What time is Hamlet on TV?
Everything you need to know about the Andrew Scott-led theatre production
What time is Hamlet on TV?
The Shakespeare play is on 9pm, Saturday 31 March, BBC2. The show will last until 12.15am
Who's in the cast?
Sherlock's Andrew Scott plays the titular lead, alongside Jessica Brown Findlay and Juliet Stevenson. You can see more about the cast here.
What can we expect?
Of all recent Hamlets, this feels like a good fit for the small screen. Robert Icke’s acclaimed modern-dress production pointedly uses video screens as integral to its sleek setting, a Danish royal court furnished in Scandi good taste.
The ghost appears to Hamlet on CCTV via Elsinore’s scratchy security system; rolling news channels update us on the political turmoil outside. If that sounds gimmicky, don’t worry: the gimmicks work, helped by the fact that the cast is terrific, led by Andrew Scott as a searingly troubled prince.
His soliloquies feel like the soul-searching of a young man for whom the “pale cast of thought” is a sickness, a mental health condition. Meanwhile, Juliet Stevenson brings what you might call a bit of Apple Tree Yard to Gertrude, a middle-aged woman with so much passion she risks destroying her family. At over three hours this is a long haul, but well worth it.
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Review by David Butcher
