Synopsis
Michael Wood tells the extraordinary story of an ordinary woman in a time of revolution. Born under Henry VIII, Mary Arden is the daughter of a Warwickshire farmer, but she marries into a new life in the rising Tudor middle class in Stratford upon Avon. There she has eight children, three of whom die young. Her husband becomes mayor but is bankrupted by his shady business dealings. Faced with financial ruin, religious persecution, and power politics, the family is the glue that keeps them together until they are rescued by Mary's successful eldest son - William Shakespeare!
Cleopatra and Me: In Search of a Lost Queen
Was Cleopatra a seductress or a great politician? Shakespeare scholar Dr Islam Issa's exploration of why history and literature have recorded two very different Cleopatras.
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British classical actor, Sir Derek Jacobi, uncovers the secret of David Garrick, Georgian Britain's superstar actor and the man who reinvented acting for the modern era.