Upstart Crow.

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.

01

Star Crossed Lovers

2016-05-09 · 30m7.0

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.

02

The Play's the Thing

2016-05-16 · 30m8.0

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?

03

The Apparel Proclaims The Man

2016-05-23 · 30m8.0

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?

04

Love is Not Love

2016-05-30 · 30m7.7

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?

05

What Bloody Man is That?

2016-06-06 · 30m8.0

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.

06

The Quality of Mercy

2016-06-13 · 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.