Your Opinion on the BBC Shakespeare series

[kelby_lake]

Between 1978 and 1984, the BBC filmed all of Shakespeare's plays except The Two Noble Kinsmen, which is thought to be a collaboration.

What are your view on the series in general and which ones are your favourite versions/least favourite?

[OrphanPip]

I haven't seen them, unfortunately.

I was wondering if anyone knows of a good film version of the Tempest. It's my favorite Shakespeare play, but I have yet to see it performed live.

[Sapphire]

I did not know that... And I haven't seen any of them :nonod:

However, this Christmas I watched HAMLET on BBC. It wasn't from the time period you describe - it is a very recent production. I really, really liked it :hurray:
I found it: it is indeed from 2009 {link} (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8VOZLjQbvQ). Mind you, that's just a taste ;) But I think most of the scenes are to be found on youtube.

@OrphanPip
Do you like animated series? {link} (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XZ091CEgNU)

[OrphanPip]

Ya there was a recent BBC version of King Lear, with Ian McKellan in the title role, that was very good.

Edit: Sapphire, I'm an animation snob, I've watched everything from 1920s films by Winsor McCay to Eastern Europeans like Jiri Trnka, I have a particul fondness for stop motion and puppetry.

I'll take a look at the animated series.

Edit: Speaking of Jiri Trnka, his Midsummer's Night Dream is simply fabulous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjHklvgLaN4

It's in Czech, and it's not what you could call too faithful an adaptation, though.

[Lokasenna]

The original run of BBC Shakespeare was very ropey, in my opinion - there are often many better versions.

[DanielBenoit]

Some of them were failures but I hold the Ian McKellan and Judi Dench Macbeth from 1977 (?) with the utmost admiration and awe. The best Macbeth production I've ever seen.

. . ...wait a minute, was that BBC? *checks*

[kelby_lake]

Some of them were failures but I hold the Ian McKellan and Judi Dench Macbeth from 1977 (?) with the utmost admiration and awe. The best Macbeth production I've ever seen.

. . ...wait a minute, was that BBC? *checks*

Afraid not. Their Macbeth starred Nicol Williamson and Jane Lapotaire.

I wasn't too impressed with the BBC Hamlet (starring Derek Jacobi). However the David Tennant version was excellent. Tennant really got Hamlet spot on.

The BBC Measure for Measure is well worth a watch. It's a great play but there's no film version (except a dreadful 'indie' version updated to modern days with a cast of teens).

The drawback with the BBC versions is the low budget- not so bad for Measure for Measure but what about the History plays?- and the fact that they were meant to be 'educational' and so the actors and directors didn't have much room to experiment. (Michael Bogdanov was banned from doing a modern dress version of Timon of Athens)

[blank|verse]

I wasn't too impressed with the BBC Hamlet (starring Derek Jacobi). However the David Tennant version was excellent. Tennant really got Hamlet spot on.
You've got to be kidding me! :) Derek Jacobi is my preferred Hamlet, and gets me each time, right from his '"Seems", madam - nay, it is' which is whined out like some petulant teenager. Maybe it's because this BBC version is older, and with a pretty low budget, that spoils your enjoyment of it, which is understandable, but Jacobi as Hamlet is wonderful, darling! Simply marvellous!!

David Tennant does well in the recent, more modern BBC version, in what I thought was a fine production (I liked all the cctv cameras, and thought the gravediggers scene brilliant; although, no Fortinbras?), but I was never convinced he had the ruthlessness to kill his uncle; and he's completely acted off the screen by Patrick Stewart in his dual-role as Claudius and the ghost. But then, who wouldn't be?

Other BBC versions I've seen vary in quality (naturally) but are all pretty good to be honest, as they are largely faithful to the text and well-acted; certainly good enough to watch while reading through a play to help understanding... and enjoyment.

[Virgil]

I'm shocked too at Kelby's statement. In my opinion, Derek Jacobi's Hamlet defined the role. I have never seen another version played any better. He is the one I measure the character up against.


Between 1978 and 1984, the BBC filmed all of Shakespeare's plays except The Two Noble Kinsmen, which is thought to be a collaboration.

What are your view on the series in general and which ones are your favourite versions/least favourite?

On balance I think they're great. I've seen quite a few. Which is my favorite? Probably Hamlet.

[Thespian1975]

I've watched a few of them and they are indeed a mixed bag.

I thought Titus Andronicus was very good even on a low budget but I thought The Taming of the Shrew with John Cleese as Petruchio was very poor and all respect.

I like the "live" feeling of most of them as they were shot in extended shots with few cuts.

[kasie]

The David Tennant Hamlet and the Ian McKellan King Lear might have been filmed and distributed by the BBC but both were originally stage productions by the Royal Shakespeare Company and therein lies the difference between these two recent productions and the earlier Complete Works on film, but that's a whole new thread.

I saw most of the BBC productions as they were made and broadcast and at the time thought they were a very mixed bunch - some were good, others indifferent. I think now their age is showing, filming/tv techniques have developed, production values differ; nevertheless the interpretations still have much to offer for consideration by the thoughtful student of the Bard.

[TwelfthNightCo.]

Between 1978 and 1984, the BBC filmed all of Shakespeare's plays except The Two Noble Kinsmen, which is thought to be a collaboration.

What are your view on the series in general and which ones are your favourite versions/least favourite?I find they vary. I can't say enough about Derek Jacobi's rendition of Hamlet. His recitation of the line, "It hath made me mad," was so fascinating I had to rewind the DVD. Also, Richard II was brilliant.

On the other hand, I thought Macbeth was mediocre, and Othello, though highly praised, didn't impress me.

[kelby_lake]

They were rather stifled creatively. I can understand wanting to be faithful to the harder plays but it's a shame they didn't have any really interesting interpretations.

[OrphanPip]

The David Tennant Hamlet and the Ian McKellan King Lear might have been filmed and distributed by the BBC but both were originally stage productions by the Royal Shakespeare Company and therein lies the difference between these two recent productions and the earlier Complete Works on film, but that's a whole new thread.


I looked it up and it wasn't even the BBC actually, it was the Royal Shakespeare Company and the filming was done by Channel 4, my mistake.

[kasie]

And just to confuse the matter even more, the BBC is distributing the DVD and their logo is on it!

[TwelfthNightCo.]

Well, whoever produced it, wasn't it outstanding? I mean, one can't go wrong with Patrick Stewart and David Tennant, but even more than that, I especially loved the presence of cameras everywhere. Of course, a motif in Hamlet is the presence of people constantly spying on each other, and I think it was great the way the production modernized a study in the end of privacy. (It did a much better job of that than the Ethan Hawke production did.)

[MorpheusSandman]

I actually bought the box set from Amazon.com when they had it on sale for $100 (about 70GBP), which worked out to just over $2.50 per play!. I've been watching them in the order they were written (roughly) rather than the order that they were made/released, and I've been reviewing them here. (http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Afpscinema.wordpress.com+bbc+shakes peare&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#sclient=psy&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=KuQ&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&q=site:fpscinema.wordpress.com+shakespeare&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=f6470e4d0f8b4ab9) The biggest problem with the play is that they're stuck in that awkward limbo between low-rent movies and blandly filmed theater productions. I think the selling point is that they're incredibly faithful and they generally boast fine actors and performances. So far, my favorites have been the plays that haven't seen the light on film or other more star-studded theatrical productions. The Henry VI saga was surprisingly riveting, and I thought Love's Labour's Lost and Comedy of Errors were quite charming for being such "light" plays.

[kelby_lake]

I thought their version of Measure for Measure was brilliant.

[Hopfrog]

There is a legend, or idea, that the first Hamlet you see will remain your favourite. Mine was Derek Jacobi and he remains my all-time Hamlet. I love all of these productions, even the ones that are supposedly awful such as Antony and Cleopatra. My favourite production is their Love's Labour's Lost, so amusing, poetic and full of light and wit. Superb. I love their Macbeth although it cannot compare, in my mind, to the Ian McKellen/Judi Dench production. I love love love young Helen Mirren in As You Like It. I once thought that I wanted to see all of the plays live on stage, but local Shakespeare productions often annoy me or put me to sleep, so I've stopped attending; and a huge part of my disappointment with American productions (beside my profound Anglophilia) is that I first saw the plays in these BBC productions and nothing, for me, can compare to their brilliance and authority. I saw one of these BBC adaptations at a house party with a troupe of players with whom I was performing Much Ado About Nothing, and to watch them with a bunch of players who are in that wonderful Shakespeare zone that comes from rehearsal and performance of Shakespeare was delicious, one of my happiest memories.

[Thespian1975]

There is a legend, or idea, that the first Hamlet you see will remain your favourite. Mine was Derek Jacobi and he remains my all-time Hamlet. I love all of these productions, even the ones that are supposedly awful such as Antony and Cleopatra. My favourite production is their Love's Labour's Lost, so amusing, poetic and full of light and wit. Superb. I love their Macbeth although it cannot compare, in my mind, to the Ian McKellen/Judi Dench production. I love love love young Helen Mirren in As You Like It. I once thought that I wanted to see all of the plays live on stage, but local Shakespeare productions often annoy me or put me to sleep, so I've stopped attending; and a huge part of my disappointment with American productions (beside my profound Anglophilia) is that I first saw the plays in these BBC productions and nothing, for me, can compare to their brilliance and authority. I saw one of these BBC adaptations at a house party with a troupe of players with whom I was performing Much Ado About Nothing, and to watch them with a bunch of players who are in that wonderful Shakespeare zone that comes from rehearsal and performance of Shakespeare was delicious, one of my happiest memories.

Many years ago I remember listening to the Radio broadcast of Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet. All Hamlet's now compare to his. Even David Tennant who I saw at Stratford.

[kelby_lake]

My first Hamlet was David Tennant, I think, and I thought he gave a strong performance.