The BBC has lined up new seasons of programming celebrating Shakespeare and London to coincide with next year’s London Olympics.
The Shakespeare season includes adaptations of Richard II, Henry IV (Parts I and II) and Henry V, which will star a host of acclaimed actors including Jeremy Irons, Patrick Stewart, Ben Whishaw and John Hurt.
Richard II completed filming in July and is currently in post-production. Filming on Henry V is due to begin this month and on the Henry IV plays in January 2012. All four plays will air next year on BBC2 and are being produced by Neal Street Productions.
The season will also include a range of other Shakespeare-related content to be aired across television, radio and online – including a BBC2, Felicity Kendal-fronted show that explores India’s love affair with Shakespeare, called Shakespeare, India and Me.
Elsewhere, the BBC’s London series of programming will includes a new film by director Julie Temple called This Is London. The BBC2 film will look at the city through the musicians, writers, artists and political radicals that have lived there and is being made by Nitrate Films.
Wide-Eyed Entertainment has been commissioned to produce a one-hour film for BBC4 called A Tale of Two Cities. This will be fronted by historian Dan Cruickshank and will cast an eye on 17th century London.
The London line-up will also include films about UK artists David Hockney and Lucian Freud, ahead of exhibitions, which form part of the London 2012 Festival. Both will appear on BBC2, the first a Culture Show special, the second made by Blakeway Productions. The BBC is also planning a programme on the making of Anish Kapoor’s Olympic Park sculpture.
As part of its contribution of the ‘Cultural Olympiad,’ which will culminate in the London 2012 Festival, the BBC is additionally planning its biggest ever free live music event, Radio 1 Hackney Weekend 2012.
Separately, the BBC said yesterday it had commissioned a string of new daytime commissions. A set of daytime dramas (5×45′) will all focus on the theme of adult literacy and will be made by Liverpool-based LA Productions, while a series of children’s shorts (5×15′) exploring sibling rivalry, parental illness and friendship will be made by Manchester-based Red Production.
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