shakespeare uncovered

PBS has a new show that fans of acting and actors, and most especially, William Shakespeare, are bound to enjoy. Each episode of Shakespeare Uncovered features a well-known actor tracing the steps of the Bard's famous plays.

The first episode, which featured actor Ethan Hawke examining Macbeth was a real treat. Hawke, known for his own interpretation of Hamlet, examined the possibilities of exploring the character of Macbeth, a part he yearns to play. He visited Scotland and spoke to other actors who had assayed the role. The episode also featured scenes from interpretations by actors Patrick Stewart and Antony Sher. Noted Shakespeare scholars also weigh in to give the play and its characters context. One of the more interesting observations that came up during the episode was that the Macbeths, for all of their murderous impulses, are one of Shakespeare's happier married couples. It is this sort of fresh look at an old play that most viewers may not have glanced at or thought about since high school English class that makes Shakespeare Uncovered so interesting to watch.

Ethan Hawke consults fellow actor Richard Easton on how to play the dagger scene in Macbeth

The next episode will feature actress Joely Richardson discussing Shakespeare's comedies Twelfth Night and As You Like It (it hasn't aired yet here, but has already aired on some PBS stations). That will be followed by Derek Jacobi on Richard II, Jeremy Irons on Henry IV and Henry V, and David Tennant examining Hamlet and The Tempest. I have to admit that I'm very eager to see Jacobi, one of my favorite actors, and his take. I remember seeing him do both Richard II and Hamlet as part of The BBC Television Shakespeare, an ambitious project to film all of the Bard's plays for television, when I was still in middle school. I have since come to learn that he is one of those who doubt that William Shakespeare actually wrote the plays. I disagree with this point of view, but still love him. It will be interesting to see if he butts heads with scholars on his episode.

Derek Jacobi as Richard II, John Gielgud as John of Gaunt

David Tennant as Hamlet, Patrick Stewart as Claudius

PBS also includes links to three filmed Shakespeare plays:

Macbeth, starring Patrick Stewart and Kate Fleetwood
Hamlet, starring David Tennant and Patrick Stewart
King Lear, starring Ian McKellen

This is a real treat for fans of Shakespeare and is making me want to hunt down some of those older late '70s - early '80s versions of the plays, too.

who do you Brits think you are?

Who Do You Think You Are? may have finished its latest run of shows, but that doesn't mean that the amateur genealogist has to go without. Imagine how happy I was to discover that my love for actor David Suchet, best known for his portrayal of Agatha Christie's famous Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot, and my interest in genealogy was combined in an episode from the British version of the series. I have loved watching the first two seasons of the American series, which it turns out is actually an offshoot of the British original, which originated in 2004 (and is still producing new episodes). Why am I not surprised — all the best television ideas seem to come from across the pond.

It was a little strange for me at first, just getting used to listening to Suchet in his own voice, own accent. I'm so used to the precise inflections he uses and slight accent for Poirot. It was amusing watching him realize that like his signature role, he would have to go on the trail for clues. At one point he was laughing as he pulled on white gloves to examine some old documents, "How many times have I done this before?" Of course this time, it's for some information that will directly affect him and his family.

Suchet found out the real source of his last name (not French, as he had been told) and travelled to England, France and the Ukraine. Thankfully, all of the episode, in six parts, can be watched on YouTube. Now that I've started watching the British version of the show, I can't stop. Other favorites I have queued up include Stephen Fry and David Tennant (both can also be watched on YouTube). The episodes I've watched have been narrated by British actor Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes, Stardust, Robin Hood).

Stephen Fry, as you might expect, was quite amusing in his episode. He was delighted to discover an ancestor, one of the "amazing Prings" was a pauper inmate in a London workhouse. His reaction?  "How Dickensian!" Fry had always been told that on his mother's side of the family, Jewish relatives were "killed by Hitler." This proved to be true, and he took an amazing emotional journey to Vienna and beyond to discover how tragic his relative's stories were.

My favorite Dr. Who, David Tennant, was initially also a bit surprising — to my ears — as I got used to his Scottish accent. Tennant knew next to nothing about his ancestors. He discovered a star athlete and a beauty queen and travelled from the Lowlands of Scotland to the Highlands. His quest also took him to Ireland, where he found it quite difficult at first to learn about his ancestor's involvement in "the troubles," Bloody Sunday, gerrymandering and poll-rigging.

Who Do You Think You Are is always an interesting history lesson. People find out not only about their relatives, but their relatives' part in history. I'm looking forward to digging up some more of these shows, and learning more as well. Zoë Wanamaker, Patsy Kensit, Robert Lindsay, and Graham Norton's shows all seem available. Hopefully more will be put up on YouTube or become available on DVD, as some of my favorites have also done episodes — Alan Cumming, John Hurt, Jeremy Irons, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Nigella Lawson.

which Doctor Who?

Article first published as Which Doctor Who? on Blogcritics.


As a single mother of a young child, it's a rare occurrence for me to do things when I want to—like catch a movie, take a nap, or watch a television show first-run. But movies come around on cable rotation, I sometimes nod off after dinner, and the bonus to not seeing a show when it's first aired is that I don't have to deal with all that pesky suspense—waiting from week to week to see what will happen next. After I tuck the kid into bed I can indulge in a mini-marathon of whatever is my "it" show of the moment.

The Doctors, from top to Bottom: Tom Baker 

(4th Doctor), Christopher Eccleston (9th Doctor), 

David Tennant (10th Doctor), Matt Smith 

(11th Doctor)

Take Doctor Who, for instance. But first you'll have to figure out which one. The Doctor has got to be one of the all-time lovable, exasperating, interesting and annoying characters ever on television. And he's been on television a long time. I've caught different Doctors through the years. I remember some '60s movie that I watched after school one afternoon, Dr. Who and the Daleks,with Peter Cushing as Doctor Who. It was corny and silly, but I liked the time machine/police telephone box. It intrigued me. It was years later before I learned it was called a TARDIS. I got more of a sense of the character when the Doctor Who series ran on PBS in the '80s and my mom, who had a crush on Tom Baker and his ever-present scarf, would watch faithfully. I couldn't really make heads or tails of the plots, but it was my mom's show, so I probably wasn't really paying too close attention.

I didn't independently watch a Doctor Who series until he was inhabited by Christopher Eccleston. I was surprised at how his shows seemed darker, more action-oriented, then what I expected and had seen previously from the Doctor. I liked them a lot. It really felt like my kind of sci-fi.

After catching a few syndicated reruns recently on the Syfy Channel, I was eager to watch more of Doctor Who. But I haven't so far been able to watch a complete story arc, or even the escapades of just one Doctor. At first I was a little put off by watching Doctor Who on-demand—I'd been recording shows and then catching one or two when I get a chance. It's not at all like getting a DVD and immersing oneself in a series or a season like I used to do with shows I'd missed on their first time out. I'm watching the Doctor Who episodes, and also the Doctors, out of sequence. I might see David Tennant try to save the world from Miss Hartigan and the Cybermen in Victorian garb and powering a gigantic robot in "The Next Doctor"—a very steampunk, very fun episode—and then the next episodes on the DVR might be ones introducing Matt Smith's Doctor, only to be followed by a familiar favorite featuring Eccleston. It's at times a bit confusing, but that only seems right, where the Doctor is concerned.

I'm finally getting to see what all the fuss was about with the latest Doctors: David Tennant and Matt Smith. Tennant's Doctor is as quirky as he should be, but he has a dark side. He wants to help people, but frequently thinks that he is the only one who knows how to do that, sometimes with disastrous results, as in "The Waters of Mars," where his manipulations to alter history have some very serious consequences. I am still wading through his shows, but his incarnation of the Doctor has all the fun and high spirits of how I remember my mom's Doctor, Tom Baker, with a dash of Eccleston's more melancholy, darker Doctor. Matt Smith's Doctor takes his predecessor's enthusiasm and brings it up a notch as he races through time and plots, always two or three steps ahead of his companions and the audience. He seems a bit more light-hearted, but I've seen fewer of his shows than Tennant's.

Watching this Doctor Who 9th, 10th, and 11th Doctor mash-up has actually enhanced my appreciation of the series and showcased the continuity as well as the differences in the actors' and show creators' approaches to the character. I will definitely have to go back and start these Doctors' stories from their beginnings, but at the moment I am enjoying not knowing which Who I wlll experience next. I recommend jumping around in time, and in sequence, with Doctor Who. I recently noticed that our local library has some early B&W Doctor Who episodes on DVD. I hadn't realized how many more Dr. Whos there were to discover. This could take my television time travel up another notch.