Othello kills his wife ... Love him or hate him we have to understand Othello. David Harewood, My Shakespeare s1e4: Othello
For Desdemona, Othello opened up a brand new world. ibid.
The play King Lear is dark and desperate yet it is one of the most cherished of Shakespeare’s works. Christopher Plummer, My Shakespeare s1e5: King Lear
Above all it is his mind that will be tortured. ibid.
What do we need to be human? ibid.
That humanity for me is the beauty of the play. ibid.
This play is so deeply ingrained in our popular culture ... Every line seems to be a quotation. David Tennant, My Shakespeare s2e1: Hamlet
We the audience become his confidants. ibid.
Hamlet starts to doubt his mission. Should he trust the ghost? ibid.
Hamlet is at the mercy of the man he loathes ... The King is determined to get rid of Hamlet. ibid.
Hamlet comes face to face with mortality. ibid.
Can he kill a king? ibid.
This is the story of one man who will kill his way to win the Scottish throne. Ethan Hawke, My Shakespeare s2e2: Macbeth
This tale of serial murder is the darkest and strangest of all Shakespeare’s plays. ibid.
Macbeth explores our capacity for violence and evil. ibid.
Twelfth Night ... For me this play speaks to all our hopes and dreams. The chance to start again, the prospect of a whole new world. Joely Richardson, My Shakespeare s2e3: Twelfth Night
At the centre of this play and driving the plots of all of Shakespeare’s comedies are his extraordinary comic heroines. ibid.
Richard II murdered, some say, over six hundred years ago. Sir Derek Jacobi, My Shakespeare s2e4: Richard II
It’s a brutal and forensic examination of Richard’s catastrophic mental collapse. ibid.
At the height of his powers William Shakespeare sat down to write three plays for his company ... The story of a king who stole the crown ... The new young king takes his country to war. Jeremy Irons, My Shakespeare s2e5: Henry IV & Henry V
History plays were the big hit shows of the 1590s. ibid.
He became king by deposing a king, a crime against the law of divine right, a crime against God himself. ibid.
I can’t help wondering, have we learnt anything? ibid.
They are at your mercy – so what are you going to do? Trevor Nunn, My Shakespeare s2e6: The Tempest
Among Shakespeare’s strangest characters – Caliban. ibid.
We get closest to the workings of the mind of that genius William Shakespeare. ibid.