BBC to broadcast stage shows to mark Shakespeare’s First Folio 400th anniversary

The BBC has unveiled a wealth of programming to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio, running across the months of October and November.

At the heart of the initiative is the three-part documentary series for BBC Two and iPlayer titled Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius, featuring contributions from Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Brian Cox, Adrian Lester, Lolita Chakrabarti, Martin Freeman and Jessie Buckley, alongside academics and writers including James Shapiro, Jeanette Winterson, Lucy Jago, Jeremy O’Harris and Ewan Fernie.

The documentary series will be made available from 8 November at 9pm.

Dench said today: “His understanding of everything, of love, of anger, of jealousy, of rage, melancholy – who did it better, who has ever done it better? I wish I’d met him, oh I wish I’d met him.” A whole host of archived productions and Shakespeare-based films will be released across October and November to celebrate the contributions made by the First Folio.

There will also be specially created new introductions for many of these, featuring David Tennant on Hamlet, Richard Eyre on King Lear, Janet Suzman on Wars of the Roses, Gregory Doran on the Shakespeare Gala from the RSC, Russell T Davies on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mirren on As You Like It, Hugh Quarshie on Othello, Steven Berkoff on Hamlet at Elsinore, Simon Russell Beale on The Hollow Crown, and Ian McKellen on All is True.

Shakespeare’s sonnets will be brought to life in a series of filmed performances from Rose Ayling-Ellis, Eben Figueiredo, Eloka Ivo and Ioanna Kimbook.

Programming will also spread across BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4, including a special edition of Front Row: 1623 Review Show. 

Already available:

– RSC’s Hamlet with David Tennant and Patrick Stewart, with introduction from Tennant

– The Wars of the Roses – Peter Hall’s 1966 production, adapted by John Barton, starring Ian Holm, John Barton, Donald Sinden, Janet Suzman and Peggy Ashcroft, with introduction from Janet Suzman

– Shakespeare Live! From the RSC – the 2016 gala took place in the presence of His Royal Highness the then Prince of Wales, with a new introduction from Gregory Doran

– RSC’s Much Ado About Nothing, an afro-futuristic adaptation

The full list of releases is as follows:

7 October – Michael Parkinson Interviews with Orson Welles and Richard Burton

12 October – Henry V (1988) starring Kenneth Branagh and Derek Jacobi

14 October – The Hollow Crown, series one and two will be presented across six weeks, preceeded by an introduction from Richard Eyre

14 October – Simon Schama’s Shakespeare – 2 episodes

15 October – A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2016) – Russell T Davies’ television adaptation, starring Maxine Peake, Bernard Cribbins and Nonso Anozie, with introduction from Davies

15 October – The Merchant of Venice (1972) – BBC adaptation, starring Maggie Smith, Frank Finlay and Charles Gray

19 October – Richard III (1956) starring Laurence Olivier

22 October – Shakespeare’s Globe’s Henry V with Jamie Parker in the title role

22 October – RSC’s Othello (2020), with introduction from star Hugh Quarshie

26 October – Julius Caesar (1953) starring Marlon Brando

29 October – Shakespeare Sonnets: A Modern Love Story – performances of Shakespeare’s sonnets featuring Eloka Ivo, Rose Ayling-Ellis, Eben Figueiredo and Ioanna Kimbook

29 October – As You Like It – a BBC Television adaptation from 1978, featuring Helen Mirren, Brian Stirner and Richard Pasco, introduced by Mirren

29 October – Macbeth – a BBC Television adaptation from 1983, featuring Nicol Williamson, Jane Lapotaire and James Bolam

29 October – RSC’s Othello starring Hugh Quarshie, proceeded by an introduction with Quarshie

2 November – All is True (2018) starring Kenneth Branagh and Judi Dench

5 November – Talking Shakespeare – a new BBC archive compilation with insights from leading acting talent

5 November – Hamlet – new performance from Bristol Old Vic, featuring Billy Howle, directed by John Haidar

5 November – Dame Judi Dench – This Cultural Life sees Dench in conversation with John Wilson

5 November – Hamlet at Elsinore (1964), with introduction from Steven Berkoff. The drama features early performances from Christopher Plummer, Michael Caine and Donald Sutherland.

8 November at 9pm – Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius – Episode one on BBC Two and boxset on iPlayer

8 November at 10pm – Upstart Crow – series 1 is repeated on BBC Two with the complete boxset on iPlayer

8 November – The Secret Life of Books: First Folio

8 November – RSC’s King Lear (2016)