Movies - BBC Television Shakespeare

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	Movies - BBC Television Shakespeare

The BBC Television Shakespeare was a set of television adaptations of the plays of Shakespeare, produced by the BBC between 1978 and 1985. The series was initiated by Cedric Messina, and produced by Messina, Jonathan Miller, and Shaun Sutton; directors and other crew varied from play to play. The entire series has been released on video, under the banner title The Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare. Some of the plays (including Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, and A Midsummer Night's Dream) have been released on DVD.

The productions were of varying quality. Their extremely low production values meant that their studio-bound sets could be risible, and their extremely tight schedules (rehearsal and filming typically took place in less than a week) meant that the results rarely rose above the competent. However, the BBC did manage to attract many great actors who occasionally enabled the series to rise above the limitations of time and budget.

The thirty-seven plays in the series included:

Richard II (1978)
* directed by David Giles
* Derek Jacobi
as Richard II
* Jon Finch
as Henry Bolingbroke

Romeo and Juliet (1978)
* directed by Alvin Rakoff
* Patrick Ryecart as Romeo
* Rebecca Saire as Juliet

As You Like It (1979)
* directed by Basil Coleman
* Helen Mirren
as Rosalind
* Brian Stirner as Orlando

Henry IV, part 1, Henry IV, part 2 (1979)
* directed by David Giles
* Jon Finch
as Henry IV
* David Gwillim as Prince Hal
* Anthony Quayle
as Falstaff

Henry V (1979)
* directed by David Giles
* David Gwillim as Henry V
* Alec McCowen
as Chorus

Henry VIII (1979)
* directed by Kevin Billington
* John Stride as Henry VIII
* Claire Bloom
as Katharine

Measure for Measure (1978)
* directed by Desmond Davis
* Kate Nelligan
as Isabella
* Tim Pigott-Smith
as Angelo

Julius Caesar (1979)
* directed by Herbert Wise
* Charles Gray as Julius Caesar
* Richard Pasco as Brutus
* David Collings
as Cassius

All's Well That Ends Well (1980)
* directed by Elijah Moshinsky
* Angela Down as Helena
* Ian Charleson
as Bertram

Hamlet (1980)
* directed by Rodney Bennett
* Derek Jacobi
as Hamlet
* Patrick Stewart
as Claudius
* Claire Bloom
as Gertrude

The Merchant of Venice
(1980)
* directed by Jack Gold
* John Franklyn-Robbins as Antonio
* Warren Mitchell
as Shylock
* Gemma Jones
as Portia

Othello (1980)
* directed by Jonathan Miller
* Anthony Hopkins
as Othello
* Bob Hoskins
as Iago
* Penelope Wilton
as Desdemona

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for BBC Television Shakespeare ]

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