CinemaSerf

7.0

June 08, 2024

Henry IV, Part 1: I think sometimes when us Brits moan about the BBC licence fee we are apt to forget that following in the tradition of the excellent "I Claudius" and "Elizabeth R" it can produce some of the finest drama to be seen on the small or the big screen. This is the first part of the comical drama depicting the start of the latt...

CinemaSerf

7.0

June 08, 2024

Henry IV, Part 2: Though this hasn't quite the characterful potency of the first part of the Henry IV story, it's still a compelling couple of hours that depicts the decline of one king and the ascension of another. Henry IV (Jeremy Irons) and his court have slightly revised their opinions of the young "Hal" (Tom Hiddleston) following his...

CinemaSerf

7.0

June 08, 2024

Henry V: With Henry V now firmly on the throne, this drama moves on to challenge not only the robustness of his character but also Tom Hiddleston's characterisation - and I didn't really love the latter. His success in the Henry IV stories was as much to do with his evolving personable playboy persona accompanied by some solidly entertain...

CinemaSerf

7.0

June 09, 2024

Richard II: With Bollingbrooke (Rory Kinnear) and Mowbray (James Purefoy) at each other's throats over treason allegations, it falls to their king (Ben Whishaw) to try to settle matters. Thing is, Richard II isn't the most imposing of characters and when his attempts at arbitration fall pretty flat, a joust to the death is arranged. Even ...

CinemaSerf

7.0

June 09, 2024

Henry VI, Part 1: Now that Henry V has died young, the crown passes to his infant son who grows under the regency of his uncle, the lord protector Gloucester (Hugh Bonneville), into Tom Sturridge. Despite claims to his throne from others with quite possibly more legitimacy, there is a period of stability in England whilst the warmongers b...

CinemaSerf

7.0

June 10, 2024

Henry VI, Part 2: With virtually nothing left to call English in France now, the ailing and mentally strained Henry VI (Tom Sturridge) returns home with his French wife Margaret (Sophie Okonedo) to a court that is just as rife with intrigue as the one he has just left. The King has been enthroned for many a year now, but that isn't going ...

CinemaSerf

7.0

June 10, 2024

Richard III: Historians now dispute the extent to which Richard III (Benedict Cumberbatch) was actually the malevolent and power-hungry creature depicted here, but there can be no doubt as to William Shakespeare's interpretation - nor of Cumberbatch's either. With the sudden death of his brother Edward IV and his other brother Clarence ha...