Henry IV

Synopsis: BBC screen adaptation by John Caird which compresses both parts of Henry IV into a three-hour television drama focusing on the father/son relationships in the plays.
Series: Performance
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Television
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Transmission details: 28 Oct 1995 at 20:11 (Channel: BBC2)
Duration: 173 mins

Director

John Caird

Producer

Writer

Music

Costume

Art Direction

Contributor

Cast

Ronald Pickup	King Henry IV
Jonathan Firth	Prince Henry (Hal)
David Calder	Sir John Falstaff
Rufus Sewell	Henry Percy (Hotspur)
Paul Eddington	Jusice Shallow (Robert Shallow)
Ashley Artus	Gilliams
Cive Kneller	Simon Shadow
Corin Redgrave	Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester
Daniel Betts	Lord John of Lancaster
Daniel Worters	Falstaff’s page (Page)
Geoffrey Hutchings	Bardolph
Graham Aggrey	Peto
Graham Hubbard	Ralph Mouldy
James Grout	Justice Silence (Silence)
Jane Horrocks	Doll Tearsheet
John Dallimore	Francis Feeble
John Woodvine	Neville, Earl of Warwick
Jonathan Cullen	Poins
Joseph O’Conor	Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland
Josette Simon	Lady Percy
Paul Hamilton	Peter Bullcalf
Paul Webster	Sir Richard Vernon
Peter Jeffrey	Lord Chief Justice
Peter-Hugo Daly	Gadshill
Roger Allam	King Richard II
Simon McBurney	Pistol
Teddy Kempner	Davy
Teddy Kempner	Sheriff
Tim McMullan	Sir Walter Blunt
Toby Jones	Thomas Wart
Tom Curly	Prince John, as a young boy (Prince John of Lancaster)

Notes: Costume and setting employ Medieval and Elizabethan styles.
General: Made on a budget of £1 million, Caird’s production was the BBC’s biggest Shakespeare project since the close of the BBC Television Shakespeare series (1978-85).
History: Transmitted in two parts with five-minute break.
Figures: Viewing audience of 661 000 (consolidated viewing for the first part of the programme)
3% share of the viewing audience of BBC2 for that day
(Figures provided by BARB, the Broadcasters Audience Research Board, 1995)
Awards: Nominated for a BAFTA TV award in the category ‘Best Costume Design’ (Joan Wadge) in 1995.
Textual information: John Caird’s adaptation liberally cuts parts of the original Henry IV texts (removing almost everyone - to use Caird’s words - named after an English county) and pastes additional material from Richard II, Henry V, Henry VI Part 3 and The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Reviews: H.R. Coursen, "History and Television: Two Recent Productions" in his Shakespeare in Space: Recent Shakespeare Productions on Screen (New York et al.: Peter Lang, 2002), pp. 45-52.

British Universities Film & Video Council