The King and the Playwright: A Jacobean History

Episode 1: Incertanties - James Shapiro tells the intriguing story of popular uncertainty about this elusive and intellectual new king and a great writer's first efforts to get to grips with massive change. Featured plays include Measure for Measure, Timon of Athens and Shakespeare's first Jacobean masterpiece, King Lear. Puritans, plague, an extravagant gift to a Spanish diplomatic delegation and the production of a new British coin called the 'Unite', all figure in Shapiro's rich and fascinating history of a troubled time.