''Will Shakespeare'', also known as ''Life of Shakespeare'' and ''William Shakespeare: His Life & Times'', was a 1978
historical drama
A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romance film, romances, adventure f ...
series created and written by
John Mortimer
Sir John Clifford Mortimer (21 April 1923 – 16 January 2009) was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author. He is best known for novels about a barrister named Horace Rumpole.
Early life
Mortimer was born in Hampstead, London, ...
. Broadcast in six parts, the series is a dramatisation of the life and times of the great poet
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
, played by
Tim Curry
Timothy James Curry (born 19 April 1946) is an English actor and singer. He rose to prominence for his portrayal of Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the film ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' (1975), reprising the role he had originated in the 1973 London ...
, and was co-produced by
Lew Grade
Lew Grade, Baron Grade, (born Lev Winogradsky; 25 December 1906 – 13 December 1998) was a British media proprietor and impresario. Originally a dancer, and later a talent agent, Grade's interest in television production began in 1954 ...
's
ATV and
RAI
RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...
and distributed internationally by
ITC. The two production companies had collaborated the previous year on ''
Jesus of Nazareth
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
''.
Cast
*
Tim Curry
Timothy James Curry (born 19 April 1946) is an English actor and singer. He rose to prominence for his portrayal of Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the film ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' (1975), reprising the role he had originated in the 1973 London ...
as
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
*
Ian McShane
Ian David McShane (born 29 September 1942) is an English actor, producer and director. He is known for his television performances, particularly as the title role in the BBC series ''Lovejoy'' (1986–1994), Al Swearengen in '' Deadwood'' (2004 ...
as
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe (; baptised 26 February 156430 May 1593), was an English playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the Elizabethan playwrights. Based upon the ...
*
Nicholas Clay
Nicholas Anthony Phillip Clay (18 September 1946 – 25 May 2000) was an English actor.
Early life
Clay was born in Streatham, London on 18 September 1946, the son of a professional soldier in the British Army's Royal Engineers. The famil ...
as the
Earl of Southampton
Earl of Southampton was a title that was created three times in the Peerage of England.
The first creation came in 1537 in favour of the courtier William FitzWilliam. He was childless and the title became extinct on his death in 1542.
The se ...
*
Lynette Davies
Lynette Vaynor Davies (18 October 1948 – 1 December 1993) was a Welsh stage, television, and film actress.
Life
The daughter of a Customs and Excise officer, Davies was born in Tonypandy, Glamorgan, in 1948, and was educated at Our Lady's S ...
as the
Countess of Southampton
*
Paul Freeman as
Richard Burbage
Richard Burbage (c. 1567 – 13 March 1619) was an English stage actor, widely considered to have been one of the most famous actors of the Globe Theatre and of his time. In addition to being a stage actor, he was also a theatre owner, ent ...
*
John Normington
John Normington (28 January 1937 – 26 July 2007) was an English actor primarily known for his work on television. Normington was also a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company performing in more than 20 RSC productions. He performed widely ...
as Alex Cooke
*
Ron Cook
Ronald G. Cook (born 1948) is an English actor. He has been active in film, television and theatre since the 1970s.
Early and personal life
Cook was born in 1948 in South Shields, County Durham, England, the son of a school cook and a car wo ...
as Jack Rice
*
Richard Cordery
Richard Cordery is a character actor of film, television, and stage.
Career Film and television
Cordery's television credits include ''Rumpole of the Bailey'', as a prosecution Barrister (Series 5 Episode 6 - 1988), ''Doc Martin'' as Dennis Dod ...
as
Henry Condell
Henry Condell ( bapt. 5 September 1576 – December 1627) was a British actor in the King's Men, the playing company for which William Shakespeare wrote. With John Heminges, he was instrumental in preparing and editing the First Folio, the col ...
* Ronald Herdman as Sam Crosse
*
Roger Lloyd-Pack
Roger Anthony Lloyd-Pack (8 February 1944 – 16 January 2014) was an English actor. He is best known for playing Trigger in ''Only Fools and Horses'' from 1981 to 2003, and Owen Newitt in ''The Vicar of Dibley'' from 1994 to 2007. He later star ...
as
Jack Heminge
*
Patience Collier
Patience Collier (born Irene Marjorie Ritscher; 19 August 1910 – 13 July 1987) was a British actress.
Career
Patience Collier began her theatrical career in Manchester.
In 1956 she played Maria in Denis Cannan and Pierre Bost's ''The Power a ...
as
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
*
Meg Wynn Owen
Margaret Wright ( Shuttleworth, 8 November 1939 – June 2022), better known as Meg Wynn Owen, was a British actress known for her role as Hazel Bellamy in '' Upstairs, Downstairs''. She also appeared in ''Gosford Park'', ''Love Actually, Pride ...
as
Anne Shakespeare
Anne Hathaway (1556 – 6 August 1623) was the wife of William Shakespeare, an English poet, playwright and actor. They were married in 1582, when Hathaway was 26 years old and Shakespeare was 18. She outlived her husband by seven years. V ...
Writing
Each episode was based around the creation of a play and the idea of Shakespeare's life influencing his writing was used as the central plot device.
As there are few known facts about the life of Shakespeare, Mortimer embellished upon stories or legends about the playwright's life. These included a supposed apprenticeship with Christopher Marlowe and a
homoerotic
Homoeroticism is sexual attraction between members of the same sex, either male–male or female–female. The concept differs from the concept of homosexuality: it refers specifically to the desire itself, which can be temporary, whereas "homose ...
relationship with the Earl of Southampton.
Mortimer also invented a character whom the
Dark Lady of Shakespeare's sonnets was supposedly based upon. The wife of a judge, she falls in love with Shakespeare after seeing his performance as
Tybalt
Tybalt () is a character in William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet''. He is the son of Lady Capulet's brother, Juliet's short-tempered first cousin, and Romeo's rival. Tybalt shares the same name as the character Tibert / Tybalt ''"the ...
in ''
Romeo and Juliet
''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...
'', adding a secondary storyline elaborating on class divisions.
Original Literary Material
In 1977
Hodder and Stoughton
Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette.
History
Early history
The firm has its origins in the 1840s, with Matthew Hodder's employment, aged 14, with Messrs Jackson and Walford, the official publisher ...
published ''Will Shakespeare'' as written by
John Mortimer
Sir John Clifford Mortimer (21 April 1923 – 16 January 2009) was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author. He is best known for novels about a barrister named Horace Rumpole.
Early life
Mortimer was born in Hampstead, London, ...
, author of the
Rumpole
''Rumpole of the Bailey'' is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer. It starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, a middle-aged London barrister who defended a broad variety of clients, ...
series.
Coronet
A coronet is a small crown consisting of ornaments fixed on a metal ring. A coronet differs from other kinds of crowns in that a coronet never has arches, and from a tiara in that a coronet completely encircles the head, while a tiara does ...
published the paperback edition in 1977, .
Video release
The series was initially released on
VHS under the title ''William Shakespeare: His Life & Times''.
A Region 1
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
release of the series, by A & E television, was released in 2008, simply titled ''Will Shakespeare''. Network Studio released a Region 2 DVD of the series in 2009 under the same title.
See also
*
''Will'' (TV series), a 2017 drama about Shakespeare
References
External links
BFI screenonline pageon ''Will Shakespeare'' (1978)
*
1978 British television series debuts
1978 British television series endings
Television series by ITC Entertainment
ITV television dramas
Period television series
Television shows produced by Associated Television (ATV)
English-language television shows
Television shows shot at ATV Elstree Studios
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