Watching this now...

Patrick Stewart as John of Gaunt looks remarkably like Colonel Gaddaffi

This was my O Level text. That dates me... And I remembered John of Gaunt's speech. 'this earth, this realm, this England'
Brilliant stuff so far.

http://www.spikednation.com/sites/de...uOvKOIGC0w.jpg

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/...i_1550901c.jpg

One of us is living in an alternative reality I'm doing a rewatch of Twin Peaks at the mo. So it could be me.

Hope we get an intermission.

Especially when he was wearing that brown head-dress...

Me too, we had to memorise chunks of it and I keep hearing things I still remember. Much better to watch than to read.

Ben Whishaw is doing a great job as a rather fey & slightly loopy Richard

"Go and boil your bottoms! I fart in your general direction..."

Richard is really off - needs to be sectioned NOW...

The coconuts are calling me..... time to dig out the DVD I think

Is that really Ben Whishaw in the coffin, or a dummy?

ps. the coffin is a tad too small

That was absolutely brilliant! Here's hoping the rest are as good

That was excellent

ooh the credits have Sam Mendes as executive producer... isn't he Kate Winslet's ex?

ooh it's Father Cadfael...

Slight change from the play there in terms of who presents the dead body, but generally that was really, really good

Very impressive. The words were actually communicated well.

Yes he is and he's one of the exec producers for all of the films in this series.

It seems like this was impressive - will check it out tomorrow.

Absolutely brilliant. Ben Wishaw was phenomenal.

Totally agree. Was this the best-ever TV Shakespeare?

Excellent start. If the whole series is as good as this opener, then the BBC will have a landmark series on their hands. Well done to all those who worked on this project.

Next weeks offering - Henry IV Part 1
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01ktf9g

I have read a few poems attributed to Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, and they are the most amateurish shite imaginable, the work of a very mediocre poet, with simplistic notions. Shakespeare's words and metaphors are complicated, sophisticated and very clever.

The only poets worse than de Vere are William Mcgonagall and John Betjeman.

I hope if the Hollow Crown is a success, they'll consider making a follow up with Henry VI and Richard III or maybe a similar linked series, maybe a Roman trilogy with Julius Caesar, Titus Andronicus and Anthony and Cleopatra or a Shipwrecked trilogy consisiting of Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Error and The Tempest.

That was fantastic and Ben Wishaw was absolutely brilliant.

In other words, do a brand new, up to date, Shakespeare collection? I think it's due.

I loved that - I thought Ben Wishaw's portrayal of Richard was good. Emotionally unstable! And Bolingbroke the opposite, I thought - completely calculating. But sometimes he felt remorse, you could see it in his eyes.

Only thing I could have done without were the comic-book Welshmen.

D. Jacobi's programme was also interesting, though I always feel vicariously insulted when someone says Shakespeare couldn't have wriiten the plays because he was only a grammar school boy, and not aristocracy. Are the aristocracy noted for their intelligence, then? Can't say I've seen much sign of it. But I digress.

There's a programme about the Tempest next week, lovely! I am having a good time at the moment, with all this good stuff on! I hope it's a sign of things to come on the BBC.

I know - I don't have much time for the anti-Stratfordian view either. Apparently Shakespeare would still have had a classical education at grammar school; it's completely plausible that he would have been educated well enough to have written the plays.