OK, it was actually in Shakespeare Uncovered, a six-part miniseries that originated on the BBC that combines “history, biography, iconic performances, new analysis and the personal passions of its celebrated subject” (so says the PBS website). I watched the first two eps in the wee hours of the morning, with Ethan Hawke focusing on Macbeth and Joely Richardson (with able assistance from her mother, Vanessa Redgrave) hosting an hour devoted to some of Shakespeare’s comedies. I very much enjoyed both–lots of food for thought and wonderful to see so many of my favorite actors emoting the Bard’s timeless words– and have them DVRed so I can revisit when I like.
My fellow Americans should check your local PBS listings if you want to join in on viewing this impressive series.
The first ep with Hawke featured snippets of various filmed and televised performances from over the years, including the Antony Sher production for the RSC with Richard playing the role of Angus. The blog post I recently did on RA with a compilation of his clips is linked below (“RA in the Scottish Play“) if you happened to miss it.
I admit I squeed with delight when I saw that handsome bearded young man in military costume seated at the table and had to share the moment whilst chatting on Twitter at 1:30 a.m. Yep, should have been asleep. Downton Abbey sort of put a kibosh on that (as mentioned in previous post, not a cheery ep).
He’s gone from the background to the forefront, and I am so very, very proud of him. More handsome, more confident, more charismatic than ever and such an amazing talent that goes from strength to strength. It’s wonderful to look back and to ponder what may lie ahead for my favorite actor.
Richard in screencaps from the televised production of RSC’s Macbeth filmed at the Roundhouse Theatre. Caps courtesy of Richard Armitage Central.
Related articles
- RA in the Scottish Play: Video Clips (thearmitageeffect.wordpress.com)
- TV Friday: Ethan Hawke takes on Shakespeare’s Macbeth (o.canada.com)
- You: PBS series ‘Shakespeare Uncovered’ to dig deep into Bard’s plays (latimes.com)
- Jeremy Irons Talks about “Shakespeare Uncovered” on PBS (jeremyirons.net)
the armitage effect 
Good night on British TV last night Angie. First the “Dead Tree Island Leopards” documentary then “The Vicar of Dibley” then “Strikeback” what more could a Richard girl want. Needless to say I watched them all lol
See. we never get those kinds of nights, not even with BBCA. I actually lucked into seeing part of an ep of Dead Tree Island on Nat Geo here. Normally that substitute an American narrator (as if we couldn’t understand Richard!) but for some reason, they didn’t on this occasion. *sigh*
Okay, I now have a television set and it functions. Now I need some cables and maybe I can pull in a couple of Spanish channels. Still, if I can look at the BBC schedules and hit it just right, there is a site where I can get streaming video on my computer. Maybe one of these nights I’ll get lucky. (RH is carried on the boing channel here at 6:00 p.m., but it’s dubbed.)
Enjoying your posts. Thanks.
We have here a channel whose name can be translated as Film Café which carries currently Robin Hood S3. It started in December with S1 and then S2. It’s a cable channel for Hungary, Poland, Romania and Czech Republic, I believe.
Could somebody tell me if the Robin Hood DVD extras on the UK version are also present on the US DVDs? (I have a multiregion player.) From the description at amazon, the American dvds do not seem to have any… is this true?
Hi, and welcome! I have the UK versions but I also purchased the US version box set of RH for my sister who doesn’t have a multiregion player, and it had the extras. I would assume the individual seasons do, too.
Hope this helps.
Thank you.
I watched the Shakespeare with Ethan Hawke and was looking for Richard, but I also was reading blogs at the same time and missed him. I guess I don’ mutitask so great all the time.
LOL I know how that goes. He didn’t really have any lines in the scenes they showed, so you wouldn’t have heard those dulcet tones to alert you.