This Sceptred Isle

It appears that I owe the BBC an apology. Last week I called them out for filling airtime with sport and treating it as if it is the only thing that matters, rather than publicising the 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Well I’m sorry. This week BBC 2 begins airing the Hollow Crown. It seems they do care about more than sport after all.

The Hollow Crown is a series adapting four of Shakespeare’s Historical plays (Richard II, Henry IV Parts I and II and Henry V). When I say adaptations I mean proper period adaptations. On top of that they star some of the best actors – Shakespearean or otherwise – in the country, including Jeremy Irons, Tom Hiddleston, Ben Whishaw and Patrick Stewart.

Say what you like about the BBC, in-between all of the sport, soaps and reality television stuff they do still produce good quality television and entertainment, things that people wish to savour, and watch again and again after their initial airing. It’s what keeps the BBC shops in operation. But the fact they’ve chosen to do Shakespeare is no mistake.

One of the advantages of having the Olympics come to London is it gives us a chance to showcase what makes us great; what makes us unique.  Not just our sport, but our history, our art, the very country itself – the opening ceremony will do that at least – and, yes, our literature. And if the Cultural Olympiad is attempting to showcase those things, as it is supposed to, than the BBC could not have picked anything better to run alongside it than a series of plays by Shakespeare.

Yes he isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and yes at times his plays can seem boring, tedious, disconnected from everyday life – thanks every English lesson ever – but if you can dig through that you’ll find a gem. People forget how many every day phrases Shakespeare came up with. Sayings that we have always assumed have just existed, he plucked out of the ether, “You can’t have too much of a good thing,” “If music be the food of love play on,” and “All the world’s a stage” to name but a few. It takes a special kind of talent to be able to do that, to string words together as he did, to create something new.

What’s more he understood England. What it was, what it is and what it could be. And he understood people. How to make them laugh, how to make them cry. He was without a doubt one of the greatest writers we’ve ever had. Perhaps the only one worthy of the title ‘The Bard.’ Hopefully these new adaptations will help a new generation understand that too.

 This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,--
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.