Cunk on Shakespeare

What really happened during Shakespeare's 'Lost Years'? Hopeless lute player Bill Shakespeare leaves his home to follow his dream.

A Shakespearean actor takes poetic revenge on the critics who denied him recognition.

Al Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Richard III."

Thornton Sayre, a respected college professor - secretly formerly a silent films romantic action hero - is disturbed, feeling his privacy has been violated, and his professional credibility as a scholar jeopardized, when he learns his old movies have been resurrected and are being aired on TV. He sets out to demand this cease. However, his former co-star is the hostess of the TV show playing the films, and she has other plans.

One fateful night in a small English regional theatre during World War II a troupe of touring actors stage a production of Shakespeares King Lear. Bombs are falling, sirens are wailing, the curtain is up in an hour but the actor/manager Sir who is playing Lear is nowhere to be seen. His dresser Norman must scramble to keep the production alive but will Sir turn up in time and if he does will he be able to perform that night? The Dresser is a wickedly funny and deeply moving story of friendship and loyalty as Sir reflects on his lifelong accomplishments and seeks to reconcile his turbulent friendships with those in his employ before the final curtain.

It's the greatest mystery of all time; who wrote the works of Shakespeare? DEREK JACOBI leads an impressive cast on a quest to uncover the truth behind the world's most elusive author and discovers a forgotten nobleman whose story could rewrite history.

In the 1980s, a filmmaker begins a project to record the life of an average kid. In Perry, Ohio, he picks Rich Longfellow, a shy lad, and begins filming. Soon after, he dies in Mozambique. Sixteen years later, his son continues the project, finding Rich, now 23, in L.A., with dreams of being a Shakespearean actor, getting experience in porn films. We meet Betsy, Rich's sensible girlfriend, Lee, the impatient producer, and Carmichael, a director with artistic pretensions who inspires Rich. Problems with Besty and tension on the set bring Rich to a crisis; when his boyhood friend starts a Shakespeare company that tours nursing homes in the San Fernando Valley, Rich sees a way out.

Winner of four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor, Sir Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet continues to be the most compelling version of Shakespeare’s beloved tragedy. Olivier is at his most inspired—both as director and as the melancholy Dane himself—as he breathes new life into the words of one of the world’s greatest dramatists.

Renowned Shakespearean actor Patrick Stewart features as the eponymous anti-hero in this Soviet-era adaptation of one of Shakespeare's darkest and most powerful tragedies.

Wildly optimistic chatterbox Eva Lovelace is a would-be actress trying to crash the New York stage. She attracts the interest of a paternal actor, a philandering producer, and an earnest playwright. Is she destined for stardom, or will she fade like a morning glory after its brief blooming?

Jefferson Steel, a washed-up Hollywood action star, is desperate to revive his flagging career. When his sleazy agent signs him up for what he believes is a high-profile Royal Shakespeare Company production of King Lear at Stratford upon Avon, Steel thinks he has finally landed the plum role he has been waiting for. However, he soon discovers that he has been tricked into joining an amateur dramatics group for a charity production.

Frantic screwball comedy about a meek personal assistant (Frank McHugh) who is promoted to managing editor of a newspaper features syndicate that is owned by and staffed with cuckoos.

An aged king decides to divide his kingdom between his three daughters, according to which of them is most eloquent in praising him. His favourite, Cordelia, says nothing. Simon Russell Beale, whose recent appearances at the National include Timon of Athens and Collaborators, takes the title role in Shakespeare’s tragedy.

Funny, passionate, exciting, and smart: ‘Muse Of Fire’ will change the way you feel about Shakespeare forever. This unique feature documentary follows two actors, Giles Terera and Dan Poole, as they travel the world to find out everything they can about tackling the greatest writer of them all. Together they have directed and produced an inspiring film that aims to demystify and illuminate Shakespeare’s work for everyone: from actors, directors and students of all disciplines, right through to the? man on the street? Denmark with Jude Law, Baz Luhrmann in Hollywood, Prison in Berlin, and on the street with Mark Rylance. Think Shakespeare is boring? Think again!

Torn between his desire to escape his family's narcotics business and loyalty, Hamlet comes of age wrestling with his identity and his destiny.

Top UK comedians relate their favourite historical stories while getting absolutely bladdered on a mixture of beers, wines and spirits. Their slurred versions of history are then acted out, word for word, by a host of well-known actors, celebrities and comedians including Johnny Vegas, Russell Kane, Joe Lycett, Rob Beckett, Alex Horne and James Acaster. Luckily, Jimmy Carr is on voice-over duties to restore some order if the drinking sessions get out of hand.

A bright-eyed New York lawyer takes his first big case defending an eccentric poetry professor accused of murdering his wife.

The delicious documentary gives exclusive access to the world class shop in Brighton which produces over 7,500 cakes per year, charges up to £9,000 a piece and boasts Madonna, Davina McCall, Hugh Grant, Bob Geldoff, Kylie Minogue, Katie Price and the Scissor Sisters amongst its clientele. Choccywoccydoodah was even responsible for all the chocolate in Tim Burton’s movies including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland.

Simon Russell Beale presents a radical reappraisal of the place of the symphony in the modern world and explores the surprising way in which it has shaped our history and identity.

Simon Schama explores the life and times of William Shakespeare to shed a new and fascinating light on some of the greatest plays ever written. He asks the question: "What came first, Englishness, or Shakespeare's idea of it?" and produces a persuasive argument in favour of the latter.

Charlie Brooker and guests cast their collective eyes over all that the telly, cinema, news and computer games have to offer, in order to wring a little laughter from a hilariously troubled world.

Russell Howard offers his unique take on the week's news and current affairs, picking through the biggest UK and international stories, and offering a wise and worldly view on the globe's news. Along the way, he'll welcome celebrity guests and leading experts, as well as hear from fledgling global correspondents. Plus, there will be stand-up, too, as Russell showcases some of the comedy scene's finest and most exciting stars.

Howard Carter’s discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 made headlines across the world sparking a global frenzy for Ancient Egypt. But over the decades since the find, many of the pharaoh’s priceless grave goods have disappeared into museum basements and archives across Egypt. Now all 5,398 objects are being reunited for the first time since their discovery at the new Grand Egyptian Museum. Many have never been seen before but together they shed new light on the short, eventful life of the so-called ‘Boy King’ and are now helping experts realize the sheer scale of Tutankhamun’s influence in the ancient world.

In a world where everyone is striving for what is not worth having, no one is more determined to climb to the heights of English society than Becky Sharp.

Philomena Cunk and friends take a look back at the major events of our 2019th year.

Busted (James Bourne, Charlie Simpson and Matt Willis) have conquered the UK and now they're going over to the US of A to take on a whole new challenge. Watch them weekly trying to make it big in a whole different country, where nobody knows who they are.

For centuries, explorers have searched for the Bible’s most sacred religious artefacts. One of the most mysterious of these objects is the famed Ark of the Covenant. The gold-plated wooden chest – one of the most instrumental symbols of faith and God's presence – was believed to house the two tablets bearing the Ten Commandments. The Ark’s exact whereabouts has long puzzled scholars. Where did it go? And why has it remained such a mystery?

Best mates Tim Warwood and Adam Gendle risk life and limb to uncover the truth about animals in this eye opening and entertaining series. Animal Impossible takes place across the globe, finding out if cats always land on their feet? Could a squid sink a ship? Is spider silk really stronger than steel? Endlessly curious presenters Tim and Gendle want to find out. In a fresh take on natural history filmmaking, the intrepid pair quiz experts and conduct audacious stunts, including a nerve wracking swim with a great white shark, to get answers. But they find more than they expected, discovering a whole host of strange and remarkable truths about the animal kingdom. This is Animal Impossible.

Jane McDonald goes on a tour of the place she calls home, Yorkshire, as she explores the history, beauty and warmth of the county she's lived all her life.

Two stoner lab assistants get high on science, literally, by smoking various topics from a robotic bong to blast off to imaginary realms full of real facts and mind-blowing insights.