Enjoyed watching this but Margaret of Anjou was terribly miscast.

Totally destroyed the illusion of the story for me.

Agree, the length of time where Margaret is young and (relatively) innocent just didn't work for Sophie. I know she commented that they filmed all the different parts of this epic simultaneously, so she could be an 'old hag' one scene, and then switching to 'intended bride' another. For me, this was the weak link - despite her brilliance in the later scenes. Sophie is 47 - basically far too old to play Margaret as a teenager. I get why they chose Sophie, because she played the whole 'she-wolf' thing brilliantly (and for me her race was a total non-issue), but the other scenes jarred, especially when Tom Sturridge is so young looking, and played the teenage king perfectly. I suppose you can handwave it all away that Margaret was a 'mother/father substitute' for the king, and allow for her looking older, when she certainly acted more maturely.

BTW, it always jars for me when Romeo and Juliet are played by obviously 20- or 30-somethings, so it's not just this! Also, I've seen Richard III previously, but not the Henry VI plays, so it's interesting to see what a Tudor-sponsored hatchet job Shakespeare did on all of the Plantagenets, not just the Hunchback Superbad! It's not subtle, is it?!! I am looking forward to next week's installment - Benedict was electrifying when delivering his monologues, so there'll be lots more of that!

Great productions so far - and brilliant soliloquies from the 'Batch. I hadn't realised they've had to condense three Henry plays into two TV adaptations leaving the last for Richard III. Also hadn't expected to see Andrew Scott as King Louis!

Well just watched Richard 3rd - Benedict Cumberbatch was fantastic. Conspiring with the viewer felt uncomfortable and yet thrilling. 2 hours just flew by. Amazing how Henry VII looked the polar opposite of the "bottled spider".
Of the three episodes I think the 2nd was my favourite but I think I must watch tonight's again. Keeley Hawes- a Shakespeare virgin did brilliantly. Judi Dench is simply a class act !

Looking at portraits of Elizabeth Woodville, Keeley was extremely well cast.

Benedict Cumberbatch nailed it. They obviously went for the classic R3 as a classic swivel eyed baddie - as per the text - and it worked. Kudos to everyone. For me the true test of a Shakespeare production is whether I understood it. For this production I did. Excellent

Cumberbatch excelled, not so enamoured by Henry VII or the miscasting of Margaret, the age just wasnt right. Dench was solid as always, the whole production was well done and even my Shakespeare loathing other half watched it.

Henry VII wasn't in it enough to critique. Luke Treadaway was a close copy of what Henry looked like in portraits. I think Shakespeare was on the Tudor payroll, and wanted to give a handsome, capable alternative to the crippled Richard. Margaret was miscast only by colour. As a performance I couldn't fault her, especially the final episode. I thought the series as a whole was excellent. Building to a terrific conclusion. If this doesn't win Emmy awards and Bafta's then nobody should.

Well we've just finished watching the whole Hollow Crown now, from Richard II to Richard III and it was fantastic. I agree that some of the roles were given to people of the wrong age as it were but the fact that I could follow what was going on and who was saying what to who was brilliant. After each episode we looked up all the characters and how they differed from how Shakespeare portrayed them and possibly what his agenda was.

Amazing how interbred they all were.