The Hollow Crown

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 having been reputedly drowned in a vat of wine, it falls to the young Edward V to succeed. His uncle, though, has other plans and whilst demonstrating all outward signs of friendship he manages to concoct a deviously effective plan to sow seeds of doubt on the legitimacy of this young lad (Caspar Morley) by suggesting his mother (Keeley Hawes) wasn't legally married. Cleverly, he ensures that it looks like he is responding to a public plea as he supplants his nephew, takes crown and so spawns the still largely unsolved mystery of the princes in the Tower. Even his own mother (Dame Judi Dench) is apalled by this action, but not so aggrieved as Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond and a claimant via Edward III (Luke Treadaway) who raises an army determined to restore the throne to the Lancastrians. It's a fairly well known story and this adaptation from Dominic Cooke and Ben Power stays fairly faithful to the bard's assessment of the man's character - and it's that character than Benedict Cumberbatch plays extraordinarily well. Right from the start he has an evil glint in his eye and throughout he maintains a characterfully unpleasant and duplicitous nature. This playwright was used to using ghostly apparitions in his work, or using mind tricks to symbolise guilt - and here he does both to harangue the king's conscience as his sins mount up with fairly incredible speed. Even the laws of sanctuary are not sacrosanct. There features a solid cast to support, though this play doesn't really offer much meat on the bones for Ben Daniels, Keeley Hawes, James Fleet or the scarcely featured Treadaway. That doesn't rally matter so much as this is essentially a one-man show and from very capable hands it is presented, too. With well executed battle scenes and a great aesthetic depicting dark castles and perfect costume design, this is a fitting conclusion to this superior seven part history of a time when neither God nor birth guaranteed the king would keep the crown ere long.