To mark the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death and to co-inside with the BBC’s Shakespeare season BBC2 has commissioned ‘Upstart Crow’, a new six part comedy series rumoured to be very much in the style of Blackadder and written by Ben Elton.
If you’re wondering about the title (as I was), it comes from the first reference to Shakespeare as a writer. In a pamphlet written by playwright and poet Robert Greene in 1592, the now famous playwright was attacked as an “upstart crow”, implying that Shakespeare stole ideas from others. The sitcom apparently takes place in that year, and taking the role of Robert Green will be Mark Heap (Spaced, Friday Night Dinner). The rest of the cast are as follows:
Harry Enfield as Will’s dad, John Shakespeare; Paula Wilcox (Emmerdale) as Will’s mum; Liza Tarbuck (Linda Green, Mount Pleasant) as Anne Hathaway; Helen Monks (Raised by Wolves) as Will’s daughter Susannah; Gemma Whelan (Game of Thrones) as Kate; Will’s nemesis; Steve Speirs (Big School) as Burbage; Tim Downie (Paddington, Toast of London) as Marlowe; Dominic Coleman (Peaky Blinders, Trollied) as Kempleton; Spencer Jones (Big Babies) as a member of Burbage’s company; and Rob Rouse (Grownups) as Bottom.
The show will be broadcast in April 2016 I’ll post more information as I find it.
A Dose Of David Mitchell 