The BBC Television Shakespeare: Season 1
Episode Guide
Season 1 Progress Shield
Romeo & Juliet
Dec 3, 1978 · 168 min
Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fa
King Richard the Second
Dec 10, 1978 · 157 min
Richard II, who ascended the throne as a child, is a regal and stately monarch. He believes he is the rightful ruler of England, ordained by God, yet he is a weak and ineffective k
As You Like It
Dec 17, 1978 · 150 min
Orlando is forced to work like a servant for his brother Oliver, so he goes to win his fortune in a wrestling contest, where he meets a lady of the court, Rosalind (daughter of the
Julius Caesar
Feb 11, 1979 · 161 min
Marcus Brutus is Caesar's close friend and a Roman praetor. Brutus allows himself to be cajoled into joining a group of conspiring senators because of a growing suspicion — implant
Measure for Measure
Feb 18, 1979 · 145 min
When the Duke of Vienna takes a mysterious leave of absence and leaves the strict Angelo in charge, things couldn't be worse for Claudio, who is sentenced to death for fornication.
The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight
Feb 25, 1979 · 165 min
Henry is a proud monarch who flies in the face of the church in seeking to divorce Queen Katherine and marry Anne Bullen. As Cardinal Wolsey, the powerful Lord Chancellor of Englan
The First Part of King Henry the Fourth with the Life and Death of Henry Surnamed Hotspur
Dec 9, 1979 · 147 min
Henry Bolingbroke has now been crowned King of England, but faces a rebellion headed by the embittered Earl of Northumberland and his son (nicknamed 'Hotspur'). Henry's son Hal, th
The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth containing his Death: and the Coronation of King Henry the Fift
Dec 16, 1979 · 150 min
King Henry's health is failing as a second rebellion against his reign threatens to surface. Intent on securing his legacy, he is uncertain that his son Hal is a worthy heir, belie
The Life of Henry the Fifth
Dec 23, 1979 · 163 min
Insulted by the Dauphin, the newly-crowned Henry V gathers his troops for war. But Henry must convince his men that he has left his wild days behind, and prove himself as a leader.
Twelfth Night
Jan 6, 1980 · 128 min
Viola and Sebastian are lookalike twins, separated by a shipwreck. Viola lands in Illyria, where she disguises herself like her brother and goes into the service of the Duke Orsino
The Tempest
Feb 27, 1980 · 124 min
Prospero, the true Duke of Milan, is now living on an enchanted island with his daughter Miranda, the savage Caliban and Ariel, a spirit of the air. Raising a storm to bring his br
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
May 25, 1980 · 214 min
Hamlet returns home from university to find his uncle married to his mother, and his father's ghost haunting the battlements and scaring the watch. Then his father's ghost directs
The Taming of the Shrew
Oct 23, 1980 · 126 min
Baptista has two daughters: Katherine and Bianca. Everyone wants to wed the fair Bianca, but nobody's much interested in problem child, Katherine. Baptista declares that he won't g
The Merchant of Venice
Dec 17, 1980 · 157 min
Antonio's best friend, Bassiano, is in love with Portia, a wise and wealthy heiress, and needs three thousand ducats to press his suit. With Antonio's money tied up in ships at se
All's Well That Ends Well
Jan 4, 1981 · 142 min
Helena loves Bertram, but he's of noble birth, while she's just a doctor's daughter. But Bertram is at the court of the King of France, who is ill, and Helena has a remedy that cur
The Winter's Tale
Feb 8, 1981 · 173 min
King Leontes of Bohemia suspects his wife, Queen Hermione, of deceiving him with his good friend Polixenes. Leontes drives Polixenes out of his kingdom, but this leads to unforesee
Timon of Athens
Apr 16, 1981 · 128 min
Ancient Athenian Timon is well-known for his generosity - his many friends come to all his parties and like to get presents from him. But then Timon suffers losses and finds himsel
Antony and Cleopatra
May 8, 1981 · 170 min
Octavius Caesar (later known as Augustus), Mark Antony, and Lepidus form a triumvirate to rule the Roman Empire. Antony will rule in the east and goes to Egypt, where he becomes th
Othello
Oct 4, 1981 · 203 min
Set in 16th-century Venice and Cyprus, Othello the Moor, a noble black warrior in the Venetian army, has secretly married a beautiful white woman called Desdemona, the daughter of
Troilus and Cressida
Nov 7, 1981 · 190 min
The bitter Trojan War drags on - the Greeks blame Achilles' apathy for low morale, while Troy's hero Hector challenges one of the enemy to a personal duel. And after her father exc
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Dec 13, 1981 · 111 min
Hermia is in love with Lysander, but her father wants her to marry Demetrius. To escape the arranged marriage, she and Lysander elope into the woods. Demetrius follows them, and he
King Lear
Sep 19, 1982 · 185 min
When England's ageing King Lear renounces his throne to divide his kingdom among his three daughters, treachery, madness and murder soon follow. After banishing Cordelia, his most
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Dec 28, 1982 · 167 min
When Sir John Falstaff decides that he wants to have a little fun he writes two letters to a pair of Window wives: Mistress Ford and Mistress Page. When they put their heads togeth
The First Part of Henry the Sixth
Jan 2, 1983 · 188 min
Following the death of his father, Henry V, the young Henry VI is proclaimed king under the protectorship of his uncles, the Dukes of Gloucester and Exeter. There is conflict betwe
The Second Part of Henry the Sixth
Jan 9, 1983 · 213 min
Dissension is rife in the English court. Suffolk's influence intensifies. The fractious English nobles unite in their common aim to get rid of the Duke of Gloucester. His wife Elea
The Third Part of Henry the Sixth
Jan 16, 1983 · 211 min
With Richard Plantagenet on the throne of England, the Yorkists confront the Lancastrians. King Henry agrees to York's demand that he disinherit his son, Edward. Margaret vows to d
The Tragedy of Richard III
Jan 23, 1983 · 239 min
Richard Duke of Gloucester, youngest brother of King Edward IV, will stop at nothing to get the crown. He first convinces the ailing King that the Duke of Clarence, his elder broth
Cymbeline
Jul 10, 1983 · 174 min
Cymbeline, the King of Britain, is angry that his daughter Imogen has chosen a poor (but worthy) man for her husband. So he banishes Posthumus, who goes to fight for Rome. Imogen (
Macbeth
Nov 5, 1983 · 147 min
Shakespeare's dark tragedy tells of ambition and guilt amidst a background of regicide, violence and the supernatural. When a trio of witches tells the returning hero warrior Macbe
The Comedy of Errors
Dec 24, 1983 · 109 min
Aegeon of Syracuse has come to Ephesus to seek his son, who went in search of his missing twin and mother months ago. Too bad that Ephesus has just declared war on Syracuse, and wi
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Dec 27, 1983 · 136 min
Two great friends leave Verona for Milan, Valentine with great enthusiasm and Proteus unwillingly, as he will have to leave his recently-betrothed Julia. Valentine soon falls in lo
The Tragedy of Coriolanus
Apr 21, 1984 · 145 min
A banished hero of Rome allies with a sworn enemy to take his revenge on the city.
The Life & Death of King John
Nov 24, 1984 · 157 min
King Richard I, the revered 'Lionheart', is dead. His brother John has become King of England, but the French argue that the throne should belong to the boy Arthur, son of John's d
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Dec 8, 1984 · 177 min
When Prince Pericles, visiting Antioch, discovers the dreaded answer to King Antiochus's riddle, he flees for his life straight into famine, shipwreck, love, fatherhood, and anothe
Much Ado About Nothing
Dec 22, 1984 · 148 min
Benedick and Beatrice fight their merry war of words. But when Beatrice's friend, Hero, is humiliatingly jilted by Benedick's best friend, Claudio, Benedick has to choose which sid
Love's Labour's Lost
Jan 5, 1985 · 119 min
A scholarly king and his three companions swear off the society of women for three years, only to have a diplomatic visit from a French princess and her three ladies-in-waiting thw
Titus Andronicus
Apr 27, 1985 · 167 min
Having subdued the Goths, warrior Titus Andronicus returns to Rome to bury his sons, with Gothic Queen Tamora and her retinue as captives. The newly-dead Roman Emperor's two sons,