- Radio Times
- Review by:
- David Butcher
There’s a scene in this production where King Richard idly writes his name in the sand of a beach with the end of his sceptre. It’s an affecting moment from Ben Whishaw, who makes a wonderfully fey, self-absorbed monarch, often toying with the trappings of power like a bored teenager. (He has a pet monkey who later returns to scowl at Bolingbroke.)
Television has been known to make a right hash of Shakespeare but if the other three versions in this Hollow Crown series are as sure-footed as this one, we’re in for a feast. The adaptation (which unfolds in period settings and doesn’t much bother straining for relevance) is poised, intense and beautifully filmed.
It’s style with substance: when John of Gaunt (a gruff Patrick Stewart) delivers his famous speech on the glories of England (“This sceptr’d isle...”) then denounces Richard, it feels as televisually thrilling as a power-play in The Sopranos. With a cast to die for (Davids Suchet and Morrissey are both superb) this is one to watch, record and treasure.
About this programme
The BBC presents four of Shakespeare's history plays - Richard II, Henry IV Parts One and Two, and Henry V, following events during 16 years of monarchy, from the machinations of the royal court to the bloody battlefields of England and France. Ben Whishaw heads the cast as King Richard, who is asked to settle a dispute between his cousin Henry Bolingbroke and Thomas Mowbray, but when the quarrel gets out of hand he banishes both men from the realm - setting in motion a chain of events that will come back to haunt him. Rory Kinnear, David Suchet, Patrick Stewart, Lindsay Duncan and David Morrissey co-star.
Cast and crew
Cast
- King Richard
- Ben Whishaw
- Bolingbroke
- Rory Kinnear
- Duke of York
- David Suchet
- Earl of Northumberland
- David Morrissey
- Duchess of York
- Lindsay Duncan
- Thomas Mowbray
- James Purefoy
- Queen Isabella
- Clemence Poesy
- Duke of Aumerle
- Tom Hughes
- Gardener
- David Bradley
- John of Gaunt
- Patrick Stewart
- Abbot of Westminster
- Richard Bremner
- Groom
- Daniel Boyd
- Lord Ross
- Peter De Jersey
- Sir Stephen Scroop
- Tom Goodman-Hill
- Sir Henry Green
- Harry Hadden-Paton
- Sir John Bushy
- Ferdinand Kingsley
- The queen's serving lady
- Isabella Laughland
- Lord Marshall
- Finbar Lynch
- Welsh captain
- Rhodri Miles
- Bishop of Carlisle
- Lucian Msamati
- Bagot
- Samuel Roukin
- Lord Willoughby
- Adrian Schiller
- Gardener's assistant
- Simon Trinder
Crew
- Adapted By
- Rupert Goold
- Adapted By
- Ben Power
- Director
- Ruport Goold
- Producer
- Rupert Ryle-Hodges
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