Produced by Blakeway `Shakespeare Uncovered' is a series of six films that tell the stories behind and reveal the wonders within some of Shakespeare's greatest plays.

This extraordinary series of unique films, will combine new analysis and personal passion. Through these films we investigate and reveal the extraordinary world and works of William Shakespeare and their still vivid impact today. The films combine interviews with actors, directors, and scholars, visits to all the most important and exciting locations – clips from some of the most celebrated productions and excerpts from the plays especially rehearsed and performed at Shakespeare’s Globe.

Epiodes: 

Comedies  - Joely Richardson – Tues  June 19th – BBC4

Macbeth – Ethan Hawke – Tues June 26th – BBC4

Richard II – Derek Jacobi - Sat 30th June – BBC2

Tempest – Trevor Nunn – Tues July 3rd – BBC4

Henries – Jeremy Irons  – Sat 7th July – BBC2

Hamlet – David Tennant  - Sat 14th July – BBC2

In Twelfth Night and As You Like It, Joely Richardson investigates (with a major contribution from her mother Vanessa Redgrave) the legacy of the two great comedies and the great comic heroines created by Shakespeare in those hugely popular plays.

In Macbeth, Ethan Hawke sets out to prepare himself for the possibility of playing the role by uncovering the true story behind the play, seeing some of the greatest productions and discovering the extraordinary insights into the criminal mind that Shakespeare reveals.

In Richard II, Derek Jacobi returns to a role he played 30 years ago, helps actors at the Globe with aspects of the play, reveals why it might have cost Shakespeare his life - and shares with us some of the extraordinary political parallels within the play that still resonate today – (with interviews and clips from the new BBC film of the play).

In Hamlet, David Tennant whose own RSC performance was a huge hit, meets other actors who have played the role – from the legendary David Warner in the 1960s to the recent Jude Law. He also tries, alongside Simon Russell Beale and Ben Whishaw to unravel the meaning of the play and the reason why it is considered the greatest play Shakespeare ever wrote

In Henry IV and Henry V, Jeremy Irons (who is playing Henry IV in the new BBC films) uncovers the extraordinary appeal of Shakespeare’s “History Plays”. He unravels the differences between the real history and the drama that Shakespeare creates. He discovers what William’s sources were – and how he distorts them!  And he invites us behind the scenes at the filming of some of the most important scenes in the new films of all of these plays.

In The Tempest, the legendary director Trevor Nunn, (who has directed 30 of Shakespeare’s 37 plays and is determined to complete them all before he retires), takes us through the magical and mysterious world created in Shakespeare’s last complete play. He uncovers where Shakespeare got this material from and the strange personal insights hidden within it. It is a truly experimental work but sadly perhaps it is also Shakespeare’s farewell to the theatre.  Within only a few years of its completion he died.