Bard on the box
‘The Hollow Crown' takes its inspiration from Shakespeare's history plays and is the latest TV adaptation by the BBC
Would Shakespeare today be working as a scriptwriter for the HBO channel? The idea has become a popular one among fans and critics of TV series. Yet, it is also one of those things that has helped television fiction gain greater legitimacy as a genuine cultural phenomenon. It has become normal to hear of Game of Thrones described as a medieval fantasy series with a Shakespearean twist, while the characters in House of Cards are clearly modelled on Richard III and Lady Macbeth. Five years ago, in an interview with Jorge Carrión about his book, Teleshakespeare, the writer spoke about the idea of classic literature inspiring modern popular culture: “Shakespeare, Cervantes, Dickens, were all popular authors in their time and just like them today there are professionals who think a lot about the contemporary world, such as David Simon (The Wire), in a way that yes, there could be certain parallels between the work of Shakespeare and HBO scriptwriters.”
Shakespeare certainly knew how to portray men and women in their social and historical contexts, while revealing their desires, ambitions and fears. The popularity of the English playwright's influence is still alive today. In fact, Shakespeare is more present than ever on television, and he even appeared as a character in the star episode of the third series of the UK's science fiction series, Dr Who.
Beyond his influence as an omniscient scriptwriter, Shakespeare is also still popular thanks to television adaptations of his work. And no one does that better than the BBC. In 2012, the BBC brought out The Hollow Crown, a mini-series about the royal dynasty in Shakespeare's history plays. The Hollow Crown deserved praise for the way it maintained the spirit of the theatre despite being a TV drama, and as a critical success, it earned itself a second season. The BBC has now finished making that sequel season, which will recreate the drama of the War of the Roses, with Benedict Cumberbatch –who played Hamlet in a Barbican production for the National Theatre– in the role of Richard III. With him will be one of the great names of both UK theatre and television, Shakespearean actor, Judi Dench.