The first series is an adaptation of Shakespeare's second historical tetralogy, the Henriad: Richard II, Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2 and Henry V, starring Ben Whishaw, Jeremy Irons and Tom Hiddleston. By the end of the first film, with much blood already spilled, the spectre of hellishness to come looms in the crooked silhouette of the Duke of York’s third son, summoned into the story.The Hollow Crown is a series of British television film adaptations of William Shakespeare's history plays. We rejoin the story with Henry VI (Tom Sturridge) now the nominal monarch but all power vested in his uncle, Henry V’s brother Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (Hugh Bonneville). The grand narrative arc of more than a century of dynastic conflict between Yorkists and Lancastrians is brought compellingly into focus by Ben Power’s streamlined adaptation. The result, as spied from a press screening this week before the films’ broadcast in early May, is moreishly thrilling – and features a dazzling turn from one of the most talked about actors of our age. The latest instalment of The Hollow Crown – following on from the four plays, culminating in Henry V, which the BBC adapted in 2012 - has tidied the Henry VI plays into two two-hour films. In the theatre their contorted politics – featuring many characters named after counties and cathedrals – can have the feel of a marathon run in a maze. The Henry VI trilogy comprises the least loved of Shakespeare’s histories.
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