Rent Upstart Crow (2016 - 2018)

Upstart Crow, crowing - Upstart Crow review by BN

2016 series.

To be honest, I've never really gotten on with writer and creator Ben Elton in the past nor found him or his writings particularly funny in any way but I started with Series 1 for a little light levity and found it an absolute hoot. Loved it, so, so funny! Written, I believe as a commemorative on the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death.

On then to Series 2, unfortunately the subtitles there I noticed were absolutely abysmal! Totally wrongly ascribed wording to what's genuinely said. Yer What??

How can it be so incompetent? Somebody hasn't got a clue!

Otherwise David Mitchell as Will flits about between his lodgings in London and his home in Stratford where his wife Anne Hathaway (Liza Tarbuck) lives with his acerbic parents Harry Enfield (John) and Paula Wilcox (Mary Arden), arriving and never failing each time to complain about the journey, so much in line with our modern moans about interrupted rail or slow car journeys.

Also, his entitled sounding children Suzanna (and the occasionally seen Hamnet) are typical prickly teenagers who talk back and are embarrassed by their betters.

All characters and actions provide unconscious inspiration for Will's new plays.

Says Will, "Boom. Act 3 just wrote itself... "

The opening credits are stunning, animated Elizabethan drawings. Just loved watching them and the cute flute-y soundtrack.

The script is a lovely juxtaposition with modern and Elizabethan mores. Words, phrases, observations, all tumble into Will's head to inspire the plots of Othello, Two Gentleman of Verona, Titus Andronicus, Romeo & Juliet, etc. His landlord's daughter Kate (Gemma Whelan) determinedly stands up for women's rights against fierce opposition, her father the landlord Bottom (Rob Rouse) provides grand comedy and wiser-than-his-station observations, and Kit Marlowe (Tim Downie) swoons about looking similar to the character of Lord Flashheart in Blackadder. Elton's script often alludes to the oft held views of Marlowe's plays actually having been written by Shakespeare and vice versa. Mark Heap as Robert Greene, Master of the Revels does his level best to scupper Will's works and shut down the theatre company putting them on. It's all a bit amusing like the brilliant tongue-in-cheek film 'Shakespeare in Love', one of my favourites.

Great stuff, short episodes, barbed comments, hilarious. Give it a go.

Difficult - Upstart Crow review by CP Customer

This should be good , but is totally unwatchable due to the "smashyouovertheheadwithissues" 1980's style "pseudo feminism".

Which actually appears to me to be a plot by upper middle class style media types to make it all completely alienating and irritating.

I am female, and i have suffered from the patriarchy real and hidden, yet this type of super annoying constant bla bla bla of women this women that women the other is just horrible, and has seem to have become a secret rule.

Plus in those times there really weren't any women in public life, excepting the odd symbolic one. So to retrofit our history with this super weird archetype of loud sociopathic rude women is really messing with our sense of the reality of our real history.

It is Not a consensus that to be and act feminine is weak!

I can tell you that in the working class and underclass , warm,, or sweet nice women are an extremely valuable commodity , and being around people who are not constantly policing your every nanosyllable for (fake) perfect "values" is life affirming.

Trust me, we watch things despite this massively annoying gender over statement, not because of it.