Category: TV Drama
Date: 15.03.2005
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Shirley Henderson, Rufus Sewell, Sarah Parish, Damian Lewis, James McAvoy and Keeley Hawes will star in three of the four modern adaptations of Shakespeare plays coming to Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ ONE this Autumn.
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Shirley Henderson will play Kate opposite Rufus Sewell's Petruchio in Sally Wainwright's version of The Taming of the Shrew.
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Vitriolic, aggressive and shrewish, Kate is an opposition MP who is instructed to find herself a husband to make her more electable.
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Twiggy Lawson, Stephen Tompkinson, David Mitchell and Jaime Murray also star in the romantic comedy which explores the complexities of relationships against a backdrop of glamorous London circles and politics.
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David Richards (Conviction, Reckless) directs.
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In David Nicholls' Much Ado About Nothing Sarah Parish will play Beatrice, presenter of a popular early evening regional news show whose ex-lover and arch enemy Benedick, played by Damian Lewis, is hired as her co-anchor.
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Brian Percival directs.
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Peter Moffat's Macbeth is transposed to the enclosed and heated world of a top restaurant kitchen and will star James McAvoy as Joe Macbeth and Keeley Hawes as Ella Macbeth, while Peter Bowker sets A Midsummer Night's Dream during a weekend in a holiday park.
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Mark Brozel will direct Macbeth, Ed Fraiman will direct A Midsummer Night's Dream.
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Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Head of Drama Series and Serials Laura Mackie
says: "There have been modern versions of Shakespeare before but these new interpretations remain true to the originals.
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"At the same time, they are unashamedly a very personal take by each writer - our aspiration is that they work on their own terms for a modern audience."
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The four Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ ONE films will form the centrepiece of a commitment across the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ this Autumn to engage and entertain the widest possible audience with Shakespeare's stories in new and original ways.
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To this end programming is planned across all channels, radio and online.
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The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ is also working with the Shakespeare Schools Festival on a celebration of Shakespeare with a one-off festival night across the UK on 3 July - in which 10,000 children (aged 11-16) from 400 schools will perform abridged plays in 100 theatres.
