The Hollow Crown

Shakespeare is just not my fella.

A generally well-made adaptation of the Henriad to television, effectively turning it into a series and bringing the Shakespearean dialogue to cinematic life in a way that may appeal to a wide audience. Season One: starts strongly but Henry V is a little weaker. Season Two fails to match the first, seeming somehow to have a shallower focus on power and its machinations, and to be limited by its status as a TV program rather than being opened up by that fact.

These are uneven and sometimes a bit too abbreviated, but they're well worth watching as an introduction to Shakespeare's history plays. I found the 'Richard I' particularly thought provoking, but each successive portrayal of kingship enriches its predecessor. And we all must reconcile our Falstaff dialectic somehow.