The Hollow Crown (TV series)

The Hollow Crown
Genre	Historical drama Shakespeare
Starring	Cycle I Ben Whishaw Jeremy Irons Tom Hiddleston Cycle II Benedict Cumberbatch Judi Dench Sophie Okonedo Michael Gambon
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
Production
Producer(s)	Rupert Ryle-Hodges
Running time	Cycle I Richard II (148 minutes) Henry IV Part I (120 minutes) Henry IV Part II (121 minutes) Henry V (139 minutes) Cycle II Henry VI, Part I (TBC) Henry VI, Part II and Henry VI, Part III (TBC) Richard III (TBC)
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC Two PBS

The Hollow Crown is a series of British television films featuring William Shakespeare's History Plays.

The first cycle is an adaptation of Shakespeare's second historical tetralogy, the Henriad: Richard II, Henry IV, Part I and Henry IV, Part II (treated as one film in two parts in the series) and Henry V.^[1] It starred Ben Whishaw, Jeremy Irons and Tom Hiddleston. Olivier Award winners, Rupert Goold, Richard Eyre and Thea Sharrock directed the telefilms.^[2] It was produced by Rupert Ryle-Hodges for BBC Two and was executive produced by Sam Mendes and Pippa Harris under Neal Street Productions in association with NBCUniversal. The first series aired in the United Kingdom in 2012. The first series of films received positive reviews from critics. Ben Whishaw and Simon Russell Beale won British Academy Television Awards for Leading actor and Supporting actor for their performances. Jeremy Irons was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best Actor for his role as Henry IV. The first episode, Richard II, was nominated for the Best Single Drama at the BAFTAs.^[3]

In March 2014, the BBC set a tentative airing date of 2016 for the concluding cycle of The Hollow Crown subtitled The Wars of the Roses as a reference to the scope of the series.^[4] It will be produced by the same team that made the first series of films and will be directed by the former artistic director of Royal Court Theatre and Olivier Award winner, Dominic Cooke.^[5] It will be based on Shakespeare's first tetralogy: Henry VI, Part I with Henry VI, Part II, and Henry VI, Part III condensed in one film and Richard III.^[6] In April 2014, BBC Two announced that Benedict Cumberbatch will play King Richard III.^[7]

Cast and crew

The Hollow Crown

From left to right: Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V

The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses

The second cycle of The Hollow Crown will be based on Shakespeare's history plays about Henry VI (left) and Richard III (right).

Production

The BBC scheduled the screening of Shakespeare's history plays as part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad, a celebration of British culture coinciding with the 2012 Summer Olympics.^[9] Sam Mendes signed up as executive producer to adapt all four plays in September 2010.^[10] He is joined as executive producer by Pippa Harris (both representing Neal Street Productions), Rupert Ryle-Hodges as producer, Gareth Neame (NBCUniversal), and Ben Stephenson (BBC).^[11]

The concluding cycle of films will be produced by the same team that made the first series. It will be directed by Dominic Cooke. Richard III will be played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Executive producer Pippa Harris stated, "The critical and audience reaction to The Hollow Crown series set the bar high for Shakespeare on screen, and Neal Street (Productions) is delighted to be making the concluding part of this great History cycle. By filming the ‘Henry VI’ plays as well as ‘Richard III,’ we will allow viewers to fully appreciate how such a monstrous tyrant could find his way to power, bringing even more weight and depth to this iconic character.”^[12]

Broadcast

The first four films were aired on consecutive Saturday nights on BBC Two between 30 June and 21 July 2012. The start time of Henry IV, Part I on 7 July was delayed by an hour because of coverage of the 2012 Wimbledon Championships, and the film was shown a second time the following evening on BBC Four.^[13] The films were shown in the United States from 20 September to 11 October 2013 as part of the PBS Great Performances series.^[14]

The second cycle of films has a tentative airing date of 2016.^[15]

Home media

The overseas and DVD rights for The Hollow Crown series are owned by NBC Universal.^[16] A Region 2 DVD set of the four films was released on 1 October 2012.^[17] A Region 1 DVD set was released on 17 September 2013.^[18]

Awards

Cycle I

References

External links

• The Hollow Crown at the Internet Movie Database