Shakespeare

Synopsis

Television documentary series. The series examines the influence of famous British people. From a list of 100 people nominated by the public, the list was reduced to ten, each personality then becoming the subject of an hour-long documentary. The contenders for ‘greatest Briton’ were Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Sir Winston Churchill, Oliver Cromwell, Charles Darwin, Diana, Princess of Wales, Elizabeth I, John Lennon, Horatio Nelson, Isaac Newton and Shakespeare. In this programme actress Fiona Shaw puts the case for Shakespeare. Churchill was the eventual winner.

Series

Great Britons

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Medium

Television

Technical information

Colour / Sound

Transmission details

8 Nov 2002 at 21:00 (Channel: BBC2)

Duration

60 mins

Credits

Director

Gerry Pomeroy

Contributor

Fiona Shaw

Additional Details

Production type

Documentary/Educational/News

Subjects

Drama

Keywords

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); national identity; Heritage industry

Notes

Reviews

An assessment of Fiona Shaw’s advocacy for Shakespeare, and how Shakespeare is used as a symbol for British heritage, is given in ‘Brushing Up Shakespeare: Relevance and Televisual Form’ by Roberta E. Pearson and William Uricchio in A Concise Companion to Shakespeare on Screen edited by Diana E. Henderson (Oxford, Blackwell, 2006) pp. 197-215.

Production Company

Name

BBC

Notes

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Archive

Name

BFI National Archive

Web

http://www.bfi.org.uk/archive-collections/searching-access-collections/research-viewing-services External site opens in new window

Phone

020 7255 1444

Fax

020 7436 0165

Address

21 Stephen Street
London
W1T 1LN

Name

Learning on Screen Off-Air Recording Back-up Service

Email

services@bufvc.ac.uk

Web

http://bufvc.ac.uk/tvandradio/offair External site opens in new window

Phone

020 7393 1514

Fax

020 7393 1555

Address

For Learning on Screen Members only
77 Wells Street
London
W1T 3QJ