Much Ado About Nothing (1978)

Synopsis: A television production of the play that never made it to the screen. It was directed by Donald McWhinnie in 1978 with the intention of being shown as part of the first series of the BBC Television Shakespeare. Michael York was cast as Benedick and Penelope Keith as Beatrice. For reasons never quite known, it was eventually cancelled and substituted by a new production of the play which was shown towards the end of the cycle on 30 November 1984.
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Television
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Notes: FRONT ROW [9 April 2008] included an item on why the play had not been broadcast and concluded it was ‘a victim of BBC internal politics’, possibly a dispute between the series’ producers Cedric Messina and Shaun Sutton (Sutton pulled it, believing it ‘a flawed production’). Brief extracts from I i, and IV i were broadcast. According to the programme a copy exists in the BBC’s archives.
Subjects: Drama
Keywords: Shakespeare, William
Related items: Front Row [08/04/2008]