The Hollow Crown (TV series)

The Hollow Crown
Genre	Historical drama Shakespeare
Based on	Selected works of William Shakespeare's history plays
Directed by	Rupert Goold Richard Eyre Thea Sharrock Dominic Cooke
Starring	Cycle I Ben Whishaw Jeremy Irons Tom Hiddleston Cycle II Benedict Cumberbatch Judi Dench Sophie Okonedo Michael Gambon Angus Imrie
Music by	Cycle I Stephen Warbeck (2 episodes) Adam Cork (1 episode) Adrian Johnston (1 episode) Cycle II Dan Jones
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
Production
Executive producer(s)	Sam Mendes
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 (111 minutes) Henry VI, Part II and Henry VI, Part III (123 minutes) Richard III (130 minutes)
Production company(s)	Neal Street Productions NBCUniversal WNET
Release
Original network	BBC Two PBS
Original release	30 June 2012 (2012-06-30)
External links
Website	www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00s90hz

The Hollow Crown is a series of British television film adaptations of 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 and Henry V,^[1] starring Ben Whishaw, Jeremy Irons and Tom Hiddleston. Olivier Award winners Rupert Goold, Richard Eyre and Thea Sharrock directed the telefilms,^[2] which were produced by Rupert Ryle-Hodges for BBC Two and executive produced by Sam Mendes and Pippa Harris under Neal Street Productions in association with NBCUniversal. The first series, which aired in the United Kingdom in 2012, 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, and 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]

The BBC aired the concluding cycle in 2016 as The Hollow Crown – The Wars of the Roses, a reference to Wars of the Roses.^[4] The plays were produced in 2015 by the same team that made the first series of films but were directed by the former artistic director of Royal Court Theatre and Olivier Award winner, Dominic Cooke.^[5] They are based on Shakespeare's first tetralogy: Henry VI, Part I, Henry VI, Part II, Henry VI, Part III and Richard III.^[6] The adaptation presents Henry VI in two parts, incorporating all three Henry VI plays. In April 2014, BBC Two announced that Benedict Cumberbatch would play King Richard III.^[7]

Cast and crew

The Hollow Crown (2012)

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

The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses (2016)

The second cycle of The Hollow Crown are 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]

Parts of the series were filmed in Kent at Squerryes Court and Penshurst Place.^[12]

The concluding cycle of plays were produced in 2015 by the same team that made the first series and were directed by Dominic Cooke. Richard III was 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."^[13]

Once again, the production returned to Kent for The Wars of The Roses, filming at Dover Castle, Leeds Castle and Penshurst Place.^[14]

Broadcast

The first four plays aired on consecutive Saturday evenings 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 play was shown a second time the following evening on BBC Four.^[15] The plays were shown in the United States from 20 September to 11 October 2013 as part of the PBS Great Performances series.^[16]

All four plays were shown again on consecutive evenings on BBC Four in April 2016 as part of the BBC Shakespeare Festival commemorating the 400th anniversary of the playwright's death.

The second cycle of plays aired on consecutive Saturday evenings on BBC Two commencing Saturday 7 May 2016.^[17][18]

Home media

The overseas and DVD rights for The Hollow Crown series are owned by NBC Universal.^[19] A Region 2 DVD set of the four films was released on 1 October 2012.^[20] A Region 1 DVD set was released on 17 September 2013.^[21] A 2-disc DVD set of The Wars of the Roses was released on 20th June 2016.

Soundtrack

The original music soundtrack from The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses composed by Dan Jones was released on the Wave Theory Records label in June 2016 and performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales^[22][23]

Awards

Cycle I

References

External links

• The Hollow Crown – Extras
• The Hollow Crown on IMDb
• The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses - About the Series
• The Hollow Crown: Shakespeare’s History Plays - About the Series