All Episodes of The BBC Television Shakespeare
Browse all episodes of The BBC Television Shakespeare
All Episodes of The BBC Television Shakespeare
Browse all episodes of The BBC Television Shakespeare
Season 1
6.6/10474 votesRomeo & Juliet
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 12/3/1978
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 fatal loins of these two foes a pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows doth with their death bury their parents' strife.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
7.9/10337 votesKing Richard the Second
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 12/10/1978
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 king - wasteful in his spending habits, unwise in his choice of chancellors, and detached from his country and its people. When he seizes the land of his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, both the commoners and the barons decide that their king has gone too far.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
7.1/10371 votesAs You Like It
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 12/17/1978
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 deposed duke), who is companion to Celia, niece of the deposed duke. When the current duke banishes Rosalind from the kingdom, she, Celia, the court jester, and incidentally Orlando, all end up in the forest or Arden, where the deposed duke holds court. Romantic mix-ups, cross-dressing, love poems nailed to trees, and a lion await them all.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
7.4/10268 votesJulius Caesar
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 2/11/1979
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 — implanted by Caius Cassius — that Caesar intends to turn republican Rome into a monarchy under his own rule.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
7.5/10241 votesMeasure for Measure
Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 2/18/1979
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. His sister, Isabella (a nun-in-training), however, is a very persuasive pleader. She approaches Angelo, but instead of offering clemency, Angelo offers to save Claudio's life if Isabella sleeps with him. The only sympathetic friend Isabella has is a priest who, in reality, is the Duke in disguise - and he has a plan.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
7.1/10150 votesThe Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 2/25/1979
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 England, attempts to bend Rome to the King's wishes, the court reverberates with political intrigue and accusations of treachery.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesThe First Part of King Henry the Fourth with the Life and Death of Henry Surnamed Hotspur
Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 12/9/1979
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, the Prince of Wales, has thrown over life at court in favour of heavy drinking and petty theft in the company of a debauched elderly knight, Sir John Falstaff. Hal must extricate himself from some legal problems, redeem himself in his father's eyes and help suppress the uprising.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesThe Second Part of King Henry the Fourth containing his Death: and the Coronation of King Henry the Fift
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 12/16/1979
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, believing him more concerned with earthly pleasures than the responsibility of rule. Sir John Falstaff is sent to the countryside to recruit fresh troops. Amongst the unwitting locals, opportunities for embezzlement and profiteering prove impossible to resist. As the king's health continues to worsen, Hal must choose between duty and loyalty to an old friend.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesThe Life of Henry the Fifth
Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 12/23/1979
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. Henry V tells a tale of intrigue and betrayal, courtly romance, and a heroic battle against outrageous odds. The lead, played here by David Gwillim, is one of the most coveted of roles with inspiring lines including the St Crispin's Day speech.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesTwelfth Night
Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 1/6/1980
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. Orsino sends her to help him woo the Lady Olivia, who doesn't want the duke, but finds that she likes the duke's new messenger. Then Viola's brother shows up, whom she thought was dead, and chaos ensues. Meanwhile, Olivia's uncle and his cohorts are trying to find some way to get back at Olivia's officious majordomo, Malvolio.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesThe Tempest
Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 2/27/1980
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 brother - the usurper of his dukedom - along with his royal entourage, to the island, Prospero contrives his revenge.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesHamlet, Prince of Denmark
Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 5/25/1980
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 him to avenge his murder. Hamlet complies, but his madness and indecision take their toll on everyone.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesThe Taming of the Shrew
Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 10/23/1980
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 give Bianca away until he's found a husband for Katherine, so all the suitors begin busily hunting out a madman who's willing to marry her, and they find Petruchio: a man who's come to wive it wealthily in Padua. And Petruchio intends to marry Katherine with a plan to tame her, while everybody else begins scheming to win Bianca's hand.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesThe Merchant of Venice
Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 12/17/1980
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 sea, he approaches Shylock, a Jewish usurer, who agrees to lend the money under the provision that Antonio shall forfeit a pound of his flesh if the debt is unpaid. When Antonio's ships are wrecked, Shylock calls for the contract to be filled.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesAll's Well That Ends Well
Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 1/4/1981
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 cures him and wins her the right to marry Bertram. But he doesn't want to marry her, but is forced by the king. However, Bertram refuses to sleep with Helena and leaves for the Italian wars. He says that he will only accept Helena if she obtains a ring from his finger and becomes pregnant with his child!
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesThe Winter's Tale
Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 2/8/1981
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 unforeseen consequences: the arrival of a dangerous bear, an infant abandoned in the snow, love, death, and a statue which comes to life.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesTimon of Athens
Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 4/16/1981
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 himself in debt, and his friends melt away. He loses faith in humanity and becomes a hermit.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesAntony and Cleopatra
Season 1 Episode 18 - Aired 5/8/1981
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 the lover of Queen Cleopatra. In Egypt, Antony raises an army and a navy to fight Caesar. What is destined for the lovers and political allies?
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesOthello
Season 1 Episode 19 - Aired 10/4/1981
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 a prominent senator, Brabantio. When he finds out, he is outraged, and promptly disowns her. Othello’s ensign, Iago, harbours a secret jealousy and resentment towards the Moor, partly because another soldier, Lieutenant Cassio, has been promoted ahead of him, and also because he suspects that Othello has had an affair with his wife. Intent on revenge, Iago hatches a devious plan to plant suspicions in Othello’s mind that Desdemona has been unfaithful to him with Cassio.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesTroilus and Cressida
Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 11/7/1981
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 exchanges Cressida for a Trojan prisoner, the war becomes personal for her distraught lover Troilus.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesA Midsummer Night's Dream
Season 1 Episode 21 - Aired 12/13/1981
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 is pursued by Helena, who nurses an unrequited passion for him. Puck the fairy makes both of the boys fall in love with the same girl. Meanwhile, a group of rough craftsmen rehearse a badly-written play in the woods for the wedding of the Duke of Athens. Soon all find their lives changed by the actions of Oberon and Titania, the warring king and queen of the fairies. Magic, action, love and humour are the ingredients for this unforgettable spell.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesKing Lear
Season 1 Episode 22 - Aired 9/19/1982
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 loyal daughter, Lear is betrayed and cast out by her elder sisters Regan and Goneril. Meanwhile, evil brews at the Gloucester castle as Edgar falls victim to his brother's deception. As battle lines are drawn and backs are stabbed, Lear rages against a fearsome storm. Can a man undo his wrongs? Will Cordelia be saved? Or will the wheels of fate crush all in its way?
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesThe Merry Wives of Windsor
Season 1 Episode 23 - Aired 12/28/1982
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 together and compare missives, they plan a practical joke or two to teach the knight a lesson. But Mistress Ford's husband is a very jealous man and is pumping Falstaff for information of the affair. Meanwhile the Pages' daughter Anne is besieged by suitors.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesThe First Part of Henry the Sixth
Season 1 Episode 24 - Aired 1/2/1983
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 between Gloucester and his long-term rival, the Bishop of Winchester. Richard Plantagenet, having established a claim to the throne through the Mortimer line of his family, declares his animosity towards the Duke of Somerset. Charles the Dauphin, fortified by his alliance with Joan la Pucelle (Joan of Arc), dominates the battles in France. An uneasy peace is concluded between England and France, and Gloucester engineers a politically astute marriage between Henry and the Earl of Armagnac's daughter. Meanwhile, in France, Suffolk woos Margaret, daughter of the Duke of Anjou, to be Henry's queen and in order to gain her father's consent cedes the newly conquered French territories of Anjou and Maine. Suffolk persuades Henry, against opposition from the court, to marry Margaret and make her Queen of England.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesThe Second Part of Henry the Sixth
Season 1 Episode 25 - Aired 1/9/1983
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 Eleanor, the Duchess of Gloucester, aspires to the crown and is lured by a priest, John Hume, who is in the pay of Suffolk, to consult a witch about her ambitions. Somerset returns from France with the news of the loss of all English territories. York and others seize this opportunity to implicate Gloucester in the loss of France and to accuse him of treason.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesThe Third Part of Henry the Sixth
Season 1 Episode 26 - Aired 1/16/1983
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 destroy York. She enlists the support of Clifford and others to raise an army. Edward and Richard are informed of their father's murder and unite with Warwick, who proclaims Edward the new Duke of York. They raise an army and defeat the Lancastrians at Towton. Henry, Margaret and their son are forced to flee north. Henry is captured and brought to London, where he is placed in the Tower by the new King Edward. Warwick pledges support to Margaret, releasing Henry from the Tower and reinstating him as King of England. Warwick leaves London to muster his army, during which time Edward returns and recaptures Henry. The forces of Edward and Warwick meet at Barnet. Margaret's forces encounter Edward's for the last time at Tewkesbury, where, after much bloodshed, the Wars of the Roses seem finally to be over.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesThe Tragedy of Richard III
Season 1 Episode 27 - Aired 1/23/1983
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 brother, is a threat to the lives of Edward's two young sons. Edward has him imprisoned in the Tower of London; killers in Richard's pay then drown Clarence in a barrel of wine. When news of Clarence's death reaches the King, the subsequent grief and remorse bring about his death. Richard is made Lord Protector, with power to rule England while his nephew (now King Edward V) is still a minor. Before the young king's coronation he has his two nephews conveyed to the Tower, ostensibly for their safekeeping. Richard's accomplice, the Duke of Buckingham, then declares the two boys illegitimate and offers Richard the crown, which after a show of reticence he accepts. After Richard's coronation, he and Buckingham have a falling-out over whether or not to assassinate the two children.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesCymbeline
Season 1 Episode 28 - Aired 7/10/1983
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 (dressed as a boy) goes in search of her husband, who meanwhile has boasted to his pal Iachimo that Imogen would never betray him. And Iachimo's determined to prove him wrong.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesMacbeth
Season 1 Episode 29 - Aired 11/5/1983
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 Macbeth that he is fated to become King of Scotland, he attempts to forge his own destiny. Aided and encouraged by his wife, he embarks on a guilt-ridden reign of terror.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesThe Comedy of Errors
Season 1 Episode 30 - Aired 12/24/1983
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 will instantly put to death any Syracusean found within their borders unless a ransome's paid. Meanwhile, the son, Antipholus, and his servant, Dromio (also an identical twin), keep running into strangers who seem to know them.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesThe Two Gentlemen of Verona
Season 1 Episode 31 - Aired 12/27/1983
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 love with Silvia, daughter of the Duke of Milan, but then Proteus meets the captivating Silvia - and he too becomes besotted.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesThe Life & Death of King John
Season 1 Episode 33 - Aired 11/24/1984
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 deceased older brother Geoffrey. Matching the dispute over the throne is a dispute over inheritance in the noble Falconbridge family. French and English forces fight for the town of Angiers in France; a citizen proposes that the opponents should be united by a marriage between Lewis the Dauphin, heir to France, and John's niece, Lady Blanche. John is excommunicated for failing to agree to the Pope's choice for the post of Archbishop of Canterbury. The papal legate Cardinal Pandulph stirs the French to resume war against the English.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesPericles, Prince of Tyre
Season 1 Episode 34 - Aired 12/8/1984
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 another shipwreck. He loses his wife and daughter, and doesn't find them again until the story moves us through resurrection, attempted murder, pirates, prostitution, and divine revelation.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votesMuch Ado About Nothing
Season 1 Episode 35 - Aired 12/22/1984
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 side he's on. But unknown to all, Claudio's been tricked by the bastard Don John, and (unfortunately) it's up to Dogberry and Verges to solve the case.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
N/A/100 votes
N/A/100 votesTitus Andronicus
Season 1 Episode 37 - Aired 4/27/1985
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, Saturninus and Bassianus, are competing for their father's title. According to Roman custom, Titus sacrifices Tamora's eldest son to the Gods; having the deciding vote, he also chooses Saturninus as Emperor.
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
