Love’s Labour’s Lost

Synopsis: Televised adaptation of the play produced by Cedric Messina. With Martin Shaw (Ferdinand), Jeremy Brett (Berowne), Maurice Denham (Armado), Sinéad Cusack (Rosaline) and Jonathan Cecil (Holofernes).
Series: Play of the Month
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Television
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Year of release: 1975
Transmission details: 14 Dec 1975 at 22:15 (Channel: BBC1)
Duration: 120 mins

Notes: This was the last of Cedric Messina’s series of Shakespeare productions for BBC’s Play of the Month slot before he subsequently embarked on the BBC Television Shakespeare cycle (1978-85).
History: The first production of the play made specifically for television. It was shot entirely on location in the gardens of Glyndebourne in Sussex, England.
Stills: A still with Cusack and Brett is reproduced in The Radio Times, 13 December 1975, p.26.
Reviews: For Messina’s treatment of Shakespeare’s plays, his role as producer and television as a popular medium see Margaret Drabble, "The Messina Touch", Radio Times, 13 December 1975, p.15.

British Universities Film & Video Council