GlendowerOwain GlyndwrOwain Glyndŵr , or Owain Glyn Dŵr, anglicised by William Shakespeare as Owen Glendower , was a Welsh ruler and the last native Welshman to hold the title Prince of Wales...
- Terence Wilton as Sir Richard Vernon
- Jack GallowayJack GallowayJack Galloway is a British actor.His television credits include: Thriller, Mackenzie, Codename Icarus, Doctor Who , Three Up, Two Down, Bergerac, The Mistress, Maigret, The Paradise Club, Boudica and Casualty.-External links:...
as Poins - Gordon GostelowGordon GostelowGordon Gostelow was a New Zealand actor. He was educated in Australia at North Sydney Boys High School and Sydney University where he graduated in Economics....
as Bardolph - Steven Beard as Peto
- Sharon MorganSharon MorganSharon Morgan is a Welsh actress of stage and screen, currently based in Cardiff. She was brought up in the village of Llandyfaelog...
as Lady Mortimer
The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth, including his death and the coronation of King Henry the FiftHenry IV, Part 2Henry IV, Part 2 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed written between 1596 and 1599. It is the third part of a tetralogy, preceded by Richard II and Henry IV, Part 1 and succeeded by Henry V.-Sources:...
- Directed by David Giles
- Taping dates: 11–16 April 1979
- First transmitted in the UK: 16 December 1979
- First transmitted in the US: 9 April 1980
- Jon FinchJon FinchJon Finch is an English actor noted for many Shakespearean roles. Perhaps his most notable role was the title role in Roman Polanski's 1971 film adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth. His other famous role was as a down-and-out ex-RAF pilot wrongly accused of murder in Alfred Hitchcock's...
as King Henry the FourthHenry IV of EnglandHenry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke... - David GwillimDavid GwillimDavid Gwillim is an English actor, best known for playing Prince Hal in the BBC Television Shakespeare Henry IV, Part I and Henry IV, Part II and the title role in Henry V which were broadcast in 1979, and John Bold in The Barchester Chronicles broadcast in 1982.- Biography :Gwillim was born in...
as Prince Henry of WalesHenry V of EnglandHenry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster.... - Rob EdwardsRob Edwards (actor)Rob Edwards is a British actor.His television credits include: Doctor Who , An Englishman's Castle, Secret Army, The Fourth Arm, By the Sword Divided, The Practice, Casualty, A Touch of Frost, Dangerfield, Midsomer Murders and Dalziel and Pascoe.He attended RGS...
as Prince John of LancasterJohn of Lancaster, 1st Duke of BedfordJohn of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, KG , also known as John Plantagenet, was the third surviving son of King Henry IV of England by Mary de Bohun, and acted as Regent of France for his nephew, King Henry VI.... - Martin Neil as Prince Humphrey of Gloucester
- Roger Davenport as Prince Thomas, Duke of ClarenceThomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of ClarenceThomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence, KG , also known as Thomas Plantagenet, was the second son of King Henry IV of England and his first wife, Mary de Bohun. He was born before 25 November 1387 as on that date his father's accounts note a payment made to a woman described as his nurse...
- Bruce PurchaseBruce PurchaseBruce Purchase was a New Zealand-born actor known for his roles on stage and television. Born in Thames, New Zealand, he won a scholarship to study acting in England, training at RADA, and went on to become a founding actor-member of Laurence Olivier's National Theatre...
as the Earl of NorthumberlandHenry Percy, 1st Earl of NorthumberlandHenry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, 4th Baron Percy, titular King of Mann, KG, Lord Marshal was the son of Henry de Percy, 3rd Baron Percy and a descendent of Henry III of England. His mother was Mary of Lancaster, daughter of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, son of Edmund, Earl of Leicester and... - David NealDavid NealDavid Neal was a popular British television actor, active in the 1960s, 1970, 1980s, and 1990s. He is chiefly remembered for a prolific range of supporting roles in major productions....
as Scroop, Archbishop of York - Michael Miller as Lord Mowbray
- Richard BebbRichard BebbRichard Bebb was an English actor of stage, screen and radio.Born Richard Bebb Williams in London, he changed his name to his mother's surname, Bebb, when he took up acting as there was already a British actor called Richard Williams...
as Lord Hastings - John Humphry as Lord BardolphThomas Bardolf, 5th Baron BardolfThomas Bardolf, 5th Baron Bardolf was a baron in the Peerage of England, Lord of Wormegay, Norfolk, of Shelford and Stoke Bardolph in Nottinghamshire, Hallaton , Leicestershire, and others, and was "a person of especial eminence in his time"...
- Salvin Stewart as Sir John Colville
- David Strong as Travers
- Carl Oatley as Morton
- Rod Beacham as the Earl of WarwickRichard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of WarwickRichard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, Count of Aumale, KG was an English medieval nobleman and military commander.-Early Life:...
- David BuckDavid BuckDavid Buck was an English actor. His most famous role was in the animated film The Lord of the Rings , for which he provided the voice of Gimli...
as the Earl of Westmorland - Brian PoyserBrian PoyserBrian Poyser is an English actor whose career started in the early 1960s. His appearances include the musical Poppy, the BBC Television Shakespeare , the series Sex, Chips & Rock n' Roll, an episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot, and as the recurring character the Revd Aubrey Stewart in two...
as Gower - Ralph MichaelRalph MichaelRalph Michael was an English actor. He was born in London, United Kingdom.His film appearances include: A Night to Remember, Children of the Damned, Khartoum, Grand Prix, The Assassination Bureau, and Empire of the Sun.Television credits include: The Adventures of Robin Hood, Dixon of Dock Green,...
as the Lord Chief JusticeWilliam GascoigneSir William Gascoigne Kt. was Chief Justice of England during the reign of King Henry IV. Sir William Gascoigne was born in Gawthorpe W-Riding, Yorks. In 1369, William married Elizabeth de Mowbray... - Anthony QuayleAnthony QuayleSir John Anthony Quayle, CBE was an English actor and director.-Early life:Quayle was born in Ainsdale, Southport, in Lancashire to a Manx family....
as Sir John FalstaffFalstaffSir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare. In the two Henry IV plays, he is a companion to Prince Hal, the future King Henry V. A fat, vain, boastful, and cowardly knight, Falstaff leads the apparently wayward Prince Hal into trouble, and is... - Jack GallowayJack GallowayJack Galloway is a British actor.His television credits include: Thriller, Mackenzie, Codename Icarus, Doctor Who , Three Up, Two Down, Bergerac, The Mistress, Maigret, The Paradise Club, Boudica and Casualty.-External links:...
as Poins - Gordon GostelowGordon GostelowGordon Gostelow was a New Zealand actor. He was educated in Australia at North Sydney Boys High School and Sydney University where he graduated in Economics....
as Bardolph - Bryan PringleBryan PringleBryan Pringle was a British actor who appeared in television, film and theatre productions.Born in Tamworth, Staffordshire but raised in the Lancashire town of Bolton he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. In 1958, he married character actress Anne Jameson; together they had...
as Pistol - Steven Beard as Peto
- Robert EddisonRobert EddisonRobert Eddison was a British actor, who is probably most widely remembered in the role of the Grail Knight in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade...
as Justice Robert Shallow - Leslie FrenchLeslie FrenchLeslie Richard French was a British actor of stage and screen.French was primarily a theatre actor, as well as a director, singer and dancer, with a varied career that included the classics, musical revue, pantomime and ballet...
as Justice Silence - Raymond Platt as Davy
- Frederick Proud as Fang
- Julian Battersby as Ralph Mouldy
- Roy HerrickRoy HerrickRoy Herrick was a British actor .His television credits include: Danger Man, Public Eye, Callan, The Regiment, Colditz, Survivors, Doctor Who , Pardon My Genie, George and Mildred, Tenko, The Fourth Arm, Mr...
as Simon Shadow - Alan Collins as Thomas Wart
- John Tordoff as Francis Feeble
- Roger Elliott as Peter Bullcalf
- Jenny LairdJenny LairdJenny Laird was a British film and television actress.-Selected filmography:* Passenger to London * Black Eyes * Just William * The Lamp Still Burns...
as Lady Northumberland - Michele DotriceMichele DotriceMichele Dotrice is an English actress best known for her portrayal of Betty, the long-suffering wife of Frank Spencer, played by Michael Crawford, in the BBC sitcom Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em, which ran from 1973 to 1978....
as Lady Percy - Brenda BruceBrenda BruceBrenda Bruce was a British actress. She had a long and successful career in the theatre, radio, film, and television.-Early life:Brenda Bruce was born in Manchester...
as Mistress Quickly - Frances CukaFrances CukaFrances Cuka is a British actress, principally on television, whose career has spanned nearly fifty years.Cuka was born in London, England, the daughter of Letitia Alice Annie , a tailor, and Joseph Cuka, a process engraver. On stage, she created the role of Jo in Shelagh Delaney's play A Taste of...
as Doll Tearsheet
The Life of Henry the FiftHenry V (play)Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to be written in approximately 1599. Its full titles are The Cronicle History of Henry the Fifth and The Life of Henry the Fifth...
- Directed by David Giles
- Taping dates: 18–25 June 1979
- First transmitted in the UK: 23 December 1979
- First transmitted in the US: 23 April 1980
- John AbineriJohn AbineriJohn Abineri was an English actor.Born in London, he attended the Old Vic drama school and described himself as "Well educated from the age of five to eighteen"...
as the Bishop of ElyJohn FordhamJohn Fordham was Bishop of Durham and Bishop of Ely.Fordham was keeper of the privy seal of Prince Richard from 1376 to 1377 and Dean of Wells before being named Lord Privy Seal in June of 1377. He held that office until December of 1381.... - Robert Ashby as the Earl of SalisburyThomas Montacute, 4th Earl of SalisburyThomas Montacute, 4th Earl of Salisbury, 6th and 3rd Baron Montacute, 5th Baron Monthermer, and Count of Perche, KG was an English nobleman...
- Trevor BaxterTrevor BaxterTrevor Baxter is a British actor and playwright.He is perhaps best remembered for his appearance in the 1977 Doctor Who serial The Talons of Weng-Chiang as Professor George Litefoot. He reprised his role of Professor Litefoot in an episode of audio series, Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles:...
as the Archbishop of CanterburyHenry ChicheleHenry Chichele , English archbishop, founder of All Souls College, Oxford, was born at Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, in 1363 or 1364... - Rob Beacham as the Earl of WarwickRichard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of WarwickRichard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, Count of Aumale, KG was an English medieval nobleman and military commander.-Early Life:...
- Jocelyne Boisseau as Princess KatherineCatherine of ValoisCatherine of France was the Queen consort of England from 1420 until 1422. She was the daughter of King Charles VI of France, wife of Henry V of Monmouth, King of England, mother of Henry VI, King of England and King of France, and through her secret marriage with Owen Tudor, the grandmother of...
- Alan Brown as the Governor of Harfleur
- John BryansJohn BryansJohn Bryans was a British actor, who appeared frequently on television.He is possibly best known for his recurring role as Bercol during the first two series of Blake's 7. He also appeared in the third series as the torturer Shrinker...
as the Duke of BourbonJohn I, Duke of BourbonJean de Bourbon was Duke of Bourbon, from 1410 to his death and Duke of Auvergne since 1416. He was the eldest son of Louis II and Anna d'Auvergne... - David BuckDavid BuckDavid Buck was an English actor. His most famous role was in the animated film The Lord of the Rings , for which he provided the voice of Gimli...
as the Earl of Westmoreland - Roger Davenport as the Duke of Clarence
- Keith DrinkelKeith DrinkelKeith Drinkel is a British actor, born in York on 14 November 1944. He was educated at St Michael's College, Leeds and is now based in Brighton....
as Lewis the Dauphin - Rob Edwards as the Duke of BedfordJohn of Lancaster, 1st Duke of BedfordJohn of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, KG , also known as John Plantagenet, was the third surviving son of King Henry IV of England by Mary de Bohun, and acted as Regent of France for his nephew, King Henry VI....
- Ronald ForfarRonald ForfarRonald Forfar is a British-based actor who has appeared in many roles since the 1970s, including the role of Freddie Boswell in Carla Lane's comedy Bread....
as Bates - Carl ForgioneCarl ForgioneCarl Forgione was a British actor, best known for his television appearances.He appeared in two Doctor Who serials - Planet of the Spiders in 1974 and Ghost Light in 1989....
as Rambures - John Fowler as the Boy
- Julian GloverJulian GloverJulian Wyatt Glover is a British actor best known for such roles as General Maximilian Veers in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, the Bond villain Aristotle Kristatos in For Your Eyes Only, and Walter Donovan in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.-Personal life:Glover was born in...
as the Constable of France - Gordon GostelowGordon GostelowGordon Gostelow was a New Zealand actor. He was educated in Australia at North Sydney Boys High School and Sydney University where he graduated in Economics....
as Bardolph - David GwillimDavid GwillimDavid Gwillim is an English actor, best known for playing Prince Hal in the BBC Television Shakespeare Henry IV, Part I and Henry IV, Part II and the title role in Henry V which were broadcast in 1979, and John Bold in The Barchester Chronicles broadcast in 1982.- Biography :Gwillim was born in...
as Henry VHenry V of EnglandHenry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster.... - Garrick HagonGarrick HagonGarrick Hagon is a film, stage, television and radio actor best known for his role as Biggs Darklighter in Star Wars: A New Hope. His many films include Batman, Spy Game, Me and Orson Welles and The Message...
as Mountjoy - Robert Harris as the Duke of Burgundy
- Jeffrey HollandJeffrey HollandJeffrey Holland is an English actor well known for roles in television sitcoms, as well as BBC Radio comedy, including Week Ending.-Early life and career:...
as Nym - Derek Hollis as the Duke of YorkEdward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of YorkSir Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York, 2nd Earl of Cambridge, Earl of Rutland, Earl of Cork, Duke of Aumale KG was a member of the English royal family who died at the Battle of Agincourt....
- George HoweGeorge Howe (actor)George Winchester Howe was an English actor and comedian who appeared in numerous stage, film and television roles.-External links:*...
as Sir Thomas Erpingham - Alec McCowenAlec McCowenAlexander Duncan "Alec" McCowen CBE is an English actor. He is known for his work in numerous film and stage productions. He was awarded the CBE in the 1985 New Year's Honours List.-Personal:...
as Chorus - Michael McKevitt as Jamy
- Clifford Parrish as the Duke of ExeterThomas Beaufort, Duke of ExeterThomas Beaufort, 1st Duke of Exeter, KG was an English military commander during the Hundred Years' War, and briefly Chancellor of England. He was the third of four children; the son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and his mistress Katherine Swynford...
- David Pinner as Williams
- Brian PoyserBrian PoyserBrian Poyser is an English actor whose career started in the early 1960s. His appearances include the musical Poppy, the BBC Television Shakespeare , the series Sex, Chips & Rock n' Roll, an episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot, and as the recurring character the Revd Aubrey Stewart in two...
as Gower - Ian Price as ScropeHenry Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of MashamHenry Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham KG was a favourite of King Henry V of England but he was executed for his involvedment in the Southampton Plot.-Biography:...
- Bryan PringleBryan PringleBryan Pringle was a British actor who appeared in television, film and theatre productions.Born in Tamworth, Staffordshire but raised in the Lancashire town of Bolton he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. In 1958, he married character actress Anne Jameson; together they had...
as Pistol - Anna QuayleAnna QuayleAnna Quayle is an English actress. Her father was the stage actor Douglas Quayle.She has appeared on film, on stage, and on television...
as Alice - David Rowlands as Sir Thomas Grey
- Pamela Ruddock as Queen IsabelIsabeau of BavariaIsabeau of Bavaria was Queen consort of France as spouse of King Charles VI of France, a member of the Valois Dynasty...
- John Saunders as the Duke of Orléans
- Martin Smith as the Duke of Gloucester
- Thorley WaltersThorley WaltersThorley Walters was an English character actor.He is probably best remembered for his comedy film roles such as in Two-Way Stretch and Carlton-Browne of the FO...
as the King of FranceCharles VI of FranceCharles VI , called the Beloved and the Mad , was the King of France from 1380 to 1422, as a member of the House of Valois. His bouts with madness, which seem to have begun in 1392, led to quarrels among the French royal family, which were exploited by the neighbouring powers of England and Burgundy... - Paddy Ward as Macmorris
- William Whymper as the Earl of CambridgeRichard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of CambridgeRichard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge was the younger son of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York and Isabella of Castile....
- Tim WyltonTim WyltonTim Wylton is a British television actor best known for his roles Stanley Dawkins in My Hero and Lol Ferris in As Time Goes By....
as FluellenFluellenFluellen is a fictional character in the play Henry V by William Shakespeare. Fluellen is a Welsh Captain, a leader of a contingent of troops in the small army of the English King while on campaign in France during the Hundred Years' War.-The name:... - Brenda BruceBrenda BruceBrenda Bruce was a British actress. She had a long and successful career in the theatre, radio, film, and television.-Early life:Brenda Bruce was born in Manchester...
as Mistress Quickly
Twelfth Night
- Directed by John GorrieJohn Gorrie (director)John Gorrie is a director.He started out as an actor before becoming assistant floor manager at the BBC. He attended BBCs director's course in early 1963 and his first jobs as a director were for the soap opera Compact and the anthology series Suspense...
- Taping dates: 16–21 May 1979
- First transmitted in the UK: 6 January 1980
- First transmitted in the US: 27 February 1980
- Alec McCowenAlec McCowenAlexander Duncan "Alec" McCowen CBE is an English actor. He is known for his work in numerous film and stage productions. He was awarded the CBE in the 1985 New Year's Honours List.-Personal:...
as MalvolioMalvolioMalvolio is the steward of Olivia's household in William Shakespeare's comedy, Twelfth Night, or What You Will.-Style:Malvolio's ethical values are commonly used to define his appearance.In the play, Malvolio is defined as a "kind of" Puritan... - Robert HardyRobert HardyTimothy Sydney Robert Hardy, CBE, FSA is an English actor with a long career in the theatre, film and television. He is also an acknowledged expert on the longbow.-Early life:...
as Sir Toby BelchToby BelchSir Toby Belch is a character in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. He is considered one of William Shakespeare's finest comic characters, an ambiguous mix of high spirits and low cunning. He first appears in the play's third scene, when he storms onto the stage the morning after a hard night... - Felicity KendalFelicity KendalFelicity Ann Kendal, CBE is an English actor known for her television and stage work.Born in 1946, Kendal spent much of her childhood in India, where her father managed a touring repertory company. First appearing on stage at the age of nine months, Kendal appeared in her first film, Shakespeare...
as Viola - Annette CrosbieAnnette CrosbieAnnette Crosbie, OBE is a Scottish character actor.-Life and career:Crosbie was born in Gorebridge, Midlothian, Scotland, to Presbyterian parents who disapproved of her becoming an actor. Nevertheless, she joined the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School while still in her teens...
as Maria - Sinéad CusackSinéad CusackSinéad Moira Cusack is an Irish stage, television and film actress. She has received two Tony Award nominations: once for Best Leading Actress in Much Ado About Nothing , and again for Best Featured Actress in Rock 'n' Roll .-Background:...
as Olivia - Trevor PeacockTrevor PeacockTrevor Peacock is an English stage and television character actor. He was born in Tottenham, London, the son of Alexandria and Victor Edward Peacock.-Television and Film Career:...
as FesteFesteFeste is a jester in the Shakespeare comedy Twelfth Night or: What You Will. He is attached to the household of the Countess Olivia. Apparently he has been there for some time, as he was a "fool that the Lady Olivia's father took much delight in"... - Clive Arrindell as Orsino
- Ronnie StevensRonnie Stevens (actor)Ronald Stevens was a London-born English actor known as Ronnie Stevens.He appeared in many television comedy series in regular roles, including May to December, Goodnight Sweetheart and A J Wentworth, BA. He also appeared as the "Minister of Pollution", in The Goodies pollution episode...
as Sir Andrew Aguecheek - Robert LindsayRobert Lindsay (actor)Robert Lindsay is an English actor who is best known for his television work, especially his roles of Wolfie Smith in Citizen Smith, Michael Murray in G.B.H., Captain Sir Edward Pellew in Hornblower and Ben Harper in My Family which has been on television screens since 2000.-Early life:Lindsay was...
as Fabian - Maurice RoëvesMaurice RoëvesMaurice Roëves is a British actor, born in Sunderland, County Durham on 19 March 1937.His television roles include Danger UXB , The Nightmare Man , the 1984 Doctor Who serial The Caves of Androzani, Days of our Lives , Tutti Frutti , Rab C...
as Antonio - Michael ThomasMichael Thomas (actor)Michael Thomas is a British theatre actor who has worked on the English stage and screen for the past forty years. His career has seen him work for the Old Vic, the National Theatre, and the RSC on numerous occasions....
as Sebastian - Malcolm Reynolds as Valentine
- Ryan Michael as Curio
- Ric Morgan as the Sea Captain
- Arthur HewlettArthur HewlettArthur Hewlett was a British actor.He is best remembered for his roles on television, including Quatermass and the Pit, Police Surgeon, The Avengers, The Saint, No Hiding Place, The Baron, The Troubleshooters, Menace, Follyfoot, The Changes, Blake's 7, Doctor Who Arthur Hewlett (12 March 1907...
as the Priest
Behind-the-scenes
Director John Gorrie interpreted the play as an English country house
English country house
The English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a London house. This allowed to them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these people, the term distinguished between town and country...
comedy, and incorporated influences ranging from Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, and short story writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934, for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage." Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are written...
's Il Gioco delle Parti
The Rules of the Game (play)
The Rules of the Game is a play by Luigi Pirandello. It was written during 1918-19 at the time when his wife was suffering from mental illness, before she was committed to a mental hospital. It was first performed at the Teatro Quirino in Rome, with Ruggero Ruggeri as Leone...
to ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
's Upstairs, Downstairs
Upstairs, Downstairs
Upstairs, Downstairs is a British drama television series originally produced by London Weekend Television and revived by the BBC. It ran on ITV in 68 episodes divided into five series from 1971 to 1975, and a sixth series shown on the BBC on three consecutive nights, 26–28 December 2010.Set in a...
. Gorrie also set the play during the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, hoping the use of cavalier
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
s and roundhead
Roundhead
"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...
s would help focus the dramatisation of the conflict between festivity
Festival
A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....
and Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
ism.
The TempestThe TempestThe Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
- Directed by John Gorrie
- Taping dates: 23–28 July 1979
- First transmitted in the UK: 27 February 1980
- First transmitted in the US: 7 May 1980
- Michael HordernMichael HordernSir Michael Murray Hordern was an English actor, knighted in 1983 for his services to the theatre, which stretched back to before the Second World War.-Personal life:...
as ProsperoProsperoProspero is the protagonist in The Tempest, a play by William Shakespeare.- The Tempest :Prospero is the rightful Duke of Milan, who was put to sea on "a rotten carcass of a butt [boat]" to die by his usurping brother, Antonio, twelve years before the play begins. Prospero and Miranda survived,... - Derek GodfreyDerek GodfreyDerek Godfrey was a British actor who appeared in several films and BBC television dramatizations during the 1960s and 1970s....
as Antonio - David WallerDavid WallerDavid Waller was an English actor best known for his role as Inspector Jowett in the British television series Cribb...
as Alonso - Warren ClarkeWarren Clarke-Biography:Clarke was born in Oldham, Lancashire. His first television appearance was in the long running Granada soap opera Coronation Street, initially as Kenny Pickup in 1966 and then as Gary Bailey in 1968. His first major film appearance was in Stanley Kubrick's controversial A Clockwork...
as CalibanCalibanCaliban is a character in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest.Caliban may also refer to:* Caliban , a moon of Uranus* Caliban , a metalcore band from Germany* Caliban , an acoustic Celtic folk duo... - Nigel HawthorneNigel HawthorneSir Nigel Barnard Hawthorne, CBE was an English actor, perhaps best remembered for his role as Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Permanent Secretary in the 1980s sitcom Yes Minister and the Cabinet Secretary in its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister. For this role he won four BAFTA Awards during the 1980s in the...
as Stephano - David DixonDavid DixonDavid Dixon is an English actor and screenwriter. He was born in the Nightingale Maternity Home, Derby, near his father's shop in 94 London Road and brought up there before the family moved to 14 St...
as ArielAriel (The Tempest)Ariel is a spirit who appears in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest. Ariel is bound to serve the magician Prospero, who rescued him from the tree in which he was imprisoned by Sycorax, the witch who previously inhabited the island. Prospero greets disobedience with a reminder that he saved... - Andrew SachsAndrew SachsAndrew Sachs is a German-born British actor. He made his name on British television and is best known for his portrayals of Manuel in Fawlty Towers, a role for which he was BAFTA-nominated, and Ramsay Clegg in Coronation Street.-Early life:Sachs was born in Berlin, Germany, the son of Katharina , a...
as Trinculo - John NettletonJohn Nettleton (actor)John Nettleton is an English actor.One of his most notable roles was that of Sir Arnold Robinson, the Cabinet Secretary in Yes Minister and President of the Campaign for Freedom of Information in the follow-up Yes, Prime Minister...
as Gonzalo - Alan RoweAlan RoweAlan Rowe was a New Zealand-born English actor, perhaps best known for his appearances on the British science fiction programme Doctor Who.-Career:...
as Sebastian - Pippa GuardPippa GuardPhilippa Ann Guard is a British actress.Guard was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and belongs to a well-known theatrical family, whose members include her uncle Philip Guard, cousins Christopher Guard and Dominic Guard, and younger brother Alex Guard. Her father was an engineer who moved the family to...
as Miranda - Christopher GuardChristopher GuardChristopher Guard is an English actor.Educated at Latymer Upper School, Guard was a member of the National Theatre aged 20. He has appeared in Vienna 1900 , Memoirs of a Survivor and Return to Treasure Island...
as Ferdinand - Kenneth Gilbert as Boatswain
- Edwin Brown as Master
- Paul Greenhalgh as Francisco
- Christopher BramwellChristopher BramwellChristopher Bramwell is a British actor who was active on television from 1977 until 1996.He appeared in several TV dramas including Grange Hill, Enemy at the Door, Tales of the Unexpected, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Van der Valk...
as Adrian - Gwyneth Lloyd as JunoJuno (mythology)Juno is an ancient Roman goddess, the protector and special counselor of the state. She is a daughter of Saturn and sister of the chief god Jupiter and the mother of Mars and Vulcan. Juno also looked after the women of Rome. Her Greek equivalent is Hera...
- Elizabeth GardnerElizabeth GardnerElizabeth Gardner is an Australian freestyle skier-Professional career:Gardner made her professional debut on 8 September 2001 at the Mount Buller women's aerial event. Since her debut, she has competed the Europa, Nor-Am, and World Cup...
as CeresCeres (mythology)In ancient Roman religion, Ceres was a goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility and motherly relationships. She was originally the central deity in Rome's so-called plebeian or Aventine Triad, then was paired with her daughter Proserpina in what Romans described as "the Greek rites of Ceres"... - Judith ReesJudith ReesProfessor Judith Rees CBE has been Interim Director of London School of Economics and Political Science since 2 May 2011, following the resignation of Sir Howard Davies from the position on 3 March 2011 following concern over the institution's decision to accept funding from a foundation...
as IrisIris (mythology)In Greek mythology, Iris is the personification of the rainbow and messenger of the gods. As the sun unites Earth and heaven, Iris links the gods to humanity...
Behind-the-scenes
The special effects seen in this episode were not developed especially for use here. They had been developed for Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
and Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
.
Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkHamletThe Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
- Directed by Rodney Bennett
- Taping dates: 31 January-8 February 1980
- First transmitted in the UK: 25 May 1980
- First transmitted in the US: 10 November 1980
- Derek JacobiDerek JacobiSir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...
as HamletPrince HamletPrince Hamlet is a fictional character, the protagonist in Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet. He is the Prince of Denmark, nephew to the usurping Claudius and son of the previous King of Denmark, Old Hamlet. Throughout the play he struggles with whether, and how, to avenge the murder of his father, and... - Claire BloomClaire BloomClaire Bloom is an English film and stage actress.-Early life:Bloom was born in the North London suburb of Finchley, the daughter of Elizabeth and Edward Max Blume, who worked in sales...
as GertrudeGertrude (Hamlet)In William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Gertrude is Hamlet's mother and Queen of Denmark. Her relationship with Hamlet is somewhat turbulent, since he resents her for marrying her husband's brother Claudius after he murdered the King... - Patrick StewartPatrick StewartSir Patrick Hewes Stewart, OBE is an English film, television and stage actor, who has had a distinguished career in theatre and television for around half a century...
as ClaudiusKing ClaudiusKing Claudius is a character and the antagonist from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. He is the brother to King Hamlet, second husband to Gertrude and uncle to Hamlet. He obtained the throne of Denmark by murdering his own brother with poison and then marrying the late king's widow... - Eric PorterEric PorterEric Richard Porter was an English actor of stage, film and television.-Early life:Porter was born in Shepherd's Bush, London, to Richard John Porter and Phoebe Elizabeth Spall...
as PoloniusPoloniusPolonius is a character in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. He is King Claudius's chief counsellor, and the father of Ophelia and Laertes. Polonius connives with Claudius to spy on Hamlet... - Lalla WardLalla WardSarah Ward known as Lalla Ward, is an English actor, author and illustrator. As an actor, she is known for playing the part of Romana in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. She is married to evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins.-Early career:Ward's stage name, "Lalla", comes...
as OpheliaOpheliaOphelia is a fictional character in the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes, and potential wife of Prince Hamlet.-Plot:... - David RobbDavid RobbDavid Robb is an English actor.Robb has starred in various British films and television shows, including films such as Swing Kids and Hellbound. He is well known for playing Germanicus in the famous 1976 BBC production of I, Claudius and as Robin Grant, one of the principal character in Thames...
as Laertes - Patrick AllenPatrick AllenJohn Keith Patrick Allen was a British film, television and voice actor.-Life and career:Allen was born in Nyasaland , where his father was a tobacco farmer. After his parents returned to Britain, he was evacuated to Canada during World War II where he remained to finish his education at McGill...
as the Ghost of Hamlet's Father - Robert Swann as HoratioHoratio (character)Horatio is a character from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. A friend of Prince Hamlet from Wittenberg University, Horatio's origins are unknown, though he is evidently poor and was present on the battlefield when Hamlet's father defeated 'the ambitious Norway'...
- Jonathan HydeJonathan HydeJonathan Hyde is an Australian-born English actor, well known for his roles as J. Bruce Ismay, the managing director of the White Star Line in Titanic, Egyptologist Allen Chamberlain in The Mummy and Sam Parrish/Van Pelt, the hunter in Jumanji. He is married to the Scottish soprano Isobel Buchanan...
as RosencrantzRosencrantz and GuildensternRosencrantz and Guildenstern are characters in William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet. They are courtiers who are set by the king to spy on Hamlet, using their claimed friendship with him to gain his confidence. The characters were revived in W. S... - Geoffrey Bateman as GuildensternRosencrantz and GuildensternRosencrantz and Guildenstern are characters in William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet. They are courtiers who are set by the king to spy on Hamlet, using their claimed friendship with him to gain his confidence. The characters were revived in W. S...
- Emrys JamesEmrys JamesEmrys James , was a Welsh Shakespearean actor. He also performed in many theatre and TV parts between 1960 and 1989, and was an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company...
as Player King - Jason Kemp as Player Queen
- Ian CharlesonIan CharlesonIan Charleson was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev...
as FortinbrasFortinbrasFortinbras is the name of two minor fictional characters from William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet. The more notable is a Norwegian crown prince with a few brief scenes in the play, who delivers the final lines that represent a hopeful future for the monarchy of Denmark and its subjects... - Tim WyltonTim WyltonTim Wylton is a British television actor best known for his roles Stanley Dawkins in My Hero and Lol Ferris in As Time Goes By....
as First GravediggerThe GravediggersThe Gravediggers are examples of Shakespearean fools , a recurring type of character in Shakespeare's plays... - Peter BensonPeter Benson (actor)Peter Benson is a British actor probably best known as Bernie Scripps in the popular ITV1 TV-series Heartbeat, a drama about the police in Aidensfield in the 1960s. Benson has played Bernie Scripps in the series since 1995. In the TV-series 'Bernie' Scripps is running Aidensfield Garage, and the...
as Second GravediggerThe GravediggersThe Gravediggers are examples of Shakespearean fools , a recurring type of character in Shakespeare's plays... - Paul Humpoletz as Marcellus
- Niall Padden as Bernardo
- Christopher Baines as Francisco
- John Humphry as Voltimand
- John SterlandJohn SterlandJohn Sterland is an Canadian film and television actor.Sterland was born in 1927 in Winnipeg to English-born parents.-Films:* The Dirty Dozen – Ambulance driver*The Man Outside - Spencer...
as Cornelius - Peter Gale as Osric
- Raymond Mason as Reynaldo
- Dan Meaden as Norwegian Captain
- David Henry as English Ambassador
Season three; Jonathan Miller, producer
The Taming of the ShrewThe Taming of the ShrewThe Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1591.The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the Induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself...
- Directed by Jonathan Miller
- Taping dates: 18–24 June 1980
- First transmitted in the UK: 23 October 1980
- First transmitted in the US: 26 January 1981
- Simon ChandlerSimon ChandlerSimon Chandler is an English television actor; his career began in 1976, and more recently he usually plays senior establishment characters such as Members of Parliament or senior civil servants. He has appeared in lead roles in Judge John Deed and other dramas, as well as appearing in theatre...
as Lucentio - Anthony Pedley as Tranio
- John Franklyn-RobbinsJohn Franklyn-RobbinsJohn Franklyn-Robbins was a British actor. He appeared in the film The Golden Compass. Appearing in television series and feature films, his credits included:*I, Claudius *The Merchant of Venice...
as Baptista - Frank ThorntonFrank ThorntonFrank Thornton is an English actor who is best known for playing Captain Peacock in Are You Being Served? and its sequel Grace & Favour and as Truly in Last of the Summer Wine.-Early life:...
as Gremio - Sarah BadelSarah BadelSarah Badel is a British stage and film actress. She is the daughter of actors Alan Badel and Yvonne Owen.-Theatrical career:...
as KatherineKate (The Taming of the Shrew)Katherina Minola is a fictional character and the female romantic lead in the comedy The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare. Kate is the elder outspoken daughter of Baptista Minola and the sister of apparently sweet-tempered Bianca... - Jonathan Cecil as Hortensio
- Susan PenhaligonSusan PenhaligonSusan Penhaligon is a British actress and writer, she is probably best known for her appearances in the controversial 1976 drama Bouquet of Barbed Wire and several ongoing roles in UK television series.-Early days:...
as BiancaBianca MinolaBianca Minola is a character in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew . She is the younger daughter of Baptista Minola and the sister of Kate, the "shrew" of the title. The lovely Bianca has several admirers in the play, but Baptista has refused to allow her to marry until his shrewish daughter... - Harry Waters as Biondello
- John CleeseJohn CleeseJohn Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...
as PetruchioPetruchioPetruchio is the male romantic lead in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew . Petruchio is a fortune seeker who enters into a marriage with a strong-willed young woman named Kate and then proceeds to "tame" her temperamental spirit... - David Kincaid as Grumio
- Bev Willis as Baptista's Servant
- Angus LennieAngus LennieAngus Lennie is a Scottish actor best known for his film appearance as Steve McQueen's friend Archibald Ives in the 1963 film The Great Escape. He was also known for being in the television soap opera Crossroads....
as Curtis - Harry Webster as Nathaniel
- Gil Morris as Philip
- Leslie SaronyLeslie SaronyLeslie Sarony was a British entertainer, singer and songwriter. Sarony was born in Surbiton, Surrey and died in London.He began his stage career aged 14 with the group Park Eton's Boys...
as Gregory - Derek DeadmanDerek DeadmanDerek Deadman is a British actor. He appeared as Rankin in two episodes of the RAF sitcom Get Some In! in 1975 and 1978. He played Ringo in 39 of the 66 episodes of the TV series Never the Twain between 1981 and 1991, and appeared as the barman of The Leaky Cauldron, Tom, in Harry Potter and the...
as Nicholas - Denis Gilmore as Peter
- John BirdJohn Bird (actor)John Bird is an English satirist, actor and comedian.-Early life:Born in Bulwell, Nottingham, England, and educated at High Pavement Grammar School, Nottingham, Bird briefly joined the Socialist Party of Great Britain, while still at school...
as Pedant - Alan Hay as Tailor
- David Kinsey as Haberdasher
- John BarronJohn Barron (actor)John Barron was an English actor.-Biography:Born in Marylebone, London, Barron was interested in acting from an early age. For his 18th birthday his godfather paid his entry fee to RADA. After serving as a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, he returned to stage acting...
as Vincentio - Joan HicksonJoan HicksonJoan Hickson OBE was an English actress of theatre, film and television, famed for playing Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series Miss Marple.- Wivenhoe :...
as Widow - Tony Martell as Officer
Behind-the-scenes
The casting of John Cleese as Petruchio was not without controversy at the time. Cleese had never performed Shakespeare before, and was not a fan of the first two seasons of the BBC Television Shakespeare, and took some persuading from Miller that the BBC Shrew would not be, as Cleese feared "about a lot of furniture being knocked over, a lot of wine being spilled, a lot of thighs being slapped and a lot of unmotivated laughter." As such, Miller told Cleese that the episode would interpret Petruchio as an early Puritan, and that the part was not to be acted along the traditional lines of the swaggering bully a la Richard Burton
Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...
in Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli KBE is an Italian director and producer of films and television. He is also a director and designer of operas and a former senator for the Italian center-right Forza Italia party....
's adaptation
The Taming of the Shrew (1967 film)
The Taming of the Shrew is a 1967 film based on the play of the same name by William Shakespeare about a courtship between two strong-willed people...
. In tandem with this interpretation, the song sung at the end of the play is a musical version of Psalm
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
128, which was often sung in Puritan households at the end of a meal during Shakespeare's own day.
The Merchant of VeniceThe Merchant of VeniceThe Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...
- Directed by Jack GoldJack GoldJack Gold is a British film and television director. He was part of the British Realist Tradition that followed Free Cinema.-Career:...
- Taping dates: 15–21 May 1980
- First transmitted in the UK: 17 December 1980
- First transmitted in the US: 23 February 1981
- John Franklyn-RobbinsJohn Franklyn-RobbinsJohn Franklyn-Robbins was a British actor. He appeared in the film The Golden Compass. Appearing in television series and feature films, his credits included:*I, Claudius *The Merchant of Venice...
as AntonioAntonio (Merchant of Venice)Antonio is the title character in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. He is a middle-aged bachelor and merchant by trade who has his financial interests tied up in overseas shipments when the play begins. He is kind, generous, honest and confident, and is loved and revered by all the Christians... - John Rhys-DaviesJohn Rhys-DaviesJohn Rhys-Davies is a Welsh actor and voice actor. He is perhaps best known for playing the charismatic Arab excavator Sallah in the Indiana Jones films and the dwarf Gimli in The Lord of the Rings trilogy...
as Salerio - Alan DavidAlan DavidAlan David is a Welsh television actor. Living in London, he is married with two sons.David was born in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan. He has had many television credits ranging from Coronation Street in 1973 to Virtual Murder , Honey for Tea and "The Unquiet Dead", an episode of Doctor Who in 2005...
as Solanio - John NettlesJohn NettlesJohn Vivian Drummond Nettles, OBE is an English actor, historian and writer who is best known for playing the lead roles in Bergerac and Midsomer Murders.-Early life:...
as Bassiano - Richard MorantRichard MorantRichard Morant was an English actor.Morant was born in Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire. He was a nephew of actors Bill and Linden Travers, and a cousin of actress Penelope Wilton...
as Lorenzo - Kenneth CranhamKenneth CranhamKenneth Cranham is a film, television and stage actor. He starred in the title role in the popular 1980s comedy drama Shine on Harvey Moon. He also appeared in Layer Cake, Gangster No. 1, Rome, Oliver! and many other films. He is probably best known to horror genre fans as the deranged Dr...
as Gratiano - Gemma JonesGemma JonesGemma Jones is an English character actress on both stage and screen.-Early life:Jones was born in London, England, the daughter of Irene and Griffith Jones, an actor. Her brother, Nicholas Jones, is also an actor...
as PortiaPortia (Merchant of Venice)Portia is the heroine of William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. A rich, beautiful, and intelligent heiress, she is bound by the lottery set forth in her father's will, which gives potential suitors the chance to choose between three caskets composed of gold, silver and lead... - Susan JamesonSusan JamesonSusan Jameson is an English actress who is best known for her television work.Jameson was born in Barnt Green, Worcestershire, England, UK. She is married to actor James Bolam with whom she has a daughter, Lucy...
as Nerissa - Daniel Mitchell as Balthasar
- Warren MitchellWarren MitchellWarren Mitchell is an English actor who rose to initial prominence in the role of bigoted cockney Alf Garnett in the BBC television sitcom Till Death Us Do Part , and its sequels Till Death... and In Sickness and in Health , all of which were written by Johnny Speight...
as ShylockShylockShylock is a fictional character in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.-In the play:In The Merchant of Venice, Shylock is a Jewish moneylender who lends money to his Christian rival, Antonio, setting the security at a pound of Antonio's flesh... - Marc ZuberMarc ZuberMarc Zuber was an actor.Film appearances include: The Satanic Rites of Dracula, The Wind and the Lion, The Sea Wolves, Shirley Valentine and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.Television credits include: The Onedin Line, Doomwatch, The Regiment, The Changes, Space: 1999,...
as the Prince of Morocco - Enn ReitelEnn ReitelEnn Reitel is a Scottish actor and impressionist who specialises in voice work.- Early life :Reitel's family arrived in Scotland as refugees from Estonia, German Empire...
as Lancelot Gobbo - Joe GladwinJoe GladwinJoe Gladwin was a British actor born in the Ordsall district of Salford, Lancashire. He was baptised at Mount Carmel RC Church, Ordsall and educated at the parish school...
as Old Gobbo - Roger Martin as Leonardo
- Leslee Udwin as Jessica
- Peter Gale as the Prince of Arragon
- Arnold Diamond as Tubal
- Douglas WilmerDouglas Wilmer-Early life:Wilmer was born in London and educated at King's School, Canterbury and Stonyhurst College. He trained at RADA but was called up to the Army in World War II. Posted to an antitank battery in the Royal West African Frontier Force, he was invalided out after he acquired tuberculosis. He...
as the Duke of Venice - Shaun ScottShaun ScottShaun Scott is a British television actor, who appeared in the popular long-running series of The Bill where he played DI Chris Deakin. He also appeared as deputy lock keeper Tom Pike in the 1989 BBC TV comedy The River with David Essex...
as Stephano
All's Well That Ends WellAll's Well That Ends WellAll's Well That Ends Well is a play by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1604 and 1605, and was originally published in the First Folio in 1623....
- Directed by Elijah Moshinsky
- Taping dates: 23–29 July 1980
- First transmitted in the UK: 4 January 1981
- First transmitted in the US: 18 May 1981
- Celia JohnsonCelia JohnsonDame Celia Elizabeth Johnson DBE was an English actress.She began her stage acting career in 1928, and subsequently achieved success in West End and Broadway productions. She also appeared in several films, including the romantic drama Brief Encounter , for which she received a nomination for the...
as The Countess of Rousillion - Ian CharlesonIan CharlesonIan Charleson was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev...
as Bertram - Michael HordernMichael HordernSir Michael Murray Hordern was an English actor, knighted in 1983 for his services to the theatre, which stretched back to before the Second World War.-Personal life:...
as Lafeu - Angela Down as Helena
- Peter JeffreyPeter JeffreyPeter Jeffrey was a British actor with many roles in television and film.Jeffrey was born in Bristol, the son of Florence Alice and Arthur Winfred Gilbert Jeffrey. He was educated at Harrow School and Pembroke College, Cambridge but had no formal training as an actor...
as Parolles - Donald SindenDonald SindenSir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE is an English actor of theatre, film and television.-Personal life:Sinden was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 9 October 1923. The son of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes , he grew up in the Sussex village of Ditchling, where their home doubled as the...
as the King of France - Paul BrookePaul BrookePaul Brooke is an English actor of film, television, and radio. He is the father of actor Tom Brooke.He and Ernie Fosselius played Malakili the Rancor Keeper in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. He played British Conservative politician Ian Gow in the 2004 BBC series The Alan Clark Diaries...
as Lavache - Robert LindsayRobert Lindsay (actor)Robert Lindsay is an English actor who is best known for his television work, especially his roles of Wolfie Smith in Citizen Smith, Michael Murray in G.B.H., Captain Sir Edward Pellew in Hornblower and Ben Harper in My Family which has been on television screens since 2000.-Early life:Lindsay was...
as the first Lord Dumaine - Dominic JephcottDominic JephcottDominic Jephcott is a RADA-trained British actor.He has played in several roles, including Sir Andrew Ffoulkes in The Scarlet Pimpernel, Mount in Good and Bad at Games, Reggie in The Jewel in the Crown, Det. Sgt. Hobson BA in The Beiderbecke Affair Dominic Jephcott (born 28 July 1957) is a...
as the Second Lord Dumaine - Rosemary LeachRosemary LeachRosemary Leach is a British stage, television and film actress.She was born at Much Wenlock, Shropshire. Her parents were teachers related to Edmund Leach. She attended grammar school and RADA...
as The Widow of Florence - Pippa GuardPippa GuardPhilippa Ann Guard is a British actress.Guard was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and belongs to a well-known theatrical family, whose members include her uncle Philip Guard, cousins Christopher Guard and Dominic Guard, and younger brother Alex Guard. Her father was an engineer who moved the family to...
as Diana - Joolia Cappleman as Mariana
- Nickolas GraceNickolas GraceNickolas Grace is a British actor known for his roles on television, including Anthony Blanche in the acclaimed ITV adaptation of Brideshead Revisited and the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1980s series Robin of Sherwood...
as the "Interpreter" - Terence McGinity as The First Gentleman
- Max Arthur as The Second Gentleman
Behind-the-scenes
In line with producer Jonathan Miller's new aesthetic policy, director Elijah Moshinsky composed many of the shots of the film as live action replicas of the work of Johannes Vermeer.
The Winter's TaleThe Winter's TaleThe Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare, originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, some modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some critics, among them W. W...
- Directed by Jane Howell
- Taping dates: 9–15 April 1980
- First transmitted in the UK: 8 February 1981
- First transmitted in the US: 8 June 1981
- John WelshJohn Welsh (actor)John Welsh was an Irish actor.After an early stage career in Dublin, Welsh moved into British film and television in the 1950s. His roles included James Forsyte in the 1967 BBC dramatisation of John Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga, as well as the butler Merriman in The Duchess of Duke Street, Sgt...
as Archidamus - David Burke as Camillo
- Robert StephensRobert StephensSir Robert Stephens was a leading English actor in the early years of England's Royal National Theatre.-Early life and career:...
as Polixenes - Jeremy KempJeremy KempJeremy Kemp is an English actor. He is known for his roles in the miniseries The Winds of War, The Blue Max and Z-Cars....
as LeontesLeontesKing Leontes is the father of Perdita and husband to Queen Hermione in Shakespeare's play The Winter's Tale. He becomes obsessed with the belief that his wife has been having an affair with Polixenes, his childhood friend and King of Bohemia. Because of this, he tries to have his friend poisoned,... - Anna Calder-MarshallAnna Calder-MarshallAnna Calder-Marshall is a British actress.Her husband is actor David Burke and her son is actor Tom Burke.-Filmography:-External links:...
as Hermionie - Jeremy DimmickJeremy DimmickJeremy Dimmick is a former child actor who is currently a tutor and lecturer at St Catherine's College, Oxford....
as Mamillius - Merelina Kendall as Emilia
- Cyril LuckhamCyril LuckhamCyril Luckham was a British film, television and theatre actor.Luckham played the White Guardian in the long running science fiction television series Doctor Who. He appeared in The Ribos Operation, the first serial in The Key to Time season, and Enlightenment...
as Antigonus - Margaret TyzackMargaret TyzackMargaret Maud Tyzack, CBE was a British actress.-Early life:Tyzack was born in Essex, England, the daughter of Doris and Thomas Edward Tyzack. She grew up in West Ham...
as Paulina - John Curless as Cleomenes
- Colin McCormackColin McCormackColin McCormack was a professional Welsh actor who enjoyed considerable success in classical stage performances and television shows over a career approaching fifty years from his debut as a child actor in a BBC TV's Dixon of Dock Green episode, a show he returned to twenty years later when he...
as Dion - Arthur HewlettArthur HewlettArthur Hewlett was a British actor.He is best remembered for his roles on television, including Quatermass and the Pit, Police Surgeon, The Avengers, The Saint, No Hiding Place, The Baron, The Troubleshooters, Menace, Follyfoot, The Changes, Blake's 7, Doctor Who Arthur Hewlett (12 March 1907...
as The Old Shepard - Paul JessonPaul JessonPaul Jesson is a British stage, television and film actor. He has played leading roles at the National Theatre and the RSC and won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role 1986 for his role in The Normal Heart at The Royal Court...
as the Clown - Harold Goldblatt as Time
- Rikki FultonRikki FultonRobert Kerr Fulton, OBE , more commonly known as Rikki Fulton, was a Scottish comedian and actor best remembered for writing and performing in the long-running BBC Scotland sketch show, Scotch and Wry. He was also known for his appearances as one half of the double act, Francie and Josie, alongside...
as Autolycus - Robin Kermode as FlorizelFlorizel (The Winter's Tale)Florizel is a fictional character in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.Florizel is the son of Polixenes – King of Bohemia. He falls in love with Perdita, and wishes to marry her. His father objects to the marriage, however, and warns Florizel that his inheritance will be revoked if he ever seeks...
- Debbie Farrington as PerditaPerdita (The Winter's Tale)Perdita is one of the heroines of William Shakespeare's play, The Winter's Tale. She is the daughter of Leontes, King of Sicilia, and his wife Hermione....
- Janette Legge as Dorcas
- Maggie Wells as Mopsa
- Pat GormanPat GormanThis article is about the British actor. For the American actor, see Patrick Gorman.Pat Gorman is a British actor who, despite never appearing in a starring role, appeared in minor roles in a large number of films and television productions, including The Elephant Man and I, Claudius.He appeared in...
as The Bear
Timon of AthensTimon of AthensThe Life of Timon of Athens is a play by William Shakespeare about the fortunes of an Athenian named Timon , generally regarded as one of his most obscure and difficult works...
- Directed by Jonathan Miller
- Taping dates: 28 January-3 February 1981
- First transmitted in the UK: 16 April 1981
- First transmitted in the US: 14 December 1981
- John FortuneJohn FortuneJohn Fortune is a British satirist, comedian writer and actor, best known for his work with John Bird and Rory Bremner on the TV series Bremner, Bird and Fortune. He was educated at Bristol Cathedral School and King's College, Cambridge, where he was to meet and form a lasting friendship with John...
as the Poet - John BirdJohn Bird (actor)John Bird is an English satirist, actor and comedian.-Early life:Born in Bulwell, Nottingham, England, and educated at High Pavement Grammar School, Nottingham, Bird briefly joined the Socialist Party of Great Britain, while still at school...
as the Painter - Tony JayTony JayTony Jay was an English actor, voice actor and singer. A former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he was known for his voice work in animation, film and computer games. Jay's distinctive baritone voice often landed him villainous roles...
as the Merchant - David Kinsey as the Jeweller
- Jonathan PryceJonathan PryceJonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor and singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and meeting his longtime partner English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...
as TimonTimon of Athens (person)Timon of Athens was a citizen of Athens whose reputation for misanthropy grew to legendary status. According to the historian Plutarch, Timon lived during the era of the Peloponnesian War .-Overview:... - John WelshJohn Welsh (actor)John Welsh was an Irish actor.After an early stage career in Dublin, Welsh moved into British film and television in the 1950s. His roles included James Forsyte in the 1967 BBC dramatisation of John Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga, as well as the butler Merriman in The Duchess of Duke Street, Sgt...
as Flavius - Sebastian ShawSebastian Shaw (actor)Sebastian Lewis Shaw was an English actor, director, novelist, playwright and poet. During his 65-year career, Shaw appeared in dozens of stage performances and more than 40 film and television productions....
as Old Athenian - James CossinsJames CossinsJames Cossins was an English character actor. Born in Beckenham, Kent, he became widely recognised as the abrupt, bewildered Mr. Walt in the Fawlty Towers episode "The Hotel Inspectors"...
as Lucullus - Norman RodwayNorman Rodway-Early life:Rodway was born in Dublin to English parents, Frank and Lillian Rodway. He studied classics, graduating at Trinity College. He worked as an accountant, teacher, and university lecturer before acting.-Career:...
as ApemantusApemantusApemantus is a character in the play Timon of Athens by William Shakespeare. He is a cynical and misanthropic philosopher.-Role in the play:... - Geoffrey Collins as Flaminius
- Terence McGinity as Servilius
- John ShrapnelJohn ShrapnelJohn Shrapnel is an English actor.Shrapnel was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, the son of Mary Lillian Myfanwy and journalist/author Norman Shrapnel....
as Alcibades - Hugh Thomas as Lucius
- Max Arthur as Lucillus
- Donald Gee as Ventidius
- John BaileyJohn Bailey (actor)John Bailey was a British actor with an extensive television repertoire.He played Edward Waterfield in the Doctor Who story The Evil of the Daleks in 1967, alongside Patrick Troughton and Marius Goring; and had previously appeared in the serial The Sensorites in 1964; and returned as Sezon in The...
as Sempronius - Michael Anthony as Caphis
- Elyane Sharling as Phryina
- Diana DorsDiana DorsDiana Dors was an English actress, born Diana Mary Fluck in Swindon, Wiltshire. Considered the English equivalent of the blonde bombshells of Hollywood, Dors described herself as: "The only sex symbol Britain has produced since Lady Godiva."-Early life:Diana Mary Fluck was born in Swindon,...
as Timandra
Behind-the-scenes
Michael Bogdanov
Michael Bogdanov
Michael Bogdanov , is a British theatre director known for his work with new plays, modern reinterpretations of Shakespeare, musicals and work for Young People.-Early years:...
was originally hired to direct this episode, but he resigned after his modern-dress interpretation was considered too radical.
Antony and CleopatraAntony and CleopatraAntony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607. It was first printed in the First Folio of 1623. The plot is based on Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives and follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony...
- Directed by Jonathan Miller
- Taping dates: 5–10 March 1980
- First transmitted in the US: 20 April 1981
- First transmitted in the UK: 8 May 1981
- John PaulJohn Paul (actor)John Paul was a British actor.He is best known for his television roles, particularly as Dr Spencer Quist in Doomwatch and Marcus Agrippa in I, Claudius , both for BBC Television....
as CanidiusPublius Canidius CrassusPublius Canidius Crassus was a Roman general and Mark Antony's lieutenant. He served under Lepidus in southern Gallia in 43 BC, and was henceforth allied with Antony. He became suffect consul in 40 BC and then served as a commander in Armenia whence he invaded, in 36 BC, Iberia , and forced its... - Jonathan Adams as VentidiusPublius Ventidius BassusPublius Ventidius Bassus, or in full, Publius Ventidius Publii filius Bassus, "Publius Ventidius, Publius's son, Bassus" was a Roman general and one of Julius Caesar's protégés...
- Jane LapotaireJane LapotaireJane Lapotaire is a British actress.She studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in the 1960s. Her role in the title role of Marie Curie first brought her to wide attention...
as Cleopatra - Colin BlakelyColin BlakelyColin George Blakely was a Northern Irish character actor. He was considered an actor of great range.-Early life:...
as AntonyMark AntonyMarcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar... - Darien AngadiDarien AngadiDarien Angadi was an English actor.Darien was born in Stoke Newington, and attended Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School where he was a prolific performer in school plays. In 1965 whilst at the school, he was a member of the school team for BBC Television's Television Top of the Form...
as Alexas - Janet KeyJanet KeyJanet Key was an English actress with a varied career in theatre, film and television from the late 1960s until her death.-Career:...
as CharmianCharmian (servant to Cleopatra)Charmian was a trusted servant and advisor to the historical Cleopatra VII of Egypt.-Plutarch:In Plutarch's Parallel Lives biography of Mark Antony, he noted that Augustus Caesar "had a decree made, declaring war on Cleopatra, and depriving Antony of the authority which he had let a woman exercise... - Howard Goorney as the Soothsayer
- Cassie McFarlane as Iras
- Emrys JamesEmrys JamesEmrys James , was a Welsh Shakespearean actor. He also performed in many theatre and TV parts between 1960 and 1989, and was an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company...
as Enobarbus - Mohammad Shamsi as Mardian
- Ian CharlesonIan CharlesonIan Charleson was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev...
as Octavius CaesarAugustusAugustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian... - Esmond KnightEsmond KnightEsmond Penington Knight was an English actor.He was an accomplished actor with a career spanning over half a century. For much of his career Esmond Knight was virtually blind...
as LepidusMarcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir)Marcus Aemilius Lepidus , was a Roman patrician who rose to become a member of the Second Triumvirate and Pontifex Maximus. His father, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, had been involved in a rebellion against the Roman Republic.Lepidus was among Julius Caesar's greatest supporters... - Harry Waters as Thidius
- David NealDavid NealDavid Neal was a popular British television actor, active in the 1960s, 1970, 1980s, and 1990s. He is chiefly remembered for a prolific range of supporting roles in major productions....
as Proculeius - Anthony Pedley as AgrippaMarcus Vipsanius AgrippaMarcus Vipsanius Agrippa was a Roman statesman and general. He was a close friend, son-in-law, lieutenant and defense minister to Octavian, the future Emperor Caesar Augustus...
- Geoffrey Collins as Dolabella
- Donald SumpterDonald SumpterDonald Sumpter is a British actor. He has appeared in film and television since the mid 1960s.-Life and work:One of his early television appearances was the 1968 Doctor Who serial The Wheel in Space with Patrick Troughton as the Doctor. He appeared in Doctor Who again in the 1972 serial The Sea...
as Pompeius - George InnesGeorge InnesGeorge Innes is an English actor.-Stage career:He began his career on the stage with the National Theatre of Great Britain under Laurence Olivier. Before that, he trained at Toynbee Hall and evening classes at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art , where he was awarded the Shakespeare Cup...
as MenasMenas (admiral)Menas, also known as Menodorus, was an admiral who served under Sextus Pompey during the 1st Century BC Roman Civil Wars.Menas was a freedman of Pompey the Great and when Pompey's son, Sextus, set himself up as ruler of Sicily in the late 40's BC Menas became one of his leading admirals... - Desmond Stokes as Menecrates
- Lynn FarleighLynn Farleigh-Television and film:Lynn Farleigh is perhaps best known for playing: Helen Wycliffe in Wycliffe; Krupskaya opposite Patrick Stewart's Lenin in the historical BBC drama Fall of Eagles; and the glamorous Vivien Ashton in the second series of the LWT secret agent series Wish Me Luck broadcast in...
as Octavius - Simon ChandlerSimon ChandlerSimon Chandler is an English television actor; his career began in 1976, and more recently he usually plays senior establishment characters such as Members of Parliament or senior civil servants. He has appeared in lead roles in Judge John Deed and other dramas, as well as appearing in theatre...
as Eros - Christopher EttridgeChristopher EttridgeChristopher Ettridge is an English actor born in Isleworth, United Kingdom .The actor is best known for his role as police officer Reg Deadman in the time-travelling comedy series Goodnight Sweetheart, which aired between 1993 and 1999...
as Scarus - George HoweGeorge Howe (actor)George Winchester Howe was an English actor and comedian who appeared in numerous stage, film and television roles.-External links:*...
as EuphroniusEuphroniosEuphronios was an ancient Greek vase painter and potter, active in Athens in the late 6th and early 5th centuries BC. As part of the so-called "Pioneer Group,"... - Alec SabinAlec SabinAlec Sabin is a British actor.His television appearances include: Coronation Street, When the Boat Comes In, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Maybury, Doctor Who, Bergerac, Call Me Mister and Birds of a Feather.-External links:...
as Dercetas
Behind-the-scenes
During the shooting of the scene with the snake, the snake crawled down the back of Jane Lapotaire's dress.
OthelloOthelloThe Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
- Directed by Jonathan Miller
- Taping dates: 9–17 March 1981
- First transmitted in the UK: 4 October 1981
- First transmitted in the US: 12 October 1981
- Anthony Pedley as RoderigoRoderigoRoderigo is a fictional character in Shakespeare's Othello . He is a dissolute Venetian lusting after Othello's wife Desdemona. Roderigo has opened his purse to Iago in the mistaken belief that Iago is using his money to pave the way to Desdemona's bed...
- Bob HoskinsBob HoskinsRobert William "Bob" Hoskins, Jr. is an English actor known for playing Cockney rough diamonds, psychopaths and gangsters, in films such as The Long Good Friday , and Mona Lisa , and lighter roles in family films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Hook .- Early life :Hoskins was born in Bury St...
as IagoIagoIago is a fictional character in Shakespeare's Othello . The character's source is traced to Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio's tale "Un Capitano Moro" in Gli Hecatommithi . There, the character is simply "the ensign". Iago is a soldier and Othello's ancient . He is the husband of Emilia,... - Geoffrey ChaterGeoffrey ChaterGeoffrey Chater is a British actor who was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire. He has starred in both film and television projects...
as BrabantioBrabantioBrabantio is a character in William Shakespeare's Othello . He is a Venetian senator and the father of Desdemona. He has entertained Othello is his home countless times before the play opens, thus giving Othello and Desdemona opportunity to fall in love... - Alexander Davion as Gratiano
- Anthony HopkinsAnthony HopkinsSir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
as OthelloOthello (character)Othello is a character in Shakespeare's Othello . The character's origin is traced to the tale, "Un Capitano Moro" in Gli Hecatommithi by Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio. There, he is simply referred to as the Moor.... - David YellandDavid Yelland (actor)David William Yelland is an English actor of stage and screen.-Education:Yelland was educated at Magdalene College at the University of Cambridge, where he read English.-Life and career:...
as CassioMichael CassioMichael Cassio, or simply Cassio, is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's Othello. The source of the character is the 1565 tale "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio; Cassio is unnamed in Cinthio but referred to as "the squadron leader." In the play, Cassio is a young and handsome lieutenant... - Joseph O'ConorJoseph O'ConorJoseph O'Conor was an Anglo-Irish actor and playwright.- Early years :O'Conor was born in Dublin on 14 February 1916, the son of Frances and Daniel O'Conor. His family moved to London, where he attended the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, the University of London and RADA...
as Lodovico - John BarronJohn Barron (actor)John Barron was an English actor.-Biography:Born in Marylebone, London, Barron was interested in acting from an early age. For his 18th birthday his godfather paid his entry fee to RADA. After serving as a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, he returned to stage acting...
as Duke of Venice - Penelope WiltonPenelope WiltonPenelope Alice Wilton, OBE is an English actress.-Life and career:Penelope Alice Wilton was born in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire, to a former actress mother and a businessman father. She is a niece of actors Bill Travers and Linden Travers and a cousin of the actor Richard Morant...
as DesdemonaDesdemonaDesdemona is a character in William Shakespeare's play Othello.Desdemona may also refer to:People* Desdemona , a soprano role in the 1816 opera Otello by Gioachino Rossini... - Rosemary LeachRosemary LeachRosemary Leach is a British stage, television and film actress.She was born at Much Wenlock, Shropshire. Her parents were teachers related to Edmund Leach. She attended grammar school and RADA...
as EmiliaEmilia (Othello)Emilia is a character in the tragedy Othello by William Shakespeare. The character's origin is traced to the 1565 tale, "Un capitano Moro" from Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio's Gli Hecatommithi. There, the character is described as young and virtuous, is referred to simply as the ensign's wife,... - Tony SteedmanTony SteedmanTony Steedman was an English character actor, perhaps best known for his role as Socrates in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure....
as Montano - Wendy MorganWendy Morgan (actress)Wendy Morgan is an English actress. She won the award of Best Newcomer — Actress at the Evening Standard British Film Awards in 1980.-Television appearances:...
as BiancaBianca (Othello)Bianca is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's Othello . She is Cassio's jealous lover. Despite her brief appearance on stage, Bianca plays a significant role in the progress of Iago's scheme to incite Othello's jealousy of Cassio. Bianca is traditionally regarded as a courtesan,...
Behind-the-scenes
James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership...
was originally hired to play the role of Othello, but Equity, the English Actor's Guild, refused to issue a work permit. During production itself, Jonathan Miller based the visual design on the work of El Greco
El Greco
El Greco was a painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El Greco" was a nickname, a reference to his ethnic Greek origin, and the artist normally signed his paintings with his full birth name in Greek letters, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος .El Greco was born on Crete, which was at...
.
Troilus and CressidaTroilus and CressidaTroilus and Cressida is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1602. It was also described by Frederick S. Boas as one of Shakespeare's problem plays. The play ends on a very bleak note with the death of the noble Trojan Hector and destruction of the love between Troilus...
- Directed by Jonathan Miller
- Taping dates: 28 July-5 August 1981
- First transmitted in the UK: 7 November 1981
- First transmitted in the US: 17 May 1982
- Charles GrayCharles Gray (actor)Charles Gray was an English actor who was well-known for roles including the arch-villain Blofeld in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, Sherlock Holmes' brother Mycroft Holmes in the Granada television series, and as The Criminologist in the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show in...
as PandarusPandarusPandarus is a Trojan aristocrat who appears in stories about the Trojan War. In Homer's Iliad he is portrayed as an energetic and impetuous warrior, but in medieval literature he becomes a witty and licentious figure who facilitates the affair between Troilus and Cressida... - Anton LesserAnton LesserAnton Lesser is a British actor. He attended Moseley Grammar School and the University of Liverpool before going to RADA in 1977 where he was awarded the Bancroft Gold Medal as the most promising actor of his year....
as TroilusTroilusTroilus is a legendary character associated with the story of the Trojan War... - Tony SteedmanTony SteedmanTony Steedman was an English character actor, perhaps best known for his role as Socrates in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure....
as AeneasAeneasAeneas , in Greco-Roman mythology, was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. His father was the second cousin of King Priam of Troy, making Aeneas Priam's second cousin, once removed. The journey of Aeneas from Troy , which led to the founding a hamlet south of... - Suzanne BurdenSuzanne BurdenSuzanne Burden is a British actress.A graduate of RADA, she has appeared on television, and occasionally in films, since the early 1980s. Her best known television work is probably as Esther Summerson in Bleak House...
as CressidaCressidaCressida is a character who appears in many Medieval and Renaissance retellings of the story of the Trojan War. She is a Trojan woman, the daughter of Calchas a priestly defector to the Greeks... - Max Harvey as Alexander
- Vernon DobtcheffVernon DobtcheffVernon Dobtcheff is a French and British actor.Dobtcheff was born in Nîmes, France, to a family of Russian descent. He attended Ascham Preparatory School in Eastbourne, Sussex, England, in the 1940s, where he won the Acting Cup...
as AgamemnonAgamemnonIn Greek mythology, Agamemnon was the son of King Atreus and Queen Aerope of Mycenae, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, and the father of Electra and Orestes. Mythical legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area... - Geoffrey ChaterGeoffrey ChaterGeoffrey Chater is a British actor who was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire. He has starred in both film and television projects...
as NestorNestor (mythology)In Greek mythology, Nestor of Gerenia was the son of Neleus and Chloris and the King of Pylos. He became king after Heracles killed Neleus and all of Nestor's siblings... - Benjamin WhitrowBenjamin WhitrowBenjamin "Ben" Whitrow is a British actor. He attended the Dragon School, Tonbridge School, and RADA. Whitrow was also part of the King's Dragoon Guards from 1956 to 1958. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1981...
as UlyssesOdysseusOdysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle.... - Bernard Brown as MenelausMenelausMenelaus may refer to;*Menelaus, one of the two most known Atrides, a king of Sparta and son of Atreus and Aerope*Menelaus on the Moon, named after Menelaus of Alexandria.*Menelaus , brother of Ptolemy I Soter...
- Anthony Pedley as AjaxAjax (mythology)Ajax or Aias was a mythological Greek hero, the son of Telamon and Periboea and king of Salamis. He plays an important role in Homer's Iliad and in the Epic Cycle, a series of epic poems about the Trojan War. To distinguish him from Ajax, son of Oileus , he is called "Telamonian Ajax," "Greater...
- The Incredible OrlandoJack BirkettJack Birkett was a British dancer, mime artist, actor and singer, best known for his work on stage as a member of Lindsay Kemp's theatre company, and in the films of Derek Jarman. He was often billed as Orlando or The Incredible Orlando. Most of his best-known work was done when he was totally...
as ThersitesThersitesIn Greek mythology, Thersites was a soldier of the Greek army during the Trojan War. In the Iliad, he does not have a father's name, which may suggest that he should be viewed as a commoner rather than an aristocratic hero... - Kenneth HaighKenneth HaighKenneth Haigh is a British actor. He played the central role of Jimmy Porter in the very first production of John Osborne's seminal play Look Back in Anger in 1956. His performance in a 1958 Broadway theatre production of that play so moved one young woman in the audience that she mounted the...
as AchillesAchillesIn Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greek hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad.Plato named Achilles the handsomest of the heroes assembled against Troy.... - Simon Cutter as PatroclusPatroclusIn Greek mythology, as recorded in the Iliad by Homer, Patroclus, or Patroklos , was the son of Menoetius, grandson of Actor, King of Opus, and was Achilles' beloved comrade and brother-in-arms....
- Esmond KnightEsmond KnightEsmond Penington Knight was an English actor.He was an accomplished actor with a career spanning over half a century. For much of his career Esmond Knight was virtually blind...
as PriamPriamPriam was the king of Troy during the Trojan War and youngest son of Laomedon. Modern scholars derive his name from the Luwian compound Priimuua, which means "exceptionally courageous".- Marriage and issue :... - John ShrapnelJohn ShrapnelJohn Shrapnel is an English actor.Shrapnel was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, the son of Mary Lillian Myfanwy and journalist/author Norman Shrapnel....
as HectorHectorIn Greek mythology, Hectōr , or Hektōr, is a Trojan prince and the greatest fighter for Troy in the Trojan War. As the first-born son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, a descendant of Dardanus, who lived under Mount Ida, and of Tros, the founder of Troy, he was a prince of the royal house and the... - Elayne Sharling as CassandraCassandraIn Greek mythology, Cassandra was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. Her beauty caused Apollo to grant her the gift of prophecy...
- David Firth as ParisParis (mythology)Paris , the son of Priam, king of Troy, appears in a number of Greek legends. Probably the best-known was his elopement with Helen, queen of Sparta, this being one of the immediate causes of the Trojan War...
- Paul Moriarty as DiomedesDiomedesDiomedes or Diomed is a hero in Greek mythology, known for his participation in the Trojan War.He was born to Tydeus and Deipyle and later became King of Argos, succeeding his maternal grandfather, Adrastus. In Homer's Iliad Diomedes is regarded alongside Ajax as one of the best warriors of all...
- Ann Pennington as Helen
- Peter WhitbreadPeter WhitbreadPeter Bruce Pauling Whitbread was an English actor and screenwriter.He was born in Norfolk, England and educated at Gresham's School, Holt, Norfolk....
as CalchasCalchasIn Greek mythology, Calchas , son of Thestor, was an Argive seer, with a gift for interpreting the flight of birds that he received of Apollo: "as an augur, Calchas had no rival in the camp"... - Merelina Kendall as AndromacheAndromacheIn Greek mythology, Andromache was the wife of Hector and daughter of Eetion, and sister to Podes. She was born and raised in the city of Cilician Thebe, over which her father ruled...
- Cornelius Garrett as Margarelon
- Tony Portacio as HelenusHelenusHelenus was a Trojan soldier and prophet in the Trojan War.In Greek mythology, Helenus was the son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, and the twin brother of the prophetess Cassandra. He was also called Scamandrios. According to legend, Cassandra, having been given the power of prophecy by...
- Peter J. Cassell as DeiphobusDeiphobusIn Greek mythology, Deiphobus was a son of Priam and Hecuba. He was a prince of Troy, and the greatest of Priam's sons after Hector and Paris...
Behind-the-scenes
Director Jonathan Miller used the work of gothic painter Lucas Cranach
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Elder , was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving...
as a visual influence during the production, and several of Cranach's paintings can be seen in Ajax's tent.
A Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
- Directed by Elijah Moshinsky
- Taping dates: 19–25 May 1981
- First transmitted in the UK: 13 December 1981
- First transmitted in the US: 19 April 1982
- Estelle KohlerEstelle KohlerEstelle Kohler is a British theatre and television actress. Born in South Africa, Kohler made a name for herself as a Shakespearean actor in England...
as HippolytaHippolytaIn Greek mythology, Hippolyta or Hippolyte is the Amazonian queen who possessed a magical girdle she was given by her father Ares, the god of war. The girdle was a waist belt that signified her authority as queen of the Amazons.... - Nigel DavenportNigel DavenportNigel Davenport is an English stage, television and film actor.- Early life :Davenport was born Arthur Nigel Davenport, however he goes by the first name of Nigel. Davenport was born in Shelford, Cambridgeshire, the son of Katherine Lucy and Arthur Henry Davenport. Davenport's father was a bursar...
as TheseusTheseusFor other uses, see Theseus Theseus was the mythical founder-king of Athens, son of Aethra, and fathered by Aegeus and Poseidon, both of whom Aethra had slept with in one night. Theseus was a founder-hero, like Perseus, Cadmus, or Heracles, all of whom battled and overcame foes that were... - Hugh QuarshieHugh Quarshie- Early and Personal Life :Quarshie is of mixed Ghanaian, English and Dutch ancestry and was born in Accra, Ghana, to Emma Wilhelmina and Richard Quarshie, and emigrated with his family to the United Kingdom when he was aged three...
as PhilostratePhilostratePhilostrate is the Master of Revels at Theseus' court in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream . He is in charge of his lord's entertainments, making recommendations to Theseus, as well as altering the text of some of the plays performed in his court. Shakespeare may have used this... - Geoffrey LumsdenGeoffrey LumsdenGeoffrey Lumsden was a British character actor who had a lengthy career on television.By some way his best known role was Captain Square in Dad's Army, the pompous commander of the Eastgate platoon of the Home Guard who was a rival of Captain Mainwaring.He appeared in a few episodes, though...
as EgeusEgeusEgeus is a character in A Midsummer Night's Dream, the comedy by William Shakespeare. He tries to keep his daughter, Hermia, from marrying Lysander, by force if necessary... - Pippa GuardPippa GuardPhilippa Ann Guard is a British actress.Guard was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and belongs to a well-known theatrical family, whose members include her uncle Philip Guard, cousins Christopher Guard and Dominic Guard, and younger brother Alex Guard. Her father was an engineer who moved the family to...
as HermiaHermiaHermia is a science park near Tampere University of Technology . Hermia is located in Hervanta, a suburb of Tampere, Finland. Hermia is also acting as a technology centre for its region.... - Nicky HensonNicky HensonNicholas Victor Leslie "Nicky" Henson is an English actor who has portrayed many roles since 1963. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1977. He was born in London.-Early life:...
as Demetrius - Robert LindsayRobert Lindsay (actor)Robert Lindsay is an English actor who is best known for his television work, especially his roles of Wolfie Smith in Citizen Smith, Michael Murray in G.B.H., Captain Sir Edward Pellew in Hornblower and Ben Harper in My Family which has been on television screens since 2000.-Early life:Lindsay was...
as LysanderLysander (Shakespeare)Lysander is one of the iconic lovers in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream. A handsome young man of Athens, Lysander is in love with Hermia and plans to run away from her father with her to escape Athenian law and wed. But his plans are disrupted when Oberon decides to have some... - Cherith Mellor as HelenaHelena (A Midsummer Night's Dream)Helena is one of the iconic four young lovers in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and is a very desperate woman. She is generally interpreted as being tall, slim and blonde - her best friend Hermia calls her a "painted maypole" during an argument. Although she does not see herself...
- Geoffrey PalmerGeoffrey Palmer (actor)Geoffrey Dyson Palmer, OBE is an English actor, best known for his roles in sitcoms such as Butterflies and As Time Goes By.-Career:...
as Peter QuincePeter QuinceIn William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Peter Quince is a carpenter who works in ancient Athens. He is one of the six craftsmen that put on a play for Theseus and Hippolyta at their wedding... - Brian GloverBrian GloverBrian Glover was an English character actor, writer and wrestler. Glover was a professional wrestler, teacher, and finally a film, television and stage actor. He once said, "You play to your strengths in this game. My strength is as a bald-headed, rough-looking Yorkshireman".-Early life:Glover was...
as Nick BottomNick BottomNick Bottom is a character in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream who provides comic relief throughout the play, and is famously known for getting his head transformed into that of an ass by the elusive Puck within the play.- Overview :... - John Fowler as Francis FluteFrancis FluteFrancis Flute is a character in the play A Midsummer Night's Dream. His occupation is a bellows-mender. He is forced to play the female role of Thisbe in "Pyramus and Thisbe", a play within the play which is performed for Theseus' marriage celebration....
- Don EstelleDon EstelleDon Estelle was a British actor and singer.Born Donald Edwards in Crumpsall, Manchester, he was brought up in a house on Russell Street, Crumpsall. During World War II, at the age of eight, he was evacuated to Darwen, Lancashire, twenty miles away from his home town, to escape the German bombing...
as Robin StarvelingRobin StarvelingRobin Starveling is a character in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream , one of the Rude Mechanicals who plays the part of Moonshine in their performance of Pyramus and Thisbe. His part is often considered one of the more humorous in the play, as he uses a lantern in a failed attempt... - Nat JackleyNat JackleyNat Jackley was an English comic actor starring in variety, film and pantomime from the late 1940s to the mid 1980s whose trademark rubber-neck dance, skeletal frame and peculiar speech impediment made him a formidable and funny pantomime dame.His later years were spent as a character actor in...
as Tom SnoutTom SnoutTom Snout is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. He is a tinker, and one of the "mechanicals", amateur players in Pyramus and Thisbe, a play within the play.... - Ray Mort as Snug
- Phil DanielsPhil DanielsPhilip W. "Phil" Daniels is an English actor, most noted for film and television roles as "cockneys" such as Jimmy in Quadrophenia, Richards in Scum, Stewart in The Class of Miss MacMichael, Mark in Meantime, Kevin Wicks in EastEnders, DCS Frank Patterson in New Tricks and Edward Kitchener "Ted"...
as PuckPuck (Shakespeare)Puck, also known as Robin Goodfellow, is a character in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream that was based on the ancient figure in English mythology, also called Puck. Puck is a clever and mischievous elf and personifies the trickster or the wise knave... - Helen MirrenHelen MirrenDame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
as Titania - Peter McEneryPeter McEneryPeter McEnery is an English stage and film actor. His daughter Kate, by his first marriage to British actress Julie Peasgood, is an actress....
as OberonOberonOberon is a legendary king of the fairies.Oberon may also refer to:-People:* Merle Oberon , British actress* Oberon Zell-Ravenheart , Neopagan activist-Media and entertainment:* Oberon... - Bruce Savage as Peaseblossom
- Massimo Mezzofanti as Cobweb
- Dominic Martelli as Moth
- Timothy Cross as Mustardseed
Behind-the-scenes
Elijah Moshinsky based the fairies in the play on the baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
eroticism
Eroticism
Eroticism is generally understood to refer to a state of sexual arousal or anticipation of such – an insistent sexual impulse, desire, or pattern of thoughts, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality and romantic love...
of Rembrandt and Peter Paul Rubens.
King LearKing LearKing Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
- Directed by Jonathan Miller
- Taping dates: 26 March-2 April 1982
- First transmitted in the UK: 19 September 1982
- First transmitted in the US: 18 October 1982
- John ShrapnelJohn ShrapnelJohn Shrapnel is an English actor.Shrapnel was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, the son of Mary Lillian Myfanwy and journalist/author Norman Shrapnel....
as Kent - Norman RodwayNorman Rodway-Early life:Rodway was born in Dublin to English parents, Frank and Lillian Rodway. He studied classics, graduating at Trinity College. He worked as an accountant, teacher, and university lecturer before acting.-Career:...
as Gloucester - Michael KitchenMichael KitchenMichael Kitchen is an English actor and television producer, best known for his starring role as DCS Foyle in the British TV series Foyle's War.-Early life:...
as EdmundEdmund (King Lear)Edmund or Edmond is a fictional character and the main antagonist in William Shakespeare's King Lear. He is the illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester, and the younger brother of Edgar, the Earl's legitimate son. Early on in the play, Edmund resolves to get rid of his brother, then his... - Michael HordernMichael HordernSir Michael Murray Hordern was an English actor, knighted in 1983 for his services to the theatre, which stretched back to before the Second World War.-Personal life:...
as King Lear - Gillian BargeGillian BargeGillian Barge was an English stage, television and film actress.She was born in Hastings, Sussex and she started acting at the age of 17, training at the Birmingham Theatre School....
as Goneril - Brenda BlethynBrenda BlethynBrenda Anne Blethyn, OBE is an English actress who has worked in theatre, television and film. Blethyn has received two Academy Award nominations, two SAG Award nominations, two Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...
as Cordelia - Penelope WiltonPenelope WiltonPenelope Alice Wilton, OBE is an English actress.-Life and career:Penelope Alice Wilton was born in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire, to a former actress mother and a businessman father. She is a niece of actors Bill Travers and Linden Travers and a cousin of the actor Richard Morant...
as Regan - John BirdJohn Bird (actor)John Bird is an English satirist, actor and comedian.-Early life:Born in Bulwell, Nottingham, England, and educated at High Pavement Grammar School, Nottingham, Bird briefly joined the Socialist Party of Great Britain, while still at school...
as Albany - Julian CurryJulian CurryJulian Curry is a British actor best known for playing Claude Erskine-Browne in ITV's comedy-drama Rumpole of the Bailey....
as Cornwall - David WestonDavid Weston (actor)David Weston is an English actor, director and author. Since graduating from RADA in 1961 he has acted in numerous film, television and stage productions, including twenty-seven plays in Shakespeare's canon. With Michael Croft he was a founder member of the National Youth Theatre...
as Burgundy - Harry Waters as The King of France
- Anton LesserAnton LesserAnton Lesser is a British actor. He attended Moseley Grammar School and the University of Liverpool before going to RADA in 1977 where he was awarded the Bancroft Gold Medal as the most promising actor of his year....
as Edgar - John GrilloJohn GrilloJohn Grillo is a British actor and playwright who has appeared in many film and television productions....
as Oswald - Frank MiddlemassFrank MiddlemassFrancis George Middlemass was an English actor, who even in his early career played older roles. He is best remembered for his television roles as Rocky Hardcastle in As Time Goes By, Algy Herries in To Serve Them All My Days and Dr. Alex Ferrenby in Heartbeat...
as FoolShakespearian foolThe Shakespearean fool is a recurring and character type in the works of William Shakespeare.Shakespearean fools are usually clever peasants or commoners that use their wits to outdo people of higher social standing. In this sense, they are very similar to the real fools, clowns, and jesters of... - Ken StottKen StottKenneth Campbell "Ken" Stott is a Scottish actor, particularly known in the United Kingdom for his many roles in television.-Early life:...
as Curan - George HoweGeorge Howe (actor)George Winchester Howe was an English actor and comedian who appeared in numerous stage, film and television roles.-External links:*...
as Doctor
Behind-the-scenes
Jonathan Miller had previously directed an adaptation of King Lear in 1975 for the BBC series Play of the Month. Like the BBC Shakespeare version, Miller's previous production starred Michael Hordern as Lear and Frank Middlemass as the Fool. Originally, however Robert Shaw was cast as Lear but died in 1978 before production began.
CymbelineCymbelineCymbeline , also known as Cymbeline, King of Britain or The Tragedy of Cymbeline, is a play by William Shakespeare, based on legends concerning the early Celtic British King Cunobelinus. Although listed as a tragedy in the First Folio, modern critics often classify Cymbeline as a romance...
- Directed by Elijah Moshinsky
- Taping dates: 29 July-5 August 1982
- First transmitted in the US: 20 December 1982
- First transmitted in the UK: 10 July 1983
- Richard JohnsonRichard Johnson (actor)Richard Johnson is an English actor, writer and producer, who starred in several British films of the 1960s and has also had a distinguished stage career. He most recently appeared in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.-Life and career:...
as Cymbeline - Hugh Thomas as Cornelius
- Claire BloomClaire BloomClaire Bloom is an English film and stage actress.-Early life:Bloom was born in the North London suburb of Finchley, the daughter of Elizabeth and Edward Max Blume, who worked in sales...
as Queen - Helen MirrenHelen MirrenDame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
as ImogenImogen (Shakespeare)Imogen was the daughter of King Cymbeline, in Shakespeare's play, Cymbeline. She was described by William Hazlitt as "perhaps the most tender and the most artless" of all Shakespeare's women.-Name:... - Michael PenningtonMichael PenningtonMichael Vivian Fyfe Pennington is a British director and actor who, together with director Michael Bogdanov, founded the English Shakespeare Company...
as Posthumous - John KaneJohn Kane (writer)John Kane is an actor and writer.-Career:An associate actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company, he played Puck in Peter Brook's acclaimed production of A Midsummer Night's Dream alongside Ben Kingsley, Alan Howard and Frances de la Tour, before turning to comedy script writing...
as Pisanio - Paul JessonPaul JessonPaul Jesson is a British stage, television and film actor. He has played leading roles at the National Theatre and the RSC and won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role 1986 for his role in The Normal Heart at The Royal Court...
as Cloten - Robert LindsayRobert Lindsay (actor)Robert Lindsay is an English actor who is best known for his television work, especially his roles of Wolfie Smith in Citizen Smith, Michael Murray in G.B.H., Captain Sir Edward Pellew in Hornblower and Ben Harper in My Family which has been on television screens since 2000.-Early life:Lindsay was...
as Iachimo - Geoffrey LumsdenGeoffrey LumsdenGeoffrey Lumsden was a British character actor who had a lengthy career on television.By some way his best known role was Captain Square in Dad's Army, the pompous commander of the Eastgate platoon of the Home Guard who was a rival of Captain Mainwaring.He appeared in a few episodes, though...
as Philario - Patsy SmartPatsy SmartPatsy Smart was an English actress who is best remembered for her performance as Miss Roberts in the 1970s ITV television drama Upstairs, Downstairs....
as Helen - Graham CrowdenGraham CrowdenClement Graham Crowden was a Scottish actor. He was best known for his many appearances in television comedy dramas and films, often playing eccentric 'offbeat' scientist, teacher and doctor characters.-Early life:...
as Caius Lucius - Michael GoughMichael GoughMichael Gough was an English character actor who appeared in over 150 films. He is perhaps best known to international audiences for his roles in the Hammer Horror films from 1958, and for his recurring role as Alfred Pennyworth in all four movies of the Burton/Schumacher Batman franchise,...
as Belarius - Geoffrey BurridgeGeoffrey BurridgeGeoffrey Burridge was an English actor noted for his performances in theatre and television.On television, he appeared as Mark Proctor in early episodes of Emmerdale Farm and is also remembered for his guest appearance in Blake's 7 .His extensive theatre credits included many musicals, notably the...
as GuideriusGuideriusGuiderius is a legendary British king according Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae and related texts. He can probably be identified as deriving from the historical Togodumnus.... - David Creedon as ArviragusArvirargusArvirargus was a legendary, and possibly historical, British king of the 1st century AD. A shadowy historical Arviragus is known only from a cryptic reference in a satirical poem by Juvenal, in which a giant turbot presented to the Roman emperor Domitian is said to be an omen that "you will...
- Patricia HayesPatricia HayesPatricia Lawlor Hayes, OBE was an English comedy actress.Hayes was born in Streatham, London. As a child Hayes attended Sacred Heart School in Wandsworth....
as Soothsayer - Marius GoringMarius GoringMarius Goring CBE was an English stage and cinema actor. He is most often remembered for the four films he did with Powell & Pressburger, particularly as Conductor 71 in A Matter of Life and Death and as Julian Craster in The Red Shoes...
as Sicilius Leonatus - Michael HordernMichael HordernSir Michael Murray Hordern was an English actor, knighted in 1983 for his services to the theatre, which stretched back to before the Second World War.-Personal life:...
as JupiterJupiter (mythology)In ancient Roman religion and myth, Jupiter or Jove is the king of the gods, and the god of the sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon....
The Merry Wives of WindsorThe Merry Wives of WindsorThe Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy by William Shakespeare, first published in 1602, though believed to have been written prior to 1597. It features the fat knight Sir John Falstaff, and is Shakespeare's only play to deal exclusively with contemporary Elizabethan era English middle class life...
- Directed by David Hugh Jones
- Taping dates: 1–8 November 1982
- First transmitted in the UK: 28 December 1982
- First transmitted in the US: 31 January 1983
- Alan BennettAlan BennettAlan Bennett is a British playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. Born in Leeds, he attended Oxford University where he studied history and performed with The Oxford Revue. He stayed to teach and research mediaeval history at the university for several years...
as Justice Shallow - Richard O'CallaghanRichard O'CallaghanRichard O'Callaghan is an English film, stage and television character actor.Born on 7 March 1940, he is the son of actors Patricia Hayes and Valentine Brooke whose stage name was Valentine Rooke. As a boy actor he was known as Richard Brooke. He has led a versatile career in film, stage and...
as Slender - Tenniel EvansTenniel Evans-Family:Walter Tenniel Evans was born in Nairobi, Kenya. His middle name derived from the illustrator Sir John Tenniel, a distant relation. His daughter, Serena Evans, is an actress, and his son, Matthew, is a television director....
as Sir Hugh Evans - Bryan MarshallBryan MarshallBryan Marshall is an English actor, with a number of major credits in film and television to his name.Marshall was born in Clapham, London...
as George Page - Richard GriffithsRichard GriffithsRichard Griffiths, OBE is an English actor of stage, film and television. He has received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actor and a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor...
as Sir John FalstaffFalstaffSir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare. In the two Henry IV plays, he is a companion to Prince Hal, the future King Henry V. A fat, vain, boastful, and cowardly knight, Falstaff leads the apparently wayward Prince Hal into trouble, and is... - Gordon GostelowGordon GostelowGordon Gostelow was a New Zealand actor. He was educated in Australia at North Sydney Boys High School and Sydney University where he graduated in Economics....
as Bardolph - Nigel TerryNigel TerryNigel Terry is an English stage and film actor probably best known by film audiences for his portrayal of King Arthur in John Boorman's Excalibur . However, he has had a long career in classical theatre....
as Pistol - Michael RobbinsMichael RobbinsMichael Anthony Robbins was a British actor known for his television work...
as Nym - Miranda Foster as Anne Page
- Judy DavisJudy DavisJudy Davis is an Australian actress best known for her roles in Husbands and Wives, Barton Fink, A Passage to India and in the TV miniseries Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows....
as Mistress Ford - Prunella ScalesPrunella ScalesPrunella Scales CBE is an English actress, known for her role as Basil Fawlty's long-suffering wife in the British comedy Fawlty Towers and her award-nominated role as Queen Elizabeth II in the British film A Question of Attribution.-Career:Throughout her long career, Scales has usually been cast...
as Mistress Page - Ron CookRon CookRon Cook is an English actor who has been active in the theatre, film and television since the 1970s. He is from South Shields, Co Durham, England and is a graduate of Rose Bruford College.- Stage appearances :...
as Peter Simple - Michael Graham CoxMichael Graham CoxMichael Graham Cox was an English actor who voiced Boromir in the 1978 movie The Lord of the Rings, as well as voicing Boromir in the 1981 BBC radio series The Lord of the Rings. He also voiced Bigwig in the feature film Watership Down.Michael had a minor role in Richard Attenborough's A Bridge...
as Host - Lee WhitlockLee WhitlockLee Whitlock is a British television and film actor.At age 12 he gave his debut in the British television series The Gentle Touch in 1980. In 1982 he appeared as Stanley Moon, the son of Harvey Moon, in the series Shine on Harvey Moon and as Falstaff's page Robin in The Merry Wives of Windsor. In...
as Robin - Elizabeth SpriggsElizabeth Spriggs-Early life and career:Born in Buxton, Derbyshire as Elizabeth Jean Williams, Spriggs had an unhappy childhood and grew up entirely without affection, particularly from her distant, domineering father, a master builder and farmer. She studied at the Royal College of Music and taught speech and...
as Mistress Quickly - John Joyce as John Rugby
- Michael BryantMichael Bryant (actor)Michael Dennis Bryant was a British stage and television actor.-Biography:Bryant attended Battersea Grammar School and after service in the Merchant Navy and Army, he attended drama school and appeared in many productions on the London stage. He made his film debut in 1955...
as Doctor Caius - Simon ChandlerSimon ChandlerSimon Chandler is an English television actor; his career began in 1976, and more recently he usually plays senior establishment characters such as Members of Parliament or senior civil servants. He has appeared in lead roles in Judge John Deed and other dramas, as well as appearing in theatre...
as Fenton - Ben KingsleyBen KingsleySir Ben Kingsley, CBE is a British actor. He has won an Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards in his career. He is known for starring as Mohandas Gandhi in the film Gandhi in 1982, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...
as Frank Ford - Ralph BrownRalph BrownRalph William John Brown is an English actor and writer, known for playing Danny the drug dealer in Withnail and I, the security guard Aaron in Alien 3, DJ Bob Silver in The Boat That Rocked, and the pilot Ric Olié in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace...
as John - Peter Gordon as Robert
- Crispin Mair as William Page
Behind-the-scenes
Director David Jones originally wanted to shoot the episode in Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, south east of Birmingham and south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term "on" to indicate that it covers...
but was restricted to a studio setting. Jones got around this by basing his set on the house which belonged to Shakespeare's son-in-law, John Hall
John Hall (physician)
John Hall was a physician and son-in-law of William Shakespeare.-Life:He was born at Carlton, Bedfordshire and studied at Queens' College, Cambridge from 1589, receiving a B.A. in 1593 and a M.A. in 1597...
.
The First Part of Henry the SixtHenry VI, part 1Henry VI, Part 1 or The First Part of Henry the Sixt is a history play by William Shakespeare, and possibly Thomas Nashe, believed to have been written in 1591, and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England...
- Directed by Jane Howell
- Taping dates: 13–19 October 1981
- First transmitted in the UK: 2 January 1983
- First transmitted in the US: 27 March 1983
- Peter BensonPeter Benson (actor)Peter Benson is a British actor probably best known as Bernie Scripps in the popular ITV1 TV-series Heartbeat, a drama about the police in Aidensfield in the 1960s. Benson has played Bernie Scripps in the series since 1995. In the TV-series 'Bernie' Scripps is running Aidensfield Garage, and the...
as Henry VIHenry VI of EnglandHenry VI was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. Until 1437, his realm was governed by regents. Contemporaneous accounts described him as peaceful and pious, not suited for the violent dynastic civil wars, known as the Wars... - Brenda BlethynBrenda BlethynBrenda Anne Blethyn, OBE is an English actress who has worked in theatre, television and film. Blethyn has received two Academy Award nominations, two SAG Award nominations, two Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...
as Joan la PucelleJoan of ArcSaint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the... - Antony Brown as the Duke of Burgundy
- David Burke as the Duke of Gloucester
- Michael ByrneMichael Byrne (actor)Michael Byrne is an English actor noted for his roles on film and television. He has often been cast in Nazi military roles such as Colonel Vogel in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Obergruppenführer Odilo Globocnik in the BBC radio dramatisation of the novel Fatherland by Robert Harris...
as the Duke of Alençon - Paul ChapmanPaul Chapman (actor)Paul Chapman is a British actor who made his acting debut back in 1964 in the TV series Curtain of Fear. He was born in Hampstead, London in 1939 and is the brother of British play-write John Chapman and nephew of actor Edward Chapman Paul Chapman is a British actor who made his acting debut back...
as the Earl of SuffolkWilliam de la Pole, 1st Duke of SuffolkWilliam de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, KG , nicknamed Jack Napes , was an important English soldier and commander in the Hundred Years' War, and later Lord Chamberlain of England.He also appears prominently in William Shakespeare's Henry VI, part 1 and Henry VI, part 2 and other... - Arthur CoxArthur CoxArthur Cox , is a British actor of television and film.His most regular role was as George, the driver of Jim Hacker in the comedy Yes Minister. His other television credits include The Avengers, Terry and June, and Harbour Lights...
as Sir John FastolfeJohn FastolfSir John Fastolf KG was an English knight during the Hundred Years War, who has enjoyed a more lasting reputation as in some part being the prototype of Shakespeare's Sir John Falstaff...
/Mayor of London - David DakerDavid DakerDavid Daker is an English actor.His is best known for his role as Harry Crawford in the hit series Boon. He also played PC Owen Culshaw in Z-Cars, Jarvis in Porridge, Captain Nathan Spiker in Dick Turpin....
as Reigner, Duke of Anjou/Vernon - Brian DeaconBrian DeaconBrian Deacon is a British actor. Born in Oxford, he trained at the Oxford Youth Theatre. He appeared with his brother Eric Deacon in the Peter Greenaway film, A Zed & Two Noughts , as Heumac in The Feathered Serpent and as Frank Miles in the TV series Lillie in 1978.He has been married twice:...
as the Earl of SomersetEdmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of SomersetEdmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, KG , sometimes styled 1st Duke of Somerset, was an English nobleman and an important figure in the Wars of the Roses and in the Hundred Years' War... - Tenniel EvansTenniel Evans-Family:Walter Tenniel Evans was born in Nairobi, Kenya. His middle name derived from the illustrator Sir John Tenniel, a distant relation. His daughter, Serena Evans, is an actress, and his son, Matthew, is a television director....
as the Duke of BedfordJohn of Lancaster, 1st Duke of BedfordJohn of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, KG , also known as John Plantagenet, was the third surviving son of King Henry IV of England by Mary de Bohun, and acted as Regent of France for his nephew, King Henry VI....
/Mortimer, Earl of March - Derek FarrDerek FarrDerrick Capel Farr was a British actor who appeared regularly in British films and television from 1938 until his death in 1986....
as the Earl of SalisburyThomas Montacute, 4th Earl of SalisburyThomas Montacute, 4th Earl of Salisbury, 6th and 3rd Baron Montacute, 5th Baron Monthermer, and Count of Perche, KG was an English nobleman...
/Sir William Lucy - Julia FosterJulia FosterJulia Foster is a British actress.Foster's credits include the films The Bargee with Harry H. Corbett, Alfie with Michael Caine, Half a Sixpence with Tommy Steele, and Percy with Hywel Bennett...
as MargaretMargaret of AnjouMargaret of Anjou was the wife of King Henry VI of England. As such, she was Queen consort of England from 1445 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471; and Queen consort of France from 1445 to 1453... - Derek Fuke as Talbot's Captain/Gloucester's Servant
- Alex Guard as Young TalbotJohn Talbot, 1st Viscount LisleJohn Talbot, 1st Baron Lisle and 1st Viscount Lisle , English nobleman and medieval soldier, was the son of John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, and his second wife Margaret Beauchamp.-Titles:...
- Bernard HillBernard HillBernard Hill is a British actor of film, stage and television. In a career spanning thirty years, he is best known for playing Yosser Hughes, the troubled 'hard man' whose life is falling apart in Alan Bleasdale's groundbreaking 1980s TV drama, Boys from the Blackstuff...
as the Duke of York/Master Gunner - Joanna McCallumJoanna McCallumJoanna McCallum is a British theatre, film and television actress. She is the daughter of British actress Googie Withers and Australian actor John McCallum...
as the Countess d'Auvergne - Frank MiddlemassFrank MiddlemassFrancis George Middlemass was an English actor, who even in his early career played older roles. He is best remembered for his television roles as Rocky Hardcastle in As Time Goes By, Algy Herries in To Serve Them All My Days and Dr. Alex Ferrenby in Heartbeat...
as Cardinal Beaufort - Joseph O'ConorJoseph O'ConorJoseph O'Conor was an Anglo-Irish actor and playwright.- Early years :O'Conor was born in Dublin on 14 February 1916, the son of Frances and Daniel O'Conor. His family moved to London, where he attended the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, the University of London and RADA...
as the Duke of ExeterThomas Beaufort, Duke of ExeterThomas Beaufort, 1st Duke of Exeter, KG was an English military commander during the Hundred Years' War, and briefly Chancellor of England. He was the third of four children; the son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and his mistress Katherine Swynford...
/Shepherd - Trevor PeacockTrevor PeacockTrevor Peacock is an English stage and television character actor. He was born in Tottenham, London, the son of Alexandria and Victor Edward Peacock.-Television and Film Career:...
as Lord TalbotJohn Talbot, 1st Earl of ShrewsburyJohn Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury and 1st Earl of Waterford KG , known as "Old Talbot" was an important English military commander during the Hundred Years' War, as well as the only Lancastrian Constable of France.-Origins:He was descended from Richard Talbot, a tenant in 1086 of Walter Giffard... - Brian ProtheroeBrian ProtheroeBrian Protheroe , of a Welsh father and English mother, is a musician and actor.-Career:Protheroe joined a local church choir when he was twelve years old, and started piano lessons at about the same time. The music of Cliff Richard and The Shadows inspired him to start learning the guitar...
as the Bastard of OrléansJean de DunoisJohn of Orléans, Count of Dunois was the illegitimate son of Louis d'Orléans by Mariette d'Enghien.The term "Bastard of Orléans" John of Orléans, Count of Dunois (French born "Jean Levieux Valois des Orléans" better known as Jean d'Orléans, comte de Dunois, also known as John of Orléans and... - David Pugh as Watchman of Rouen
- Ian Saynor as the Dauphin CharlesCharles VII of FranceCharles VII , called the Victorious or the Well-Served , was King of France from 1422 to his death, though he was initially opposed by Henry VI of England, whose Regent, the Duke of Bedford, ruled much of France including the capital, Paris...
- Mark Wing-DaveyMark Wing-DaveyMark Wing-Davey is a British actor and director.-Early life and career:The son of actor and actress Peter Davey and Anna Wing, Wing-Davey went to school at Woolverstone Hall School, before studying at Cambridge University where he was a member of the Footlights from 1967 to 1970.He had a featured...
as the Earl of WarwickRichard Neville, 16th Earl of WarwickRichard Neville KG, jure uxoris 16th Earl of Warwick and suo jure 6th Earl of Salisbury and 8th and 5th Baron Montacute , known as Warwick the Kingmaker, was an English nobleman, administrator, and military commander... - Peter Wyatt as Woodville
The Second Part of Henry the SixtHenry VI, part 2Henry VI, Part 2 or The Second Part of Henry the Sixt is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1591, and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England...
- Directed by Jane Howell
- Taping dates: 17–23 December 1981
- First transmitted in the UK: 9 January 1983
- First transmitted in the US: 10 April 1983
- Peter BensonPeter Benson (actor)Peter Benson is a British actor probably best known as Bernie Scripps in the popular ITV1 TV-series Heartbeat, a drama about the police in Aidensfield in the 1960s. Benson has played Bernie Scripps in the series since 1995. In the TV-series 'Bernie' Scripps is running Aidensfield Garage, and the...
as Henry VIHenry VI of EnglandHenry VI was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. Until 1437, his realm was governed by regents. Contemporaneous accounts described him as peaceful and pious, not suited for the violent dynastic civil wars, known as the Wars... - Antony Brown as Walter Whitmore/Alexander Iden
- David Burke as the Duke of Gloucester/Dick the Butcher
- Michael ByrneMichael Byrne (actor)Michael Byrne is an English actor noted for his roles on film and television. He has often been cast in Nazi military roles such as Colonel Vogel in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Obergruppenführer Odilo Globocnik in the BBC radio dramatisation of the novel Fatherland by Robert Harris...
as John Hume - Anne Carroll as the Duchess of Gloucester
- Paul ChapmanPaul Chapman (actor)Paul Chapman is a British actor who made his acting debut back in 1964 in the TV series Curtain of Fear. He was born in Hampstead, London in 1939 and is the brother of British play-write John Chapman and nephew of actor Edward Chapman Paul Chapman is a British actor who made his acting debut back...
as the Duke of SuffolkWilliam de la Pole, 1st Duke of SuffolkWilliam de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, KG , nicknamed Jack Napes , was an important English soldier and commander in the Hundred Years' War, and later Lord Chamberlain of England.He also appears prominently in William Shakespeare's Henry VI, part 1 and Henry VI, part 2 and other... - Ron CookRon CookRon Cook is an English actor who has been active in the theatre, film and television since the 1970s. He is from South Shields, Co Durham, England and is a graduate of Rose Bruford College.- Stage appearances :...
as Richard PlantaganetRichard III of EnglandRichard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty... - Arthur CoxArthur CoxArthur Cox , is a British actor of television and film.His most regular role was as George, the driver of Jim Hacker in the comedy Yes Minister. His other television credits include The Avengers, Terry and June, and Harbour Lights...
as Thomas Horner/Lord Clifford - David DakerDavid DakerDavid Daker is an English actor.His is best known for his role as Harry Crawford in the hit series Boon. He also played PC Owen Culshaw in Z-Cars, Jarvis in Porridge, Captain Nathan Spiker in Dick Turpin....
as the Duke of BuckinghamHumphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of BuckinghamHumphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham KG , an English nobleman, great grandson of King Edward III on his mother's side, was best known as a military commander in the Hundred Years' War and in the Wars of the Roses.... - Brian DeaconBrian DeaconBrian Deacon is a British actor. Born in Oxford, he trained at the Oxford Youth Theatre. He appeared with his brother Eric Deacon in the Peter Greenaway film, A Zed & Two Noughts , as Heumac in The Feathered Serpent and as Frank Miles in the TV series Lillie in 1978.He has been married twice:...
as the Duke of SomersetEdmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of SomersetEdmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, KG , sometimes styled 1st Duke of Somerset, was an English nobleman and an important figure in the Wars of the Roses and in the Hundred Years' War...
/Smith the Weaver - Tenniel EvansTenniel Evans-Family:Walter Tenniel Evans was born in Nairobi, Kenya. His middle name derived from the illustrator Sir John Tenniel, a distant relation. His daughter, Serena Evans, is an actress, and his son, Matthew, is a television director....
as the Earl of SalisburyRichard Neville, 5th Earl of SalisburyRichard Neville, jure uxoris 5th Earl of Salisbury and 7th and 4th Baron Montacute, KG, PC was a Yorkist leader during the early parts of the Wars of the Roses.-Background:...
/Clerk of Chartham - Derek FarrDerek FarrDerrick Capel Farr was a British actor who appeared regularly in British films and television from 1938 until his death in 1986....
as Lord SayeJames Fiennes, 1st Baron Saye and SeleJames Fiennes, 1st Baron Saye and Sele was an English soldier and politician, son of Sir William Fiennes and wife Elizabeth Batisford .... - Julia FosterJulia FosterJulia Foster is a British actress.Foster's credits include the films The Bargee with Harry H. Corbett, Alfie with Michael Caine, Half a Sixpence with Tommy Steele, and Percy with Hywel Bennett...
as Queen MargaretMargaret of AnjouMargaret of Anjou was the wife of King Henry VI of England. As such, she was Queen consort of England from 1445 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471; and Queen consort of France from 1445 to 1453... - Derek Fuke as Simpcox/George Bevis
- Alex Guard as Michael
- Bernard HillBernard HillBernard Hill is a British actor of film, stage and television. In a career spanning thirty years, he is best known for playing Yosser Hughes, the troubled 'hard man' whose life is falling apart in Alan Bleasdale's groundbreaking 1980s TV drama, Boys from the Blackstuff...
as the Duke of York - Paul JessonPaul JessonPaul Jesson is a British stage, television and film actor. He has played leading roles at the National Theatre and the RSC and won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role 1986 for his role in The Normal Heart at The Royal Court...
as John Holland/George PlantagenetGeorge Plantagenet, 1st Duke of ClarenceGeorge Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, 1st Earl of Salisbury, 1st Earl of Warwick, KG was the third son of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville, and the brother of kings Edward IV and Richard III. He played an important role in the dynastic struggle known as the Wars of the... - Pat KeenPat KeenPat Keen is a retired British actress whose career on stage, television and film ran from the 1950s to the 2000s.She is best known for playing strident, bossy middle-aged women in British comedy throughout the 1970s and 1980s, such as the character 'Virginia' in the Fawlty Towers episode "The...
as Margery Jourdayne - Gabrielle Lloyd as Simpox's Wife
- Oengus MacNamara as Young CliffordJohn Clifford, 9th Baron de CliffordJohn Clifford, 9th Baron de Clifford, also 9th Lord of Skipton was a Lancastrian military leader during the Wars of the Roses...
- Frank MiddlemassFrank MiddlemassFrancis George Middlemass was an English actor, who even in his early career played older roles. He is best remembered for his television roles as Rocky Hardcastle in As Time Goes By, Algy Herries in To Serve Them All My Days and Dr. Alex Ferrenby in Heartbeat...
as Cardinal Beaufort - Trevor PeacockTrevor PeacockTrevor Peacock is an English stage and television character actor. He was born in Tottenham, London, the son of Alexandria and Victor Edward Peacock.-Television and Film Career:...
as Sheriff/Jack CadeJack CadeJack Cade was the leader of a popular revolt in the 1450 Kent rebellion during the reign of King Henry VI in England. He died on the 12th July 1450 near Lewes. In response to grievances, Cade led an army of as many as 5,000 against London, causing the King to flee to Warwickshire. After taking and... - Brian ProtheroeBrian ProtheroeBrian Protheroe , of a Welsh father and English mother, is a musician and actor.-Career:Protheroe joined a local church choir when he was twelve years old, and started piano lessons at about the same time. The music of Cliff Richard and The Shadows inspired him to start learning the guitar...
as Edward PlantagenetEdward IV of EnglandEdward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 until 3 October 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until his death. He was the first Yorkist King of England... - David Pugh as Peter Thump
- Mark Wing-DaveyMark Wing-DaveyMark Wing-Davey is a British actor and director.-Early life and career:The son of actor and actress Peter Davey and Anna Wing, Wing-Davey went to school at Woolverstone Hall School, before studying at Cambridge University where he was a member of the Footlights from 1967 to 1970.He had a featured...
as the Earl of WarwickRichard Neville, 16th Earl of WarwickRichard Neville KG, jure uxoris 16th Earl of Warwick and suo jure 6th Earl of Salisbury and 8th and 5th Baron Montacute , known as Warwick the Kingmaker, was an English nobleman, administrator, and military commander... - Peter Wyatt as Sir Humphrey Stafford
Behind-the-scenes
This episode was filmed on the same set as The First Part of Henry the Sixt. However, designer Oliver Bayldon altered the set so it would appear that the paint work was flaking and peeling, and the set falling into a state of disrepair, as England descended into an ever increasing state of chaos.
The Third Part of Henry the SixtHenry VI, part 3Henry VI, Part 3 or The Third Part of Henry the Sixt is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1591, and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England...
- Directed by Jane Howell
- Taping dates: 10–17 February 1982
- First transmitted in the UK: 16 January 1983
- First transmitted in the US: 24 April 1983
- John BenfieldJohn BenfieldJohn Benfield is a British actor, who has appeared in 75 TV episodes or films starting in 1981. He lives in Oxford with his wife, Lillian, and son, Fred.-Selected filmography:*Sharpe*The Worst Week of My Life*Cassandra's Dream...
as the Earl of NorthumberlandHenry Percy, 3rd Earl of NorthumberlandHenry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland was the son of Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland and Lady Eleanor Neville, daughter of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland and his second wife Joan Beaufort.-Family:...
/Huntsman - Peter BensonPeter Benson (actor)Peter Benson is a British actor probably best known as Bernie Scripps in the popular ITV1 TV-series Heartbeat, a drama about the police in Aidensfield in the 1960s. Benson has played Bernie Scripps in the series since 1995. In the TV-series 'Bernie' Scripps is running Aidensfield Garage, and the...
as Henry VIHenry VI of EnglandHenry VI was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. Until 1437, his realm was governed by regents. Contemporaneous accounts described him as peaceful and pious, not suited for the violent dynastic civil wars, known as the Wars... - Antony Brown as Lewis, King of FranceLouis XI of FranceLouis XI , called the Prudent , was the King of France from 1461 to 1483. He was the son of Charles VII of France and Mary of Anjou, a member of the House of Valois....
/Sir John Montgomery - Michael ByrneMichael Byrne (actor)Michael Byrne is an English actor noted for his roles on film and television. He has often been cast in Nazi military roles such as Colonel Vogel in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Obergruppenführer Odilo Globocnik in the BBC radio dramatisation of the novel Fatherland by Robert Harris...
as the Marquess of MontagueJohn Neville, 1st Marquess of MontaguJohn Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu KG was a Yorkist leader in the Wars of the Roses, best-known for eliminating Lancastrian resistance in the north of England during the early part of the reign of Edward IV of England....
/Father than Killed his Son - Paul ChapmanPaul Chapman (actor)Paul Chapman is a British actor who made his acting debut back in 1964 in the TV series Curtain of Fear. He was born in Hampstead, London in 1939 and is the brother of British play-write John Chapman and nephew of actor Edward Chapman Paul Chapman is a British actor who made his acting debut back...
as the Earl of RiversAnthony Woodville, 2nd Earl RiversAnthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers was an English nobleman, courtier, and writer.He was the eldest son of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers and Jacquetta of Luxembourg. Like his father, he was originally a Lancastrian, fighting on that side at the Battle of Towton, but later became a Yorkist... - Ron CookRon CookRon Cook is an English actor who has been active in the theatre, film and television since the 1970s. He is from South Shields, Co Durham, England and is a graduate of Rose Bruford College.- Stage appearances :...
as Richard, Duke of GloucesterRichard III of EnglandRichard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty... - Rowena CooperRowena CooperRowena Cooper is an actress who appeared in the last three series of Rumpole of the Bailey as the wife of Chambers Head Sam Ballard; and also appeared in other roles on television. She is married to actor Terrence Hardiman.-Notes:...
as Lady Elizabeth GreyElizabeth WoodvilleElizabeth Woodville was Queen consort of England as the spouse of King Edward IV from 1464 until his death in 1483. Elizabeth was a key figure in the series of dynastic civil wars known as the Wars of the Roses. Her first husband, Sir John Grey of Groby was killed at the Second Battle of St Albans... - Arthur CoxArthur CoxArthur Cox , is a British actor of television and film.His most regular role was as George, the driver of Jim Hacker in the comedy Yes Minister. His other television credits include The Avengers, Terry and June, and Harbour Lights...
as the Duke of SomersetHenry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of SomersetHenry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset was an important Lancastrian military commander during the English Wars of the Roses. He is sometimes numbered the 2nd Duke of Somerset, since the title was re-created for his father after his uncle died... - David DakerDavid DakerDavid Daker is an English actor.His is best known for his role as Harry Crawford in the hit series Boon. He also played PC Owen Culshaw in Z-Cars, Jarvis in Porridge, Captain Nathan Spiker in Dick Turpin....
as Lord HastingsWilliam Hastings, 1st Baron HastingsWilliam Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings KG was an English nobleman. A follower of the House of York, he became a close friend and the most important courtier of King Edward IV, whom he served as Lord Chamberlain... - Mathew David as the Earl of RutlandEdmund, Earl of RutlandEdmund, Earl of Rutland was the fifth child and second surviving son of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York and Cecily Neville...
- Brian DeaconBrian DeaconBrian Deacon is a British actor. Born in Oxford, he trained at the Oxford Youth Theatre. He appeared with his brother Eric Deacon in the Peter Greenaway film, A Zed & Two Noughts , as Heumac in The Feathered Serpent and as Frank Miles in the TV series Lillie in 1978.He has been married twice:...
as Earl of OxfordJohn de Vere, 13th Earl of OxfordJohn de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford , the second son of John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford, and Elizabeth Howard, was one of the principal Lancastrian commanders during the English Wars of the Roses... - Tenniel EvansTenniel Evans-Family:Walter Tenniel Evans was born in Nairobi, Kenya. His middle name derived from the illustrator Sir John Tenniel, a distant relation. His daughter, Serena Evans, is an actress, and his son, Matthew, is a television director....
as First Keeper/First Watchman - Derek FarrDerek FarrDerrick Capel Farr was a British actor who appeared regularly in British films and television from 1938 until his death in 1986....
as the Duke of ExeterHenry Holland, 3rd Duke of ExeterHenry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter was a Lancastrian leader during the English Wars of the Roses. He was the only son of John Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter and his first wife Lady Anne Stafford. His maternal grandparents were Edmund Stafford, 5th Earl of Stafford and Anne of Gloucester.He inherited...
/Mayor of York - Julia FosterJulia FosterJulia Foster is a British actress.Foster's credits include the films The Bargee with Harry H. Corbett, Alfie with Michael Caine, Half a Sixpence with Tommy Steele, and Percy with Hywel Bennett...
as Queen MargaretMargaret of AnjouMargaret of Anjou was the wife of King Henry VI of England. As such, she was Queen consort of England from 1445 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471; and Queen consort of France from 1445 to 1453... - Derek Fuke as the Earl of Westmoreland
- Tim Fuke as the Earl of RichmondHenry VII of EnglandHenry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
- Alex Guard as the Marquess of Dorset/Son that Killed his Father
- Bernard HillBernard HillBernard Hill is a British actor of film, stage and television. In a career spanning thirty years, he is best known for playing Yosser Hughes, the troubled 'hard man' whose life is falling apart in Alan Bleasdale's groundbreaking 1980s TV drama, Boys from the Blackstuff...
as the Duke of York - Paul JessonPaul JessonPaul Jesson is a British stage, television and film actor. He has played leading roles at the National Theatre and the RSC and won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role 1986 for his role in The Normal Heart at The Royal Court...
as George, Duke of ClarenceGeorge Plantagenet, 1st Duke of ClarenceGeorge Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, 1st Earl of Salisbury, 1st Earl of Warwick, KG was the third son of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville, and the brother of kings Edward IV and Richard III. He played an important role in the dynastic struggle known as the Wars of the... - Merelina Kendall as Lady Bona
- Oengus MacNamara as Young CliffordJohn Clifford, 9th Baron de CliffordJohn Clifford, 9th Baron de Clifford, also 9th Lord of Skipton was a Lancastrian military leader during the Wars of the Roses...
- Brian ProtheroeBrian ProtheroeBrian Protheroe , of a Welsh father and English mother, is a musician and actor.-Career:Protheroe joined a local church choir when he was twelve years old, and started piano lessons at about the same time. The music of Cliff Richard and The Shadows inspired him to start learning the guitar...
as Edward IVEdward IV of EnglandEdward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 until 3 October 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until his death. He was the first Yorkist King of England... - Nick RedingNick RedingNick Reding is a British actor. During a career of more than two decades, he is probably best known for playing PC Pete Ramsey in The Bill and DI Michael Conner in Silent Witness...
as Edward, Prince of Wales - Mark Wing-DaveyMark Wing-DaveyMark Wing-Davey is a British actor and director.-Early life and career:The son of actor and actress Peter Davey and Anna Wing, Wing-Davey went to school at Woolverstone Hall School, before studying at Cambridge University where he was a member of the Footlights from 1967 to 1970.He had a featured...
as the Earl of WarwickRichard Neville, 16th Earl of WarwickRichard Neville KG, jure uxoris 16th Earl of Warwick and suo jure 6th Earl of Salisbury and 8th and 5th Baron Montacute , known as Warwick the Kingmaker, was an English nobleman, administrator, and military commander... - Peter Wyatt as the Duke of NorfolkJohn de Mowbray, 3rd Duke of NorfolkSir John de Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk KG, Earl Marshal was an important player in the Wars of the Roses.He was the son of John Mowbray, 2nd Duke of Norfolk and Lady Katherine Neville...
Behind-the-scenes
This episode was filmed on the same set as The First Part of Henry the Sixt and The Second Part of Henry the Sixt. However, designer Oliver Bayldon altered the set so it would appear to be completely falling apart, as England descended into an even worse state of chaos.
The Tragedy of Richard IIIRichard III (play)Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...
- Directed by Jane Howell
- Taping dates: 31 March-6 April 1982
- First transmitted in the UK: 23 January 1983
- First transmitted in the US: 2 May 1983
- Peter BensonPeter Benson (actor)Peter Benson is a British actor probably best known as Bernie Scripps in the popular ITV1 TV-series Heartbeat, a drama about the police in Aidensfield in the 1960s. Benson has played Bernie Scripps in the series since 1995. In the TV-series 'Bernie' Scripps is running Aidensfield Garage, and the...
as the Ghost of Henry VIHenry VI of EnglandHenry VI was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. Until 1437, his realm was governed by regents. Contemporaneous accounts described him as peaceful and pious, not suited for the violent dynastic civil wars, known as the Wars... - Antony Brown as Sir Richard RatcliffeRichard RatcliffeSir Richard Ratcliffe was a close confidant of Richard III of England. He came from a gentry family in the Lake District, and became a companion of Richard when the latter was still Duke of Gloucester. He was one of Richard's trustees in the lordship of Richmond, and was named steward of Barnard...
- David Burke as Sir William CatesbyWilliam CatesbyWilliam Catesby, esq. was one of Richard III of England's principal councillors. He also served as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Speaker of the House of Commons during Richard's reign....
- Michael ByrneMichael Byrne (actor)Michael Byrne is an English actor noted for his roles on film and television. He has often been cast in Nazi military roles such as Colonel Vogel in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Obergruppenführer Odilo Globocnik in the BBC radio dramatisation of the novel Fatherland by Robert Harris...
as the Duke of BuckinghamHenry Stafford, 2nd Duke of BuckinghamHenry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, KG played a major role in Richard III of England's rise and fall. He is also one of the primary suspects in the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower... - Anne Carroll as Jane ShoreJane ShoreElizabeth "Jane" Shore was one of the many mistresses of King Edward IV of England, the first of the three whom he described respectively as "the merriest, the wiliest, and the holiest harlots" in his realm...
- Paul ChapmanPaul Chapman (actor)Paul Chapman is a British actor who made his acting debut back in 1964 in the TV series Curtain of Fear. He was born in Hampstead, London in 1939 and is the brother of British play-write John Chapman and nephew of actor Edward Chapman Paul Chapman is a British actor who made his acting debut back...
as Earl RiversAnthony Woodville, 2nd Earl RiversAnthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers was an English nobleman, courtier, and writer.He was the eldest son of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers and Jacquetta of Luxembourg. Like his father, he was originally a Lancastrian, fighting on that side at the Battle of Towton, but later became a Yorkist... - Ron CookRon CookRon Cook is an English actor who has been active in the theatre, film and television since the 1970s. He is from South Shields, Co Durham, England and is a graduate of Rose Bruford College.- Stage appearances :...
as Richard IIIRichard III of EnglandRichard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty... - Rowena CooperRowena CooperRowena Cooper is an actress who appeared in the last three series of Rumpole of the Bailey as the wife of Chambers Head Sam Ballard; and also appeared in other roles on television. She is married to actor Terrence Hardiman.-Notes:...
as Queen ElizabethElizabeth WoodvilleElizabeth Woodville was Queen consort of England as the spouse of King Edward IV from 1464 until his death in 1483. Elizabeth was a key figure in the series of dynastic civil wars known as the Wars of the Roses. Her first husband, Sir John Grey of Groby was killed at the Second Battle of St Albans... - Arthur CoxArthur CoxArthur Cox , is a British actor of television and film.His most regular role was as George, the driver of Jim Hacker in the comedy Yes Minister. His other television credits include The Avengers, Terry and June, and Harbour Lights...
as Lord GreyRichard GreySir Richard Grey was an English knight and the half-brother of King Edward V of England.Grey was the younger son of Sir John Grey of Groby and Elizabeth Woodville, later Queen Consort of King Edward IV...
/Lord Mayor of London - Annette CrosbieAnnette CrosbieAnnette Crosbie, OBE is a Scottish character actor.-Life and career:Crosbie was born in Gorebridge, Midlothian, Scotland, to Presbyterian parents who disapproved of her becoming an actor. Nevertheless, she joined the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School while still in her teens...
as the Duchess of York - David DakerDavid DakerDavid Daker is an English actor.His is best known for his role as Harry Crawford in the hit series Boon. He also played PC Owen Culshaw in Z-Cars, Jarvis in Porridge, Captain Nathan Spiker in Dick Turpin....
as Lord HastingsWilliam Hastings, 1st Baron HastingsWilliam Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings KG was an English nobleman. A follower of the House of York, he became a close friend and the most important courtier of King Edward IV, whom he served as Lord Chamberlain... - Brian DeaconBrian DeaconBrian Deacon is a British actor. Born in Oxford, he trained at the Oxford Youth Theatre. He appeared with his brother Eric Deacon in the Peter Greenaway film, A Zed & Two Noughts , as Heumac in The Feathered Serpent and as Frank Miles in the TV series Lillie in 1978.He has been married twice:...
as Henry, Earl of RichmondHenry VII of EnglandHenry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor.... - Jeremy DimmickJeremy DimmickJeremy Dimmick is a former child actor who is currently a tutor and lecturer at St Catherine's College, Oxford....
as Young Duke of YorkRichard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of YorkRichard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York, 1st Duke of Norfolk, 1st Earl of Norfolk, Earl Marshal was the sixth child and second son of King Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville. He was born in Shrewsbury.... - Tenniel EvansTenniel Evans-Family:Walter Tenniel Evans was born in Nairobi, Kenya. His middle name derived from the illustrator Sir John Tenniel, a distant relation. His daughter, Serena Evans, is an actress, and his son, Matthew, is a television director....
as Lord StanleyThomas Stanley, 1st Earl of DerbyThomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby, KG was titular King of Mann, an English nobleman and stepfather to King Henry VII of England...
/Archbishop of York - Derek FarrDerek FarrDerrick Capel Farr was a British actor who appeared regularly in British films and television from 1938 until his death in 1986....
as Sir Robert BrackenburyRobert BrackenburySir Robert Brackenbury was an English nobleman and courtier. He was a close associate of Richard III of England.-Early life:...
/Earl Surrey - Dorian Ford as Edward, Prince of WalesEdward V of EnglandEdward V was King of England from 9 April 1483 until his deposition two months later. His reign was dominated by the influence of his uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who succeeded him as Richard III...
- Julia FosterJulia FosterJulia Foster is a British actress.Foster's credits include the films The Bargee with Harry H. Corbett, Alfie with Michael Caine, Half a Sixpence with Tommy Steele, and Percy with Hywel Bennett...
as MargaretMargaret of AnjouMargaret of Anjou was the wife of King Henry VI of England. As such, she was Queen consort of England from 1445 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471; and Queen consort of France from 1445 to 1453... - Derek Fuke as Sir Thomas VaughanThomas Vaughan (soldier)Sir Thomas Vaughan was a Welsh medieval soldier and diplomat, an adherent of Jasper Tudor and King Henry VI of England. Despite this, he was a Yorkist by inclination, as were so many Welshmen of the time, and became ambassador to the courts of Burgundy and France on behalf of the Yorkist King...
/Second Murderer - Alex Guard as the Marquess of DorsetThomas Grey, 1st Marquess of DorsetThomas Grey, 7th Baron Ferrers of Groby, 1st Earl of Huntingdon and 1st Marquess of Dorset, KG , was an English nobleman, courtier and a man of mediocre abilities pushed into prominence by his mother Elizabeth Woodville's second marriage to the king, Edward IV.-Family:Thomas was born about 1455,...
- Bernard HillBernard HillBernard Hill is a British actor of film, stage and television. In a career spanning thirty years, he is best known for playing Yosser Hughes, the troubled 'hard man' whose life is falling apart in Alan Bleasdale's groundbreaking 1980s TV drama, Boys from the Blackstuff...
as First Murderer - Patsy KensitPatsy KensitPatricia Jude Francis "Patsy" Kensit is an English actress, singer, model and former child star, known for her television and film appearances. Her films include Lethal Weapon 2 and she has been married to rock stars Jim Kerr and Liam Gallagher, as well as herself fronting the band Eighth Wonder...
as Lady Margaret Plantagenet - Rusty Livingston as Richard's Page
- Oengus MacNamara as Lord LovellFrancis Lovell, 1st Viscount LovellFrancis Lovell, 9th Baron Lovell, 6th Baron Holand, later 1st Viscount Lovell was an English nobleman. He probably knew the later King Richard III of England from a young age, and was to become his lifelong friend and staunch ally....
- Brian ProtheroeBrian ProtheroeBrian Protheroe , of a Welsh father and English mother, is a musician and actor.-Career:Protheroe joined a local church choir when he was twelve years old, and started piano lessons at about the same time. The music of Cliff Richard and The Shadows inspired him to start learning the guitar...
as Edward IVEdward IV of EnglandEdward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 until 3 October 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until his death. He was the first Yorkist King of England... - Nick RedingNick RedingNick Reding is a British actor. During a career of more than two decades, he is probably best known for playing PC Pete Ramsey in The Bill and DI Michael Conner in Silent Witness...
as the Ghost of the Prince of Wales - Stephen Rooney as Edward PlantagenetEdward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of WarwickEdward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick was the son of George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence and a potential claimant to the English throne during the reigns of both Richard III and his successor, Henry VII...
- Zoë WanamakerZoe WanamakerZoë Wanamaker, CBE is an American-British actress. She has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company; in films, including the Harry Potter series; and in a number of television productions, including a long-time role as Susan Harper in the sitcom My Family.-Early life and family:Wanamaker was...
as Lady AnneAnne NevilleLady Anne Neville was Princess of Wales as the wife of Edward of Westminster and Queen of England as the consort of King Richard III. She held the latter title for less than two years, from 26 June 1483 until her death in March 1485... - Mark Wing-DaveyMark Wing-DaveyMark Wing-Davey is a British actor and director.-Early life and career:The son of actor and actress Peter Davey and Anna Wing, Wing-Davey went to school at Woolverstone Hall School, before studying at Cambridge University where he was a member of the Footlights from 1967 to 1970.He had a featured...
as Sir James TyrellJames TyrrellSir James Tyrell was an English knight, a trusted servant of King Richard III of England. He is known for 'confessing' to the murders of the Princes in the Tower under Richard's orders. However, his statement may have been taken under torture, so the confession might not be genuine... - Peter Wyatt as the Duke of NorfolkJohn Howard, 1st Duke of NorfolkJohn Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was an English nobleman, soldier, and the first Howard Duke of Norfolk...
Behind-the-scenes
This episode was filmed on the same set as the three Henry VI plays. However, designer Oliver Bayldon altered the set so it would appear to be a ruin, as England reached its lowest point of chaos. At 239 minutes, Howell's The Tragedy of Richard III was the longest episode in the entire series, and when the series was released on DVD in 2005, it was the only adaptation split over two disks.
MacbethMacbethThe Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
- Directed by Jack Gold
- Taping dates: 22–28 June 1982
- First transmitted in the US: 17 October 1983
- First transmitted in the UK: 5 November 1983
- Brenda BruceBrenda BruceBrenda Bruce was a British actress. She had a long and successful career in the theatre, radio, film, and television.-Early life:Brenda Bruce was born in Manchester...
as First WitchThree WitchesThe Three Witches or Weird Sisters are characters in William Shakespeare's play Macbeth . Their origin lies in Holinshed's Chronicles , a history of England, Scotland and Ireland... - Eileen WayEileen WayEileen Way was an English actress who appeared in many film and television roles in a career dating back to the 1930s....
as Second WitchThree WitchesThe Three Witches or Weird Sisters are characters in William Shakespeare's play Macbeth . Their origin lies in Holinshed's Chronicles , a history of England, Scotland and Ireland... - Anne Dyson as Third WitchThree WitchesThe Three Witches or Weird Sisters are characters in William Shakespeare's play Macbeth . Their origin lies in Holinshed's Chronicles , a history of England, Scotland and Ireland...
- Mark DignamMark DignamMark Dignam was a prolific English actor.Born in London, the son of salesman in the steel industry, Dignam grew up in Sheffield and was educated at the Jesuit College where he appeared in numerous Shakespearean plays....
as DuncanKing DuncanKing Duncan is a fictional character in Shakespeare's Macbeth. He is the father of two youthful sons , and the victim of a well-plotted regicide in a power grab by his trusted captain Macbeth... - James HazeldineJames HazeldineJames Hazeldine was a British film, stage and television actor. He was born in Salford, Lancashire.James started his career in repertory theatre, firstly in weekly rep, then at the Manchester Library theatre and on to the Royal Court Theatre in London's Sloane Square, where he appeared in the...
as MalcolmMalcolm III of ScotlandMáel Coluim mac Donnchada , was King of Scots... - John RoweJohn Rowe (actor)-TV:*BBC Television Shakespeare - Henry VIII *Juliet Bravo *When the Boat Comes In *Chambers *Agatha Christie's Poirot...
as Lennox - Gawn GraingerGawn GraingerGawn Grainger is a leading British stage and screen actor and husband of actress Zoë Wanamaker.-Early life:Some sources indicate he was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 12 October 1937. He is the son of Charles Neil Grainger and his wife Elizabeth...
as Ross - Nicol WilliamsonNicol WilliamsonNicol Williamson is a Scottish-born English actor who was described by English playwright John Osborne as "the greatest actor since Marlon Brando".-Early life:...
as MacbethMacbeth (character)Macbeth is the title character in William Shakespeare's Macbeth . The character is based on the historical king Macbeth of Scotland, and is derived largely from the account in Holinshed's Chronicles , a history of Britain. Macbeth is a Scottish noble and a valiant military man. He is portrayed... - Ian HoggIan Hogg (actor)Ian Hogg is a British actor.- Early life :He is the son of a doctor and was educated at Durham School, Durham University and the Central School of Speech and Drama...
as BanquoBanquoBanquo is a character in William Shakespeare's 1606 play Macbeth. In the play, he is at first an ally to Macbeth and they are together when they meet the Three Witches. After prophesying that Macbeth will become king, the witches tell Banquo that he will not be king himself, but that his... - David LyonDavid Lyon (actor)David Lyon is a British stage, television, and film actor.Since 1976, Lyon has performed regularly with the Royal Shakespeare Company. With them he has appeared in plays which include: Much Ado About Nothing, King John, Henry VI, The Winter's Tale, Troilus and Cressida, The Taming of the Shrew,...
as Angus - Jane LapotaireJane LapotaireJane Lapotaire is a British actress.She studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in the 1960s. Her role in the title role of Marie Curie first brought her to wide attention...
as Lady MacbethLady MacbethLady Macbeth may refer to:*Lady Macbeth, from William Shakespeare's play Macbeth**Queen Gruoch of Scotland, the real-life Queen on whom Shakespeare based the character... - Alistair Henderson as FleanceFleanceFleance is a figure in legendary Scottish history. He was depicted by sixteenth century historians as the son of Banquo and the ancestor of the kings of the House of Stuart. In reality both Banquo and Fleance are likely fictional. Fleance is best known as a character in William Shakespeare's play...
- Tony Doyle as Macduff
- Tom Bowles as DonalbainDonald III of ScotlandDomnall mac Donnchada , anglicised as Donald III, and nicknamed Domnall Bán, "Donald the Fair" , was King of Scots from 1093–1094 and 1094–1097...
- Eamon BolandEamon BolandEamon Denis Boland is an English actor.He has played Tony Walker in Casualty, Frank O'Connor in Coronation Street, Gerry Hollis in Kinsey, Jim Gray in The Chief, Phil Fox in Fox...
as Seyton - Jill BakerJill BakerJill Baker is a British actor. She was born Gillian Mary Baker in the UK.Baker made a brief appearance in Only Fools and Horses, in the episode "The Second Time Around", as Del Boy 's ex-fiance, Pauline Harris-Personal life:...
as Lady MacduffLady MacduffLady Macduff, a character in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, is the wife of Macduff, the Thane of Fife, and the mother of an unnamed son and other children. Her appearance in the play is brief: she and her son are introduced in Act IV Scene II, a climactic and tragic scene that ends with both her and her... - Crispin Mair as Young MacduffMacduff's SonMacduff's son is a character in William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth . His name and age are not established in the text, and, typical of Shakespeare's child characters, the boy is cute and clever...
- Matthew Long as Menteith
- Peter Porteous as Caithness
- William Abney as Old SiwardSiward, Earl of NorthumbriaSiward or Sigurd was an important earl of 11th-century northern England. The Old Norse nickname Digri and its Latin translation Grossus are given to him by near-contemporary texts...
- Nicholas Coppin as Young Siward
The Comedy of ErrorsThe Comedy of ErrorsThe Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's earliest plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. The Comedy of Errors is one of only two of Shakespeare's...
- Directed by James Cellan Jones
- Taping dates: 3–9 November 1983
- First transmitted in the UK: 24 December 1983
- First transmitted in the US: 20 February 1984
- Cyril CusackCyril CusackCyril James Cusack was an Irish actor, who appeared in more than 90 films.-Early life:Cusack was born in Durban, Natal, South Africa, the son of Alice Violet , an actress, and James Walter Cusack, a sergeant in the Natal mounted police. His parents separated when he was young and his mother took...
as Aegeon - Charles GrayCharles Gray (actor)Charles Gray was an English actor who was well-known for roles including the arch-villain Blofeld in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, Sherlock Holmes' brother Mycroft Holmes in the Granada television series, and as The Criminologist in the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show in...
as Solinus - Nicolas Chagrin as Master of the Mime
- Michael KitchenMichael KitchenMichael Kitchen is an English actor and television producer, best known for his starring role as DCS Foyle in the British TV series Foyle's War.-Early life:...
as Antipholus - Roger DaltreyRoger DaltreyRoger Harry Daltrey, CBE , is an English singer and actor, best known as the founder and lead singer of English rock band The Who. He has maintained a musical career as a solo artist and has also worked in the film industry, acting in a large number of films, theatre and television roles and also...
as Dromio - Suzanne BertishSuzanne BertishSuzanne C. Bertish is an English actress.A former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Bertish has appeared in many productions with them, including their marathon eight-and-a-half hour version of Charles Dickens's The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, in which she played three roles...
as Adriana - Joanne Pearce as Luciana
- Marsha Fitzalan as Luce
- Sam DastorSam DastorSam Dastor is an actor best known for his appearances in British television series.He is perhaps best remembered for playing Cassius Chaerea in the 1976 BBC adaptation of I, Claudius...
as Angelo - David KellyDavid Kelly (actor)David Kelly is an Irish actor, who has been in regular film and television work since the 1950s.-Acting career:Playing everything from Beckett to Shakespeare, he has appeared in Theatre, TV and film constantly since 1959...
as Balthazar - Geoffrey Rose as Pinch
- Ingrid PittIngrid PittIngrid Pitt was an actress best known for her work in horror films of the 1960s and 1970s.-Background:Pitt was born Ingoushka Petrov in Warsaw, Poland to a German father of Russian descent and a Polish Jewish mother. During World War II she and her family were imprisoned in a concentration camp...
as Courtesan - Wendy HillerWendy HillerDame Wendy Margaret Hiller DBE was an Academy Award-winning English film and stage actress, who enjoyed a varied acting career that spanned nearly sixty years. The writer Joel Hirschorn, in his 1984 compilation Rating the Movie Stars, described her as "a no-nonsense actress who literally took...
as the Abbess
The Two Gentlemen of VeronaThe Two Gentlemen of VeronaThe Two Gentlemen of Verona is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1590 or 1591. It is considered by some to be Shakespeare's first play, and is often seen as his first tentative steps in laying out some of the themes and tropes with which he would later deal in more...
- Directed by Don TaylorDon Taylor (director)Donald Victor Taylor was an English writer, director and producer, active across theatre, radio and television for over forty years...
- Taping dates: 25–31 July 1983
- First transmitted in the UK: 27 December 1983
- First transmitted in the US: 23 April 1984
- Frank BarrieFrank BarrieFrank Barrie is a British stage and television actor. He made his acting debut in 1959 in a production of Henry IV, Part 2 at the York Theatre Royal. He proved to be a successful Shakespearean actor throughout his career...
as Eglamour - Tessa Peake-JonesTessa Peake-JonesTessa Peake-Jones is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Raquel in the television comedy series Only Fools and Horses. She had a co-starring role in the 1999 TV series Births, Marriages, and Deaths...
as Julia - Hetta Charnley as Lucetta
- Tyler ButterworthTyler ButterworthTyler Butterworth is an English actor, who has appeared in Rumpole Of The Bailey, Bergerac, Last of the Summer Wine, The Bill, The Darling Buds of May, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates and Osborne in the ITV sitcom Fiddlers Three...
as Proteus - John Hudson as Valentine
- Nicholas Kaby as Speed
- Michael ByrneMichael Byrne (actor)Michael Byrne is an English actor noted for his roles on film and television. He has often been cast in Nazi military roles such as Colonel Vogel in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Obergruppenführer Odilo Globocnik in the BBC radio dramatisation of the novel Fatherland by Robert Harris...
as Antonio - John WoodnuttJohn WoodnuttJohn Woodnutt was a British actor.He was born in London, and at the age of 18 made his acting debut at the Oxford Playhouse....
as Panthino - Joanne Pearce as Sylvia
- Tony HaygarthTony HaygarthTony Haygarth is an English television, film and theatre actor.-Career:At the age of eighteen, Haygarth worked unsuccessfully as a lifeguard in Torquay, and also tried escapology, equally unsuccessfully...
as Launce - Bella as Crab
- David CollingsDavid CollingsDavid Collings is a British actor. He has played many different roles on various television programmes, including the leading dramatic role in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment in 1964....
as Thurio - Paul DanemanPaul DanemanPaul Daneman was an English film, television, theatre and voice actor.Paul Frederick Daneman was born in Islington, London. He attended the Haberdashers' Aske's School and Sir William Borlase's Grammar School in Marlow and studied stage design at Reading University where he joined the dramatic...
as Duke of Milan - Daniel FlynnDaniel Flynn (Actor)Daniel Flynn is an English actor born in 1961 in Evesham, Worcestershire but moved to Bromley, Kent as a baby. He is the son of actor Eric Flynn and the brother of actor Jerome Flynn...
as Servant - Charlotte Richardson as Cupid
- Jonathan Taylor as Cupid
- Bill Badley as Lutenist
- Tom Finucane as Lutenist
- Robin Jeffrey as Lutenist
- Adam Kurakin as First Outlaw
- John Baxter as Second Outlaw
- Andrew BurtAndrew BurtAndrew Burt is an English actor, who has appeared in many British TV drama series from the 1970s to the present day...
as Third Outlaw - Michael Graham CoxMichael Graham CoxMichael Graham Cox was an English actor who voiced Boromir in the 1978 movie The Lord of the Rings, as well as voicing Boromir in the 1981 BBC radio series The Lord of the Rings. He also voiced Bigwig in the feature film Watership Down.Michael had a minor role in Richard Attenborough's A Bridge...
as Host
Behind-the-scenes
The music in this episode was created by Anthony Rooley
Anthony Rooley
Anthony Rooley is a British lutenist. He founded in 1969 and directs the early music ensemble the Consort of Musicke, which continues to be one of the chief vehicles for his inspiration, among many other activities and interests...
, who wrote new arrangements of works from Shakespeare's own time, such as John Dowland
John Dowland
John Dowland was an English Renaissance composer, singer, and lutenist. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep" , "Come again", "Flow my tears", "I saw my Lady weepe" and "In darkness let me dwell", but his instrumental music has undergone a major revival, and has...
's piece 'Lachrimae
Flow my tears
Flow my Tears is a lute song by the accomplished lutenist and composer John Dowland.Originally composed as an instrumental under the name Lachrimae pavane in 1596, it is Dowland's most famous ayre, and became his signature song, literally as well as metaphorically: he would occasionally sign his...
'. Performed by The Consort of Musicke
The Consort of Musicke
The Consort of Musicke is a British early music group, founded in 1969 by lutenist Anthony Rooley, the ensemble's Artistic Director. Members of the group have included such well-known artists as sopranos Emma Kirkby and Evelyn Tubb, alto Mary Nichols, tenors Paul Agnew, Andrew King and Joseph...
, other musicians whose music was used include William Byrd
William Byrd
William Byrd was an English composer of the Renaissance. He wrote in many of the forms current in England at the time, including various types of sacred and secular polyphony, keyboard and consort music.-Provenance:Knowledge of Byrd's biography expanded in the late 20th century, thanks largely...
, Thomas Campion
Thomas Campion
Thomas Campion was an English composer, poet and physician. He wrote over a hundred lute songs; masques for dancing, and an authoritative technical treatise on music.-Life:...
, Anthony Holborne
Anthony Holborne
Anthony Holborne was a composer of English consort music during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.-Life:Holborne entered Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1562. He was admitted to the Inner Temple Court in 1565. Holborne married Elisabeth Marten on 14 June 1584. On the title page of both his books he...
, John Johnson
John Johnson (composer)
John Johnson was an English lutenist, composer of songs and lute music, attached to the court of Queen Elizabeth I. He was the father of the lutenist and composer Robert Johnson.-Discography:...
, Thomas Morley
Thomas Morley
Thomas Morley was an English composer, theorist, editor and organist of the Renaissance, and the foremost member of the English Madrigal School. He was the most famous composer of secular music in Elizabethan England and an organist at St Paul's Cathedral...
and Orazio Vecchi
Orazio Vecchi
Orazio Vecchi was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance. He is most famous for his madrigal comedies, particularly L'Amfiparnaso.- Life :...
. According to director Don Taylor, the use of the young actors dressed as cherub
Cherub
A cherub is a type of spiritual being mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and cited later on in the Christian biblical canons, usually associated with the presence of God...
s was to convey the idea that the characters lived in a 'Garden of Courtly Love', which was slightly divorced from every day reality.
The Tragedy of CoriolanusCoriolanusGaius Marcius Coriolanus was a Roman general who is said to have lived in the 5th century BC. He received his toponymic cognomen "Coriolanus" because of his exceptional valor in a Roman siege of the Volscian city of Corioli. He was then promoted to a general...
- Directed by Elijah Moshinsky
- Taping dates: 18–26 April 1983
- First transmitted in the US: 26 March 1984
- First transmitted in the UK: 21 April 1984
- Joss AcklandJoss AcklandSidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland CBE , known as Joss Ackland, is an English actor who has appeared in more than 130 films and numerous television roles.-Early life:...
as Menenius - Alan HowardAlan HowardAlan MacKenzie Howard, CBE, is an English actor known for his roles on stage, television and film.He was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1966 to 1983, and played leading roles at the Royal National Theatre between 1992 and 2000.-Personal life:Howard is the only son of the actor...
as Gaius Marcius Coriolanus - Patrick GodfreyPatrick GodfreyPatrick Godfrey is a British actor of film, television and stage.Godfrey was born in the United Kingdom, the son of Lois Mary Gladys and Frederick Godfrey, who was a reverend...
as Cominius - Peter Sands as Titus Lartius
- John Burgess as Sicinius
- Anthony Pedley as Junius Brutus
- Mike GwilymMike Gwilym-Early life:Born in Neath, Gwilym is the brother of actor Robert Gwilym, son of Arthur Aubrey Remington Gwilym and Renée Mathilde Eugénie Léonce Dupont. His parents were the proprietors of a women's clothing chain in Wales. Mike's Belgian maternal grandfather was the oil industrialist Edmond Jules...
as AufidiusAufidius LurcoMarcus Aufidius Lurco or known as Aufidius Lurco, was a Roman magistrate who lived in the 1st century BC. Lurco was a member of the gens Aufidia, a Roman family of Plebs status, who appeared in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire. They became a family of consular rank... - Valentine DyallValentine DyallValentine Dyall was an English character actor, the son of veteran actor Franklin Dyall. Dyall was especially popular as a voice actor, due to his very distinctive sepulchral voice, he was known for many years as "The Man in Black", narrator of the BBC Radio horror series Appointment With Fear.In...
as Adrian - Irene WorthIrene WorthIrene Worth, CBE was an American stage and screen actress who became one of the leading stars of the English and American theatre. -Early life:...
as Volumnia - Joanna McCallumJoanna McCallumJoanna McCallum is a British theatre, film and television actress. She is the daughter of British actress Googie Withers and Australian actor John McCallum...
as VirgiliaVirgiliaVirgilia is the wife of Coriolanus in William Shakespeare's play Coriolanus , in which same play Volumnia is his mother. With respect to the legendary figure Gaius Marcius Coriolanus, some accounts say that his wife's name was actually Volumnia, probably following the Roman historian Livy... - Heather Canning as Valeria
- Damien Franklin as Marcus
- Nicolas Amer as AedileAedileAedile was an office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enforce public order. There were two pairs of aediles. Two aediles were from the ranks of plebeians and the other...
- Teddy Kempner as Nicanor
Behind-the-scenes
Director Elijah Moshinsky modelled the relationship between Coriolanus and his mother after that between Rose Kennedy and her sons.
Pericles, Prince of TyrePericles, Prince of TyrePericles, Prince of Tyre is a Jacobean play written at least in part by William Shakespeare and included in modern editions of his collected works despite questions over its authorship, as it was not included in the First Folio...
- Directed by David Hugh Jones
- Taping dates: 21–28 June 1983
- First transmitted in the US: 11 June 1984
- First transmitted in the UK: 8 December 1984
- Edward PetherbridgeEdward PetherbridgeEdward Petherbridge is a British actor. Among his many roles, he portrayed Lord Peter Wimsey in several screen adaptations of Dorothy L...
as Gower - John WoodvineJohn WoodvineJohn Woodvine is an English stage and screen actor who has appeared in more than 70 theatre productions, as well as a similar number of television and film roles.-Early life:...
as King Antiochus - Edita BrychtaEdita BrychtaEdita Brychta is an Anglo – Czech actress. Her birth name was Edita Brychtová.-Background:Born in Prague, Brychtová's parents fled to the West as a result of the 1968 Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia following the Prague Spring...
as Antiochus' daughter - Mike GwilymMike Gwilym-Early life:Born in Neath, Gwilym is the brother of actor Robert Gwilym, son of Arthur Aubrey Remington Gwilym and Renée Mathilde Eugénie Léonce Dupont. His parents were the proprietors of a women's clothing chain in Wales. Mike's Belgian maternal grandfather was the oil industrialist Edmond Jules...
as PericlesPericlesPericles was a prominent and influential statesman, orator, and general of Athens during the city's Golden Age—specifically, the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars... - Robert Ashby as Thaliard
- Patrick GodfreyPatrick GodfreyPatrick Godfrey is a British actor of film, television and stage.Godfrey was born in the United Kingdom, the son of Lois Mary Gladys and Frederick Godfrey, who was a reverend...
as Helicanus - Toby Salaman as Escanes
- Norman RodwayNorman Rodway-Early life:Rodway was born in Dublin to English parents, Frank and Lillian Rodway. He studied classics, graduating at Trinity College. He worked as an accountant, teacher, and university lecturer before acting.-Career:...
as Cleon - Annette CrosbieAnnette CrosbieAnnette Crosbie, OBE is a Scottish character actor.-Life and career:Crosbie was born in Gorebridge, Midlothian, Scotland, to Presbyterian parents who disapproved of her becoming an actor. Nevertheless, she joined the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School while still in her teens...
as Dionyza - Christopher Saul as Lord of Tarsus
- Patrick AllenPatrick AllenJohn Keith Patrick Allen was a British film, television and voice actor.-Life and career:Allen was born in Nyasaland , where his father was a tobacco farmer. After his parents returned to Britain, he was evacuated to Canada during World War II where he remained to finish his education at McGill...
as King Simonides - Juliet StevensonJuliet StevensonJuliet Anne Virginia Stevenson, CBE is an English actor of stage and screen.- Early life :Stevenson was born in Kelvedon, Essex, England, the daughter of Virginia Ruth , a teacher, and Michael Guy Stevenson, an army officer. Stevenson's father was in the army and was posted to a new place every...
as Thaisa - Edward Clayton as Philemon
- Stephen Oxley as Lord of Pentapolis
- Valerie Lush as Lychorida
- Clive SwiftClive SwiftClive Walter Swift is an English character comedy actor and songwriter. He is best known for his role as character Richard Bucket in the British television series Keeping Up Appearances. He is less known for his role as character Roy in the British television series The Old Guys...
as Lord Cerimon - Nick BrimbleNick BrimbleNick Brimble , is an English actor known for his performance as Little John in the film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and his appearances on various television shows....
as Leonine - Amanda RedmanAmanda Redman-External links:* ArtistsTheatreSchool.com* The-Little.co.uk...
as Marina - Trevor PeacockTrevor PeacockTrevor Peacock is an English stage and television character actor. He was born in Tottenham, London, the son of Alexandria and Victor Edward Peacock.-Television and Film Career:...
as Boult - Lila KayeLila KayeLila Kaye is a retired British actress. She spent a number of years working in the United States, on Broadway and in television, before returning to the U.K....
as Bawd - Patrick RyecartPatrick RyecartPatrick Geoffrey Ryecart is an English actor.Ryecart was born in Leamington Spa. He has predominantly acted on British television shows since the mid-seventies including Lillie, Romeo and Juliet, The Professionals, Minder, Rumpole of the Bailey, Lovejoy, Coming Home, and Holby City...
as Lysimachus - Elayne Sharling as the Goddess DianaDiana (mythology)In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of the hunt and moon and birthing, being associated with wild animals and woodland, and having the power to talk to and control animals. She was equated with the Greek goddess Artemis, though she had an independent origin in Italy...
Much Ado About NothingMuch Ado About NothingMuch Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....
- Directed by Stuart BurgeStuart BurgeStuart Burge was an English film director, actor and producer.Educated at Felsted School, he originally trained as a civil engineer, but later began acting in theater in the 1940s, and became a director by 1948...
- Taping dates: 15–21 August 1984
- First transmitted in the US: 30 October 1984
- First transmitted in the UK: 22 December 1984
- Lee MontagueLee MontagueLee Montague is an English actor noted for his roles on film and television, usually playing tough guys.Film credits include: Moulin Rouge, The Camp on Blood Island, The Savage Innocents, Billy Budd, The Secret of Blood Island, Deadlier Than the Male, The Legacy and Brother Sun, Sister...
as Leonato - Cherie LunghiCherie LunghiCherie M. Lunghi is an English film, television and theatre actress. She is probably best known for her role as Guinevere in the 1981 film Excalibur, as football manageress Gabriella Benson in the 1990s television series The Manageress and for starring in a series of adverts for Kenco coffee. She...
as Beatrice - Katharine LevyKatharine LevyKatharine Levy is a British actress. During her childhood, she appeared in a number of 1970s TV shows, most notably in 1976 as Jane Masters in Gerry Anderson's The Day After Tomorrow and Sandra in Children of the Stones in 1977 and as a young Livilla in I Claudius. Her career as an adult reached...
as Hero - Jon FinchJon FinchJon Finch is an English actor noted for many Shakespearean roles. Perhaps his most notable role was the title role in Roman Polanski's 1971 film adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth. His other famous role was as a down-and-out ex-RAF pilot wrongly accused of murder in Alfred Hitchcock's...
as Don Pedro - Robert LindsayRobert Lindsay (actor)Robert Lindsay is an English actor who is best known for his television work, especially his roles of Wolfie Smith in Citizen Smith, Michael Murray in G.B.H., Captain Sir Edward Pellew in Hornblower and Ben Harper in My Family which has been on television screens since 2000.-Early life:Lindsay was...
as Benedick - Robert Reynolds as Claudio
- Gordon Whiting as Antonio
- Vernon DobtcheffVernon DobtcheffVernon Dobtcheff is a French and British actor.Dobtcheff was born in Nîmes, France, to a family of Russian descent. He attended Ascham Preparatory School in Eastbourne, Sussex, England, in the 1940s, where he won the Acting Cup...
as Don John - Robert GwilymRobert GwilymRobert Gwilym , sometimes known as Bob Gwilym, is a Welsh actor.Robert Gwilym is from Neath in south Wales, where his family owned a clothes shop...
as Conrade - Tony RohrTony RohrTony Rohr is a British/Irish actor who played Granddad in The Lakes, Solomon Featherstone in Middlemarch, he has also been in The Bill, The Long Good Friday, McVicar, Softly, Softly, Crown Court, Casualty, Lovejoy, I Hired a Contract Killer, Cracker, The Vet, Father Ted, Waking the Dead, and Hustle...
as Borachio - Pamela Moiseiwitsch as Margaret
- Ishia BennisonIshia BennisonIshia Bennison is a British actress, best known for her television appearances, although she is also a veteran stage actress. Bennison is originally from Hull in Yorkshire.- Career :...
as Ursula - Oz Clarke as Balthasar
- Michael ElphickMichael ElphickMichael John Elphick was an English actor. Elphick was known in the UK for his trademark croaky voice and his work on British television, in particular his roles as the eponymous private investigator in the ITV series Boon and later Harry Slater in BBC's EastEnders.Robust and ruggedly good-looking...
as DogberryDogberryDogberry is a self-satisfied night constable in Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing.In the play, Dogberry is the chief of the citizen-police in Messina. As is usual in Shakespearean comedy, and Renaissance comedy generally, he is a figure of comic incompetence... - Clive DunnClive DunnClive Robert Benjamin Dunn OBE is a retired English actor, comedian and author, best known for his role as Lance-Corporal Jack Jones in the BBC sitcom Dad's Army.-Early life:...
as Verges - Graham CrowdenGraham CrowdenClement Graham Crowden was a Scottish actor. He was best known for his many appearances in television comedy dramas and films, often playing eccentric 'offbeat' scientist, teacher and doctor characters.-Early life:...
as Friar Francis
Behind-the-scenes
A production of Much Ado About Nothing directed by Donald McWhinnie and starring Penelope Keith
Penelope Keith
Penelope Anne Constance Keith, CBE, DL is an English actress.Having started her television career in the 1950s, Penelope Keith became a household name in the United Kingdom in the 1970s when she played Margo Leadbetter in the sitcom The Good Life...
and Michael York
Michael York (actor)
Michael York, OBE is an English actor.-Early life:York was born in Fulmer, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the son of Florence Edith May , a musician; and Joseph Gwynne Johnson, a Llandovery born Welsh ex-Royal Artillery British Army officer and executive with Marks and Spencer department stores...
was the first production to be recorded in the series, but was thought unsatisfactory for US audiences, and never broadcast. During the reshoot for season seven, director Stuart Burge initially thought about shooting the entire episode against a blank tapestry background, with no set whatsoever, but it was felt that audiences may not respond well to this, and the idea was scrapped.
The Life and Death of King John
- Directed by David Giles
- Taping dates: 1–7 February 1984
- First transmitted in the UK: 24 November 1984
- First transmitted in the US: 11 January 1985
- Leonard RossiterLeonard RossiterLeonard Rossiter was an English actor known for his roles as Rupert Rigsby, in the British comedy television series Rising Damp , and Reginald Iolanthe Perrin, in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin...
as King John - William Whymper as Chatillon
- Mary MorrisMary MorrisMary Morris was a British actress.-Life and career:She was the daughter of Herbert Stanley Morris, the botanist, and his wife Sylvia Ena de Creft-Harford. She was educated at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.She made her stage debut in Lysistrata at the Gate Theatre, London, in 1935...
as Queen ElinorEleanor of AquitaineEleanor of Aquitaine was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages. As well as being Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, she was queen consort of France and of England... - Robert Brown as the Earl of PembrokeWilliam Marshal, 1st Earl of PembrokeSir William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke , also called William the Marshal , was an Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman. He was described as the "greatest knight that ever lived" by Stephen Langton...
- John CastleJohn CastleJohn Castle is an English actor. Castle has acted in theatre, film and television. He is well known for his role as Postumus in the 1976 BBC television adaptation of I, Claudius and for playing Geoffrey in the 1968 film, The Lion in Winter. He also played Dr...
as the Earl of EssexGeoffrey Fitz Peter, 1st Earl of EssexGeoffrey Fitz Peter, Earl of Essex was a prominent member of the government of England during the reigns of Richard I and John. The patronymic is sometimes rendered Fitz Piers, for he was the son of Piers de Lutegareshale, forester of Ludgershall.-Life:He was from a modest landowning family that... - John Flint as Lord Bigot
- John ThawJohn ThawJohn Edward Thaw, CBE was an English actor, who appeared in a range of television, stage and cinema roles, his most popular being police and legal dramas such as Redcap, The Sweeney, Inspector Morse and Kavanagh QC.-Early life:Thaw came from a working class background, having been born in Gorton,...
as Hubert de BurghHubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of KentHubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent was Earl of Kent, Justiciar of England and Ireland, and one of the most influential men in England during the reigns of John and Henry III.-Birth and family:... - George CostiganGeorge Costigan-Early life:Costigan was born in Portsmouth and grew up in Irlams o' th' Height and Weaste in Salford. He attended St. Augustine's C of E Primary School on Bolton Road in Pendlebury, then Wardley Grammar School on Mardale Avenue in Wardley near Swinton.-Career:...
as Philip the Bastard - Edward Hibbert as Robert Faulconbridge
- Phyllida LawPhyllida Law-Personal life:Law was born in Glasgow, the daughter of William and Megsie Law, who divorced after World War II. She was married to Eric Thompson from 1957 until his death in 1982. Their two children Emma and Sophie Thompson are both actresses...
as Lady Faulconbridge - Mike Lewin as James Gurney
- Charles KayCharles KayCharles Kay is an English actor.Kay was born in Coventry, West Midlands, the son of Frances and Charles Beckingham Piff....
as Philip, King of FrancePhilip II of FrancePhilip II Augustus was the King of France from 1180 until his death. A member of the House of Capet, Philip Augustus was born at Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise, the son of Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne... - Jonathan CoyJonathan CoyJonathan Coy is a British actor born in Hammersmith, London on 24 April 1953. He has worked since 1975 largely in television, notably as Henry in the long running legal series Rumpole and as Bracegirdle in the television series Hornblower, adapted from the books by C. S. Forester...
as Lewis the DauphinLouis VIII of FranceLouis VIII the Lion reigned as King of France from 1223 to 1226. He was a member of the House of Capet. Louis VIII was born in Paris, France, the son of Philip II Augustus and Isabelle of Hainaut. He was also Count of Artois, inheriting the county from his mother, from 1190–1226... - Luc Owen as Arthur, Duke of BritanyArthur I, Duke of BrittanyArthur I was Duke of Brittany between 1194 and 1202. He was the posthumous son of Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany and Constance, Duchess of Brittany...
- Gordon Kaye as Lymoges, Duke of Austria
- Claire BloomClaire BloomClaire Bloom is an English film and stage actress.-Early life:Bloom was born in the North London suburb of Finchley, the daughter of Elizabeth and Edward Max Blume, who worked in sales...
as ConstanceConstance, Duchess of BrittanyConstance of Penthièvre was hereditary Duchess of Brittany between 1171 and 1196... - John MorenoJohn MorenoJohn Moreno a.k.a. Juan Moreno is a British actor, probably best known for his role as Luigi Ferrara in the 1981 James Bond feature film For Your Eyes Only....
as Melun - Janet Maw as BlancheBlanche of CastileBlanche of Castile , was a Queen consort of France as the wife of Louis VIII. She acted as regent twice during the reign of her son, Louis IX....
- Richard WordsworthRichard WordsworthThe English character actor Richard Wordsworth was born on 19 January 1915 and died on 21 November 1993. He was the great-great-grandson of the poet William Wordsworth....
as Cardinal Pandulph - Alan Collins as Peter of Pomfret
- Rusty Livingstone as Prince HenryHenry III of EnglandHenry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
Love's Labour's LostLove's Labour's LostLove's Labour's Lost is one of William Shakespeare's early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s, and first published in 1598.-Title:...
- Directed by Elijah Moshinsky
- Taping dates: 30 June-6 July 1984
- First transmitted in the UK: 5 January 1985
- First transmitted in the US: 31 May 1985
- Jonathan KentJonathan Kent (director)Jonathan Kent is an English theatre director and opera director. He is best known as a director/producer partner of Ian McDiarmid at the Almeida Theatre from 1990 to 2002.-Early life:...
as the King of Navarre - Christopher BlakeChristopher BlakeChristopher Blake was an English actor and screenwriter who is best remembered for starring in the British sitcom That's My Boy alongside Mollie Sugden.- Early life:...
as Longaville - Geoffrey BurridgeGeoffrey BurridgeGeoffrey Burridge was an English actor noted for his performances in theatre and television.On television, he appeared as Mark Proctor in early episodes of Emmerdale Farm and is also remembered for his guest appearance in Blake's 7 .His extensive theatre credits included many musicals, notably the...
as Dumain - Mike GwilymMike Gwilym-Early life:Born in Neath, Gwilym is the brother of actor Robert Gwilym, son of Arthur Aubrey Remington Gwilym and Renée Mathilde Eugénie Léonce Dupont. His parents were the proprietors of a women's clothing chain in Wales. Mike's Belgian maternal grandfather was the oil industrialist Edmond Jules...
as Berowne - David WarnerDavid Warner (actor)David Warner is an English actor who is known for playing both romantic leads and sinister or villainous characters, both in film and animation...
as Don Armado - John KaneJohn Kane (writer)John Kane is an actor and writer.-Career:An associate actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company, he played Puck in Peter Brook's acclaimed production of A Midsummer Night's Dream alongside Ben Kingsley, Alan Howard and Frances de la Tour, before turning to comedy script writing...
as Moth - Paul JessonPaul JessonPaul Jesson is a British stage, television and film actor. He has played leading roles at the National Theatre and the RSC and won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role 1986 for his role in The Normal Heart at The Royal Court...
as Costard - Frank WilliamsFrank Williams (actor)Frank Williams is an English actor.Williams was educated at Ardingly College. He starred in The Army Game and as the Vicar in Dad's Army. In 1970, he starred in the short-lived sitcom As Good Cooks Go...
as Dull - Paddy Navin as Jaquenetta
- Clifford RoseClifford RoseClifford Rose is a British classical actor.He was born in Herefordshire. He was educated at the King's School, Worcester and King's College London, before appearing in rep and with the Royal Shakespeare Company....
as Boyet - Maureen LipmanMaureen LipmanMaureen Diane Lipman CBE is a British film, theatre and television actress, columnist and comedienne.-Early life:Lipman was born in Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, the daughter of Maurice Julius Lipman and Zelma Pearlman. Her father was a tailor; he used to have a shop between the...
as the Princess of France - Katy Behean as Maria
- Petra MarkhamPetra MarkhamPetra Markham is a British television and film actress. She is a daughter of actor David Markham and writer Olive Dehn...
as Katharine - Jenny AgutterJenny AgutterJennifer Ann "Jenny" Agutter is an English film and television actress. She began her career as a child actress in the mid 1960s, starring in the BBC television series The Railway Children and the film adaptation of the same book, before moving on to adult roles and relocating to Hollywood.She...
as Rosaline - Jay Ruparelia as Adrian
- John Burgess as Sir Nathaniel
- John WellsJohn Wells (satirist)John Wells was an English actor, writer and satirist, educated at Eastbourne College and St Edmund Hall, Oxford...
as Holofernes - Valentine DyallValentine DyallValentine Dyall was an English character actor, the son of veteran actor Franklin Dyall. Dyall was especially popular as a voice actor, due to his very distinctive sepulchral voice, he was known for many years as "The Man in Black", narrator of the BBC Radio horror series Appointment With Fear.In...
as Marcade - Linda Kitchen as Spring
- Susanna Ross as Winter
Behind-the-scenes
Director Elijah Moshinsky used the paintings of Jean-Antoine Watteau
Antoine Watteau
Jean-Antoine Watteau was a French painter whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement...
, the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
and the writing of Pierre de Marivaux
Pierre de Marivaux
Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux , commonly referred to as Marivaux, was a French novelist and dramatist....
as inspiration during the making of this episode, which is the only play of the thirty-seven to be set in the eighteenth century.
Titus AndronicusTitus AndronicusTitus Andronicus is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, and possibly George Peele, believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy, and is often seen as his attempt to emulate the violent and bloody revenge plays of his contemporaries, which were...
- Directed by Jane Howell
- Taping dates: 10–17 February 1985
- First transmitted in the US: 19 April 1985
- First transmitted in the UK: 27 April 1985
- Paul Davies Prowles as Young Lucius
- Edward HardwickeEdward HardwickeEdward Hardwicke , sometimes credited as Edward Hardwick, was an English actor.-Early life and career:...
as Marcus - Walter BrownWalter Brown (actor)Walter Brown is a New Zealand film and television actor. He was born Ian Walter Brown in Auckland, New Zealand on 9 February 1927.-Selected filmography:* The Frightened City * Mix Me a Person...
as Aemilius - Brian ProtheroeBrian ProtheroeBrian Protheroe , of a Welsh father and English mother, is a musician and actor.-Career:Protheroe joined a local church choir when he was twelve years old, and started piano lessons at about the same time. The music of Cliff Richard and The Shadows inspired him to start learning the guitar...
as Saturninus - Nicholas GecksNicholas GecksNicholas Gecks is an actor who appeared in Series Four of Rumpole of the Bailey as his modernising colleague Charles Hearthstoke.Gecks starred as Father Mike in the 1983 film Forever Young.-Notes:...
as Bassianus - Derek Fuke as Sempronius/3rd Goth
- Eileen AtkinsEileen AtkinsDame Eileen June Atkins, DBE is an English actress and occasional screenwriter.- Early life :Atkins was born in the Mothers' Hospital in Clapton, a Salvation Army women's hostel in East London...
as Tamora - Peter Searles as Alarbus/Valentine/4th Goth
- Neil McCaul as Demetrius
- Michael Crompton as Chiron
- Hugh QuarshieHugh Quarshie- Early and Personal Life :Quarshie is of mixed Ghanaian, English and Dutch ancestry and was born in Accra, Ghana, to Emma Wilhelmina and Richard Quarshie, and emigrated with his family to the United Kingdom when he was aged three...
as Aaron - Gavin RichardsGavin RichardsGavin Richards is a British actor, writer and director. His father is music critic Denby Richards, emeritus editor of Britain's oldest classical music magazine, Musical Opinion....
as Lucius - Crispin Redman as Quintus
- Tom Hunsinger as Martius
- Michael Packer as Mutius
- Trevor PeacockTrevor PeacockTrevor Peacock is an English stage and television character actor. He was born in Tottenham, London, the son of Alexandria and Victor Edward Peacock.-Television and Film Career:...
as Titus Andronicus - Anna Calder-MarshallAnna Calder-MarshallAnna Calder-Marshall is a British actress.Her husband is actor David Burke and her son is actor Tom Burke.-Filmography:-External links:...
as Lavinia - Paul KellyPaul Kelly (actor)Paul Michael Kelly was an American child actor who later as an adult became a stage, film, and television actor.-Child actor:...
as Publius/2nd Goth - John BenfieldJohn BenfieldJohn Benfield is a British actor, who has appeared in 75 TV episodes or films starting in 1981. He lives in Oxford with his wife, Lillian, and son, Fred.-Selected filmography:*Sharpe*The Worst Week of My Life*Cassandra's Dream...
as 1st Goth/Caius - Deddie DaviesDeddie DaviesDeddie Davies is a Welsh character actress.She is most familiar to television viewers for comedy roles in a host of series, including The Rag Trade, That's My Boy and Chance in a Million. She usually appears in meek, spinsterish roles...
as Nurse - Tim Potter as Clown
Behind-the-scenes
Because Titus was broadcast several months after the rest of the seventh season, it was rumoured that the BBC were worried about the violence in the play and that disagreements had arisen about censorship. This was inaccurate however, with the delay caused by a BBC strike in 1984. Initially, director Jane Howell wanted to set the play in present day Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, but she ultimately settled on a more conventional approach. All the body parts seen throughout were based upon real autopsy photographs, and were authenticated by the Royal College of Surgeons. The costumes of the Goths were based on punk outfits, with Chiron and Demetrius specifically based on the band KISS
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...
. According to Howell, the reason the Roman populace all wear identical generic masks without mouth was to convey the idea also that the Roman people were faceless and voiceless.
Omissions and changes
With the exception of Pericles, Prince of Tyre, all of the productions were based on the texts of the First FolioFirst Folio
Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. is the 1623 published collection of William Shakespeare's plays. Modern scholars commonly refer to it as the First Folio....
(1623), however, numerous changes were made throughout the series.
- Richard II
- The trial/multiple challenges portion of Act IV is omitted.
- All mention of Henry IV's son, later Henry V, is omitted.
- Henry IV, Part 2
- The Epilogue is omitted.
- Much other material, especially involving Falstaff, is cut.
- Twelfth Night
- Act 2, Scene 2 follows immediately after Act 1, Scene 5.
- The Taming of the Shrew
- The InductionInduction (play)An Induction in a play is an explanatory scene or other intrusion that stands outside and apart from the main action with the intent to comment on it, moralize about it or in the case of dumb show to summarize the plot or underscore what is afoot. Inductions are a common feature of plays written...
and the interjection of Sly at the end of Act 1, Scene 1 are absent. - Several lines are omitted from the conversation between Grumio and Curtis in Act 4, Scene 1.
- The brief conversation between Biondello and Lucentio which opens Act 5, Scene 1 is absent.
- Act 5, Scene 2 ends differently to the play. The last line spoken is Petruchio's "We three are married, but you two are sped;" thus omitting Petruchio's comment to Lucentio "'Twas I won the wager, though you hit the white, And being a winner, God give you good night", as well as Hortensio's line, "Now go thy ways, thou has tamed a curst shrewShrew (archetype)In the English language, the word shrew is used to describe a woman given to violent, scolding, particularly nagging treatment, as in Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew...
", and Lucentio's closing statement, "'Tis a wonder, by your leave, she will be tamed so." Additionally, Petruchio and Katherina do not leave the banquet prior to the end of the play, but remain, and engage in a song with all present.
- The Induction
- Henry VI, Part 1
- Lines are omitted from almost every scene. Some of the more notable omissions include, in Act 1, Scene 1, Bedford's references to children crying and England becoming a marshMarshIn geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
since Henry V died; (ll.48-51). In Act 1, Scene 2, Alençon's praise of the resoluteness of the English army is absent (ll.29-34). In Act 1, Scene 5, Talbot's complaint about the French wanting to ransom him for a prisoner of less worth is absent (ll.8-11). In Act 1, Scene 7, some of Charles' praise of Joan is absent (ll.21-27). In Act 4, Scene 6, some of the dialogue between Talbot and John is absent (ll.6-25). In Act 4, Scene 7, twelve of Joan's sixteen lines are cut; the entire seven line speech where she says John Talbot refused to fight her because she is a woman (ll.37-43); the first three lines of her five line mockery of Lucy's listing of Talbot's titles (ll.72-75); and the first two lines of her four line speech where she mocks Lucy about to take over Talbot's position (ll.86-88). - The adaptation opens differently to the text, as we see Henry VI singing a lamentLamentA lament or lamentation is a song, poem, or piece of music expressing grief, regret, or mourning.-History:Many of the oldest and most lasting poems in human history have been laments. Laments are present in both the Iliad and the Odyssey, and laments continued to be sung in elegiacs accompanied by...
for his father. - Fastolf's escape from RouenRouenRouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
is seen rather than merely mentioned. - Act 5, Scene 1 and Act 5, Scene 2 are reversed so that Act 4, Scene 7 and Act 5, Scene 2 now form one continuous piece.
- The character of Warwick as portrayed by Mark Wing-Davey is Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick. In the play however, the character is Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of WarwickRichard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of WarwickRichard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, Count of Aumale, KG was an English medieval nobleman and military commander.-Early Life:...
, Neville's father-in-law.
- Lines are omitted from almost every scene. Some of the more notable omissions include, in Act 1, Scene 1, Bedford's references to children crying and England becoming a marsh
- Henry VI, Part 2
- Lines are omitted from almost every scene. Some of the more notable omissions include, in Act 1, Scene 1, both of Humphrey's references to Bedford are absent (ll. 82-83, 95-96), as is the reference to Suffolk's demands that he be paid for escorting Margaret from France (ll. 131-133), and York's allusion to AlthaeaAlthaea (mythology)Althaea was in Greek mythology the daughter of King Thestius and Eurythemis, and was sister to Leda, Hypermnestra, Iphiclus, Euippus, &c. She was also the wife of Oeneus, king of Calydon, and mother of five sons, Meleager, Melanippe , Troxeus, Thyreus, Clymenus, and two daughters, Deianeira and...
and CalydonCalydonCalydon was an ancient Greek city in Aetolia, situated on the west bank of the river Evenus. According to Greek mythology, the city took its name from its founder Calydon, son of Aetolus. Close to the city stood Mount Zygos, the slopes of which provided the setting for the hunt of the Calydonian...
in his closing soliloquy (ll.231-235). York's outline of Edward IIIEdward III of EnglandEdward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...
's seven sons is absent from Act 2, Scene 2 (ll.10-17), as is Salisbury's reference to Owen GlendowerOwain GlyndwrOwain Glyndŵr , or Owain Glyn Dŵr, anglicised by William Shakespeare as Owen Glendower , was a Welsh ruler and the last native Welshman to hold the title Prince of Wales...
(l.41). Suffolk's accusation that Humphrey was involved in necromancyNecromancyNecromancy is a claimed form of magic that involves communication with the deceased, either by summoning their spirit in the form of an apparition or raising them bodily, for the purpose of divination, imparting the ability to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge...
with Eleanor is omitted from Act 3, Scene 1 (ll.47-53), as is Humphrey's outline of how he dealt with criminals during his time as Lord ProtectorLord ProtectorLord Protector is a title used in British constitutional law for certain heads of state at different periods of history. It is also a particular title for the British Heads of State in respect to the established church...
(ll.128-132). Also absent from 3.1 is York's reference to how he fought alongside Cade in Ireland (ll.360-370). In Act 4, Scene 1, all references to Walter Whitmore's name as Gualtier are absent. The entirety of Act 4, Scene 5 (a brief scene showing Scales and Gough on patrol at the Tower of LondonTower of LondonHer Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
) is absent. In Act 5, Scene 1, some of the dialogue between Clifford and Warwick is absent (ll.200-210). - Some lines have also been added to the play. In Act 1, Scene 1, two lines are added to Salisbury's vow to support York if he can prove he is a legitimate heir to the crown; "The reverence of mine age and the Neville's name/Is of no little force if I command" (between ll.197 and 198). In Act 1, Scene 3, two lines are added to the conversation between Margaret and Thump, where Thump mistakes the word 'usurper' for 'usurer' and is corrected by Margaret (between ll.31 and 32). In Act 2, Scene 1, the conversation between Humphrey and Beaufort is extended, wherein Humphrey says that Beaufort was born "in bastardy". All of these additional lines are taken from the 1594 quartoQuartoQuarto could refer to:* Quarto, a size or format of a book in which four leaves of a book are created from a standard size sheet of paper* For specific information about quarto texts of William Shakespeare's works, see:...
of the play, The First part of the Contention betwixt the two famous Houses of Yorke and Lancaster. - Several lines are spoken by characters other than who speak in the Folio text. In Act 1, Scene 3, Humphrey's line "This is the law and this Duke Humphrey's doom" is given to Henry. In Act 1, Scene 4, during the conjurationEvocationEvocation is the act of calling or summoning a spirit, demon, god or other supernatural agent, in the Western mystery tradition. Comparable practices exist in many religions and magical traditions.-Evocation in the Western mystery tradition:...
, there is no separate spirit in the scene; all the spirit's dialogue is spoken 'through' Magarey Jourdayne. Also, later in that scene, it is Buckingham who reads the prophecies, not York. In Act 4, Scene 1, the second half of line 139 ("Pompey the GreatPompeyGnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...
and Suffolk dies by pirates") is given to the Lieutenant. - The character of George Plantagenet is introduced towards the end of the play, just prior to the Battle of St AlbansFirst Battle of St AlbansThe First Battle of St Albans, fought on 22 May 1455 at St Albans, 22 miles north of London, traditionally marks the beginning of the Wars of the Roses. Richard, Duke of York and his ally, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, defeated the Lancastrians under Edmund, Duke of Somerset, who was killed...
, with which the play closes. In the text however, George is not introduced until 3 Henry VI, Act 2, Scene 2 - The play ends slightly differently to how it is indicated in the text. After the battle, the victorious House of YorkHouse of YorkThe House of York was a branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet, three members of which became English kings in the late 15th century. The House of York was descended in the paternal line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, the fourth surviving son of Edward III, but also represented...
leave the stage, all except Salisbury, who sadly looks around the field of battle at the many dead bodies.
- Lines are omitted from almost every scene. Some of the more notable omissions include, in Act 1, Scene 1, both of Humphrey's references to Bedford are absent (ll. 82-83, 95-96), as is the reference to Suffolk's demands that he be paid for escorting Margaret from France (ll. 131-133), and York's allusion to Althaea
- Henry VI, Part 3
- Lines are omitted from almost every scene. Some of the more notable omissions include the opening twenty-four lines of the first scene. Instead the play begins with Warwick proclaiming, "This is the palace of the fearful king". Also in Act 1, Scene 1, all references to Margaret chairing a session of parliament are absent (ll.35-42), as are her references to the pains of child birth, and Henry's shameful behaviour in disinheriting his son (ll.221-226). Absent from Act 1, Scene 3 is Rutland's appeal to Clifford's paternal instincts (ll.41-43). In Act 2, Scene 1, all references to Clarence's entry into the conflict are absent, as he had already been introduced as a combatant at the end of 2 Henry VI. During the debate between the YorkistsHouse of YorkThe House of York was a branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet, three members of which became English kings in the late 15th century. The House of York was descended in the paternal line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, the fourth surviving son of Edward III, but also represented...
and the LancastriansHouse of LancasterThe House of Lancaster was a branch of the royal House of Plantagenet. It was one of the opposing factions involved in the Wars of the Roses, an intermittent civil war which affected England and Wales during the 15th century...
in Act 2, Scene 2, Richard's "Northumberland, I hold thee reverentially" is absent (l.109). In Act 3, Scene 3, Warwick's reference to Salisbury's death and the incident with his niece are both absent (ll.186-188). In Act 4, Scene 4, the first twelve lines are absent (where Elizabeth reports to Rivers that Edward has been captured). In Act 5, Scene 6, Henry's references to DaedalusDaedalusIn Greek mythology, Daedalus was a skillful craftsman and artisan.-Family:...
and IcarusIcarus-Space and astronomy:* Icarus , on the Moon* Icarus , a planetary science journal* 1566 Icarus, an asteroid* IKAROS, a interplanetary unmanned spacecraft...
are absent (ll.21-25). - Some lines are also added to the play. In Act 1, Scene 1, four lines are added at the beginning of Henry's declaration that he would rather see civil war than yield the throne; "Ah PlantagenetHouse of PlantagenetThe House of Plantagenet , a branch of the Angevins, was a royal house founded by Geoffrey V of Anjou, father of Henry II of England. Plantagenet kings first ruled the Kingdom of England in the 12th century. Their paternal ancestors originated in the French province of Gâtinais and gained the...
, why seekest thou to depose me?/Are we not both Plantagenets by birth?/And from two brothers lineally descent?/Suppose by right and equity thou be king...". Also in Act 1, Scene 1, a line is inserted when York asks Henry if he agrees to the truce and Henry replies "Convey the soldiers hence, and then I will." Most significant is in Act 5, Scene 1, where the incident involving Clarence's return to the Lancastrian side is completely different to the text found in the Folio, and is taken entirely from the octavoOctavoOctavo to is a technical term describing the format of a book.Octavo may also refer to:* Octavo is a grimoire in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett...
text of The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York (1595). - Several lines are spoken by characters other than who speak in the Folio text, particularly in relation to Clarence. For example, in Act 2, Scene 1, it is Clarence who says Edward's "I wonder how our princely father scaped,/Or whether he be scaped away or no/From Clifford and Northumberland's pursuit". Clarence also speaks Richard's "Three glorious suns, each one a perfect sun,/Not separated with the racking clouds/But severed in a pale clear-shining sky"; Edward's "Sweet Duke of York, our prop to lean upon/Now thou art gone, we have no staff, no stay"; and Richard's "Great lord of Warwick, if we should recount/Our baleful news, and at each word's deliverance/Stab poniards in our flesh till all were told,/The words would add more anguish than the wounds".
- The presentation of the character of Montague also differs from the Folio text. Montague is not present in Act 1, Scene 1, and as such, his lines are either spoken by Clarence or omitted. He is introduced in Act 1, Scene 2, but with some notable changes to the text; when York is giving his men instructions, his order to Montague, "Brother, thou shalt to London presently" (l.36) is changed to "Cousin, thou shalt to London presently", York's reiteration of the order "My brother Montague shall post to London" (l.54) is changed to "Hast you to London my cousin Montague", and Montague's "Brother, I go, I'll win them, fear it not" (l.60) is changed to "Cousin, I go, I'll win them, fear it not." Additionally, the report of the death of Warwick and Montague's brother Thomas Neville in Act 2, Scene 3 is different from the text; 'son' in line 15 is replaced with 'father', 'brother' in line 19 is replaced with 'son', and 'gentleman' in line 23 is replaced with 'Salisbury'.
- Lines are omitted from almost every scene. Some of the more notable omissions include the opening twenty-four lines of the first scene. Instead the play begins with Warwick proclaiming, "This is the palace of the fearful king". Also in Act 1, Scene 1, all references to Margaret chairing a session of parliament are absent (ll.35-42), as are her references to the pains of child birth, and Henry's shameful behaviour in disinheriting his son (ll.221-226). Absent from Act 1, Scene 3 is Rutland's appeal to Clifford's paternal instincts (ll.41-43). In Act 2, Scene 1, all references to Clarence's entry into the conflict are absent, as he had already been introduced as a combatant at the end of 2 Henry VI. During the debate between the Yorkists
- Cymbeline
- Acts 4 and 5 are heavily cut, and scenes and speeches are freely rearranged.
- Timon of Athens
- Act 3, Scene 3 is heavily cut; the servant's monologue is totally omitted, though Lucilius appears in the background for the scene. Various smaller cuts.
- The Two Gentlemen of Verona
- Act 1, Scene 1 begins with Mercatio and Eglamour attempting to formally woo Julia; Mercatio by showing her a coffer overflowing with gold coins, Eglamour by displaying a parchment detailing his family history (there is no dialogue in this scene).
- The capture of Silvia and the flight of Eglamour is seen, as opposed to merely being described.
- Eglamour is also present at the end of Act 5, Scene 4 (once again without any dialogue).
- Titus Andronicus
- Some minor lines are omitted from various scenes, such as Lavinia's "Ay, for these slips have made him noted long" (2.3.87), Titus' "Ah, wherefore dost thou urge the name of hands,/To bid AeneasAeneasAeneas , in Greco-Roman mythology, was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. His father was the second cousin of King Priam of Troy, making Aeneas Priam's second cousin, once removed. The journey of Aeneas from Troy , which led to the founding a hamlet south of...
tell the tale twice o’er,/How TroyTroyTroy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...
was burnt and he made miserable?" (3.2.26-28), Marcus' "What, what! The lustful sons of Tamora/Performers of this heinous, bloody deed" (4.1.78-79), and Titus and Marcus' brief conversation about TaurusTaurus (constellation)Taurus is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is a Latin word meaning 'bull', and its astrological symbol is a stylized bull's head:...
and AriesAries (constellation)Aries is one of the constellations of the zodiac, located between Pisces to the west and Taurus to the east. Its name is Latin for ram, and its symbol is , representing a ram's horns...
(4.3.68-75). - Several lines from the Q1 text which were removed in subsequent editions are used; at 1.1.35 Titus' "bearing his valiant sons/in coffins from the field" continues with "and at this day,/To the Monument of that Andronicy/Done sacrifice of expiation,/And slaine the Noblest prisoner of the GothesGothsThe Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....
." These lines work in tandem with a rearrangement of the opening scenes to avoid a continuity problem. The lines concern the sacrifice of Alarbus, which hasn't happened yet in the text. However, Howell got around this problem by beginning the play at 1.1.64 – the entrance of Titus. Then, at 1.1.168, after the sacrifice of Alarbus, lines 1.1.1 to 1.1.63 (the introductions of Bassianus and Saturninus) take place, thus Titus' reference to Alarbus' sacrifice makes chronological sense. - The character of Young Lucius is a much more important figure in the adaptation than in the play; he is present throughout Act 1, he retrieves the murder weapon after the death of Mutius; it is his knife which Titus uses to kill the fly; he aids in the capture of Chiron and Demetrius; he is present throughout the final scene.
- Also changed is the fate of Aaron's baby, who is seen dead in a coffin in the final scene. In the play, and most productions, it is implied that the child lives.
- Some minor lines are omitted from various scenes, such as Lavinia's "Ay, for these slips have made him noted long" (2.3.87), Titus' "Ah, wherefore dost thou urge the name of hands,/To bid Aeneas
External links
- Screenonline: The BBC Television Shakespeare, by Michael Brooke
- 'The Television Revolution'; Chapter 4 of Shakespeare on Screen: A Chronicle History by Kenneth S. Rothwell; taken from the book Shakespeare on Screen: An International Filmography and Videography by Rothwell and Annabelle Henkin Melzer (New York: Neal-Schuman, 1990)
- British Universities Film and Video Council