Original title
The BBC Television Shakespeare
Released
12/3/1978
Origin country
GB
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Production companies
BBC
Status
Ended
Number of seasons
1
Number of episodes
37
The BBC Television Shakespeare is a series of British television adaptations of the plays of William Shakespeare, created by Cedric Messina and produced by BBC Television. It was transmitted in the UK from 3 December 1978 to 27 April 1985 and spanned seven series. Development of the series began in 1975 when Messina saw that Glamis Castle would make a perfect location for an adaptation of Shakespeare's play As You Like It. On returning to London, he envisioned an entire series devoted exclusively to the dramatic works of Shakespeare. After encountering numerous problems trying to produce the series, Messina eventually pitched the idea to the BBC’s departmental heads and the series was greenlighted. The series as a whole received generally negative reviews from critics.
Patrick Ryecart and Rebecca Saire play the star crossed lovers in one of Shakespeare's best-loved plays.
Derek Jacobi is King Richard II in the second of the BBC's new productions of Shakespeare.
Classic comedy by William Shakespeare about the travails of lovers Rosalind and Orlando, who become entangled in a beguiling game of love, lust and mistaken identity.
Shakespeare's great political thriller tells the story of the conspiracy against Caesar, his assassination and the defeat of his conspirators.
Shakespeare's classic comedy occasionally veers into more troublesome territory, as the characters face dark and ambiguous moral choices.
Classic play by William Shakespeare starring John Stride, Timothy West, Ronald Pickup, and Claire Bloom.
Televisation of one of Shakespeare's most popular plays, featuring the opportunistic miscreant, Sir John Falstaff. Second play in a tetralogy of history plays by William Shakespeare, along with Richard II, Henry IV, Part II, and Henry V.
Classic play by William Shakespeare, starring Jon Finch and Anthony Quayle. This is the third play in a tetralogy of history plays by William Shakespeare, along with Richard II, Henry IV, Part I, and Henry V.
Classic play by William Shakespeare about Henry V, the monarch he admired above all others. Part of a tetralogy of history plays by Shakespeare, along with Richard II, Henry IV, Part I, and Henry IV, Part II.
BBC televisation of the classic comedy of mistaken identities by William Shakespeare.
William Shakespeare's swansong play about the nature of revenge, reconciliation and forgiveness.
Shakespeare's classic tale of betrayal, murder and revenge, set in Elsinore Castle in Denmark.
Classic comedy by William Shakespeare. Petruchio is determined to mold the shrewish Katharina into a suitable wife, both for her dowry and for the challenge of overcoming her fearsome reputation.
BBC televisation of William Shakespeare's classic comedy about prejudice, love, loss and gain.
Shakespearean comedy. A woman goes to extraordinary lengths to win the man she loves. Helena, a ward of the Countess, has set her sights on Bertram, the Countess's son.
Classic play by William Shakespeare, considered either a comedy or a romance. One of Shakespeare's last works, the play also contains tragic elements that weave throughout the work.
When wealthy and famously generous nobleman Timon of Athens discovers the true state of his financial position, his former friends abandon him, and in disgust he retreats to a cave to rail against humanity.
Shakespeare's classic story of Mark Antony, Roman military leader and triumvir, who is madly in love with Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt.
Tragedy by William Shakespeare. The promotion of Moorish general Othello sparks bitter jealousy in his supposed friend, Iago. He subsequently plots to secure the downfall of Othello by provoking him into believing his wife Desdemona is being unfaithful.
A love story set against the backdrop of the seemingly endless Trojan wars. Anton Lesser and Suzanne Burden take the title roles of William Shakespeare's war satire.
Part one of Shakespeare's classic play starring Helen Mirren and Robert Lindsay.
Classic play by William Shakespeare about an ageing King who decides to divide his Kingdom between his three daughters.
Comedy by William Shakespeare; the only one of his plays set in England in his own time. The roguish Sir John Falstaff attempts to seduce both Mistress Ford and Mistress Page, but finds both women are more than a match for him.
A television presentation of the first part of Shakespeare's Henry VI. Henry V is dead and war continues with France. The Wars of the Roses are threatening and the Duke of York taunts the Earl of Somerset.
The BBC's screen production of William Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part II.
The BBC Production of William Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part III. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, aspiring to usurp the English crown plots to murder the deposed king in this concluding part of the Henry VI trilogy.
The rise and fall of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, whose murderous Machiavellian schemes help him to the throne of England, but make him far too many enemies along the way.
The rise and fall of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, whose murderous Machiavellian schemes help him to the throne of England, but make him far too many enemies along the way.
Classic play by William Shakespeare based on legends concerning the early Celtic British King Cunobelinus.
Classic tragedy by William Shakespeare about how ambition can corrupt. Three witches foresee a great future for Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis.
Comical misunderstandings arise when two sets of twins, each unaware of their other halves' existence, inadvertently end up in the same town.
Comedy. The romantic complications of various residents of Renaissance Italy, notably the two young gentlemen Proteus and Valentine.
Classic tragedy chronicling the life of the mighty warrior, Caius Marcius Coriolanus. Although a leader among men on the battlefield, Coriolanus finds himself comprehensively out-manoeuvred when he turns to politics.
Classic play by William Shakespeare about the life and death of England's 'bad king', in conflict not only with the French and the Pope but also those who dispute his claim to the throne.
Shakespearean comedy about a good man who suffers the brunt of life's hostilities. When Pericles solves the terrible answer to Antioch's riddle, his life is thrust into turmoil.
Comedy by William Shakespeare about two very different sets of lovers - Beatrice and Benedick, and Claudio and Hero.
Comedy about the romantic affections confounding the court of Ferdinand, King of Navarre. Ferdinand and three associates commit stochastic study for three years - which means no women - but things quickly unravel.
Tragedy by William Shakespeare. The great Roman general Titus Andronicus returns from the wars in triumph, but is comprehensively out-manoeuvred by wily politicians.
This website uses TMDB and the TMDB APIs but is not endorsed, certified, or otherwise approved by TMDB.
