Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight and Happy Valley’s Sarah Lancashire are making a series about Shakespeare (Picture: Getty/ Rex)
Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight and Happy Valley star Sarah Lancashire have announced they are working on a series that will tell the life story of William Shakespeare.
The pair are currently developing a drama television programme that is based on a concept by Bafta award-winning actress Sarah, 58, and will be written by Steven, 64.
It will tell the ‘complete story of the glove-maker’s son who became the greatest storyteller in history’ and how ‘his genius survived and thrived in an age of turmoil and terror, danger and disease’.
It aims to also be the first full account of the passion, people and politics that made Shakespeare the world’s most famous dramatist and the men and women around him who ‘loved and laboured, schemed and plotted, killed and connived in one of the most dangerous periods in history’, as reported by Deadline.
It is being developed with Banijay U.K.’s Kudos and Sarah’s production company, Via Pictures, which she formed with Peter Salmon.
It will be written by Steven and will produced out of his Digbeth Loc. Studios in Birmingham.
The drama seeks to tell the ‘complete story’ of the playwright (Picture: SWNS)
The series currently isn’t attached to a broadcaster.
‘Via Pictures are very pleased to be collaborating with Kudos and the brilliant Steven Knight to screen the remarkable story of William Shakespeare and his contemporaries,’ Sarah said in a statement.
‘This is a thrilling project about a golden age beset by plague, Puritanism and deadly politics.’
Sarah recently wrapped up her long-running role on Happy Valley (Picture: BBC/Lookout Point/Matt Squire)
Steven added that he was ‘excited to be embarking on what will be a landmark TV production telling the dramatic story of the world’s most accomplished writer’.
‘It’s a period I love and the team that has been put together is extraordinary. It’s a story that begins in the West Midlands and is close to my heart.’
The series could be the perfect chance to allow audiences to find out the real stories behind the man that wrote plays like Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and King Lear and separate fact from the fiction.
Back in 2020 I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! campmates were slightly hoodwinked after being convinced by Russell Watson during a challenge that The Bard’s real name was actually Walter.
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The singer was taking part in a secret challenge and had to make sure the campmates gave the wrong answer after being asked: ‘What was the first name of Shakespeare when he was baptised? A – William or B – Walter?’
Fans watching on from home couldn’t get enough of the scenes, questioning how Giovanna Fletcher, Vernon Kay and co. didn’t even question what they were being told.
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It will tell the ‘complete story of the greatest storyteller in history’.