Upstart Crow

With a family in Stratford and his theatre company in London, the Bard is burning the candle at both ends in series three. His teenage daughter Sue is as stroppy as ever, best mate Kit Marlowe is in danger, and neighbour Kate is desperate to be an actress – despite the fact it’s still illegal for women to do anything interesting. Meanwhile, Will has been working on his masterpiece, Hamlet. Pity everyone think it’s a comedy. Love potions are sweeping through Stratford and there’s something a little off about Love’s Labour’s Licked.

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  E1Lord, What Fools These Mortals Be!

  Aug 29, 2018· 30m

  Will needs inspiration for his new play A Midsummer Night's Dream. Meanwhile how can he get hold of some love potion, and where is Bottom going to put that stuffed donkey head?

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  E2Wild Laughter in the Throat of Death

  Sep 5, 2018· 30m

  Will Shakespeare has been working on his masterpiece. His friends tell him it's his greatest comedy yet, but Will insists that Hamlet isn't actually meant to be funny.

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  E3If You Prick Us, Do We Not Bleed?

  Sep 12, 2018· 30m

  London is full of anti-immigrant rioting. Will looks forward to an age when such sentiments are long-gone, but in the meantime he and the players plan to do their bit to help those worse off than themselves with a fund-raising charity gala night. “Inflated Pig's Bladder Day” is a triumph.

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  E4Sigh No More

  Sep 19, 2018· 30m

  When Kate stands in for Sue at the masked ball she accidentally sets off a chain of events that leaves Sue humiliated by the other local teenagers and Will needs to come up with a ruse to turn the tables on the bullies. Meanwhile in all the confusion Hamnet has gone missing.

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  E5The Most Unkindest Cut of All

  Sep 26, 2018· 30m

  Will's troupe plot against each other, but his defusing of the situation helps give him a better idea for his new play about Julius Caesar.

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  E6Go On and I Will FollowFinale

  Oct 3, 2018· 30m

  As Will wrestles with temptation a bigger threat to his family lurks in the wings.

In series two, Shakespeare runs his quill-ink dry with stories of jealous African generals, teenage daughters in desperate need of taming, and a musical play that may (or may not) go by the title of 'Fourth Night'.

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  E1The Green Eyed Monster

  Sep 11, 2017· 30m

  When a dashing African Prince comes to town, Will decides to befriend him.

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  E2I Know Thee Not, Old Man

  Sep 18, 2017· 30m

  When his old teacher invites himself to stay, Will must confront some awful memories.

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  E3I Did Adore a Twinkling Star

  Sep 25, 2017· 30m

  Will has to write a romance set in an exotic foreign location Kate has fallen for Marlowe.

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  E4Food of Love

  Oct 2, 2017· 30m

  Will Shakespeare has invented an amazing new dramatic form: the greatest hits musical.

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  E5Beware My Sting!

  Oct 9, 2017· 30m

  The women in Will's life are not impressed with his play about a strong woman humiliated.

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  E6Sweet SorrowFinale

  Oct 16, 2017· 30m

  Will's finished Romeo and Juliet but now there's competition over who will play Juliet.

It's 1592 and Will Shakespeare is at the beginning of his career. His early work is looked down on by the literary establishment, and he's not taken seriously at home. Follow the Bard's fictional early life and the rather surprising stories about where his best ideas came from.

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  E1Star Crossed Lovers

  May 9, 2016· 30m

  Episode one sees Will struggle to find inspiration for Romeo while having to deal with an angry actor, a very annoying house-guest and his family’s not terribly helpful script suggestions.

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  E2The Play's the Thing

  May 16, 2016· 30m

  Just when Will’s controversial new play is about to be presented to Queen Elizabeth, it goes missing. As the finger of suspicion points to his best friend Marlowe, can Will come up with a way to recover his stolen masterpiece? Given its politically sensitive content, is he really wise to want it back?

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  E3The Apparel Proclaims The Man

  May 23, 2016· 30m

  Will hopes to move up in the world when he is invited to a high-society party hosted by Lord Southampton, but is unsure what a poorly-educated country boy should wear to one of London's most upmarket events. The playwright's rival Sir Robert Greene offers him some fashion tips, but is it a double bluff, a triple bluff, or something even more fiendish?

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  E4Love is Not Love

  May 30, 2016· 30m

  Will has completed his final sonnet and senses literary immortality just around the corner. But will the fair youth and the dark lady like them as much as he hopes? And is Anne likely to be impressed that her husband’s 154 hot new love poems don’t contain much about her?

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  E5What Bloody Man is That?

  Jun 6, 2016· 30m

  The plague leads Will and his friends to escape to the family home in Stratford. On the way, they meet three witches who have some surprising predictions to make about Will’s future, leading to a very serious case of house envy.

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  E6The Quality of MercyFinale

  Jun 13, 2016· 30m

  When Will's savings go missing, he is forced to make an unusual bargain with his rival. Kate's frustration with the lack of roles for women leads her to make a dramatic intervention.