Will struggles to find inspiration for Romeo while having to deal with an angry actor, a very annoying house-guest and his family’s not terribly helpful script suggestions.
Will's controversial new play is about to be presented to Queen Elizabeth, but it goes missing and the finger of suspicion points to his best friend and fellow author KIt Marlowe. The playwright has to scramble desperately to come up with a way to recover his stolen masterpiece, though given its politically sensitive content, is he really wise to want it back?
Will hopes to move up in the world when he is invited to Lord Southampton's party. But what should a poorly-educated country boy wear to London's poshest do? And are Sir Robert Greene's fashion tips a double bluff, a triple bluff or something even more fiendish?
Will completes his final sonnet and senses literary immortality just around the corner. But will the fair youth and the dark lady like them as much as he hopes? And is Anne likely to be impressed that her husband's 154 hot new love poems don't contain much about her?
The plague leads Will and his friends to escape to the family home in Stratford. On the way, they meet three witches who have some surprising predictions to make about Will's future, leading to a very serious case of house envy.
There is money to be made investing in cargos from the New World, but while Marlowe invests in tobacco and potato products, Will would rather invest in building a new theatre. But when Will's savings go missing, he is forced to make a rather unusual bargain with his rival Robert Greene. Kate's frustration with the lack of roles for women leads her to make a rather dramatic intervention...
Will is desperate to make a good impression with the College of Heralds so he can get his family a coat of arms and finally make the Shakespeares posh. The only problem is that his deadly rival, Robert Greene is the Master of Heralds. When a dashing African Prince comes to town by the name of Otello, Will suddenly sees a way to make a favourable impression amongst the gentry. Otello makes a very favourable impression on the heart of Will's friend, Kate and the stage seems to be set for Robert Greene to stir up a little jealousy.
Will is off to Stratford to get some serious writing done, but when Simon Hunt, his terrifying old school teacher, invites himself to stay, Will is unable to say no even though his presence stirs up some pretty awful memories of the classroom. Marlowe and Greene are also up in Warwickshire hunting for a Roman Catholic spy.
Will finds himself tricked by his evil nemesis, Robert Greene into writing a blood-soaked tragedy for a nobleman who only really likes romances set in exotic foreign locations. Suddenly Will needs to write a whole new play and he's all out of ideas. Marlowe is taking Italian lessons from Kate, and they seem to have developed something of a soft spot for each other.
Will takes it badly when everybody tells him his new play about two sets of identical twins separated at birth and given the same names is rather far-fetched, until he hits on a sure fire way to stop any audience minding when the plot gets really ridiculous – make it a musical. Back in Stratford, Will's dad is determined to get Will to use his new-found writing fame to make the Shakespeare family properly posh, which turns out to be rather a big ask.
Will is thrilled with his new play, 'The Taming of the Shrew', in which a bright and strong-minded young woman is crushed and humiliated into submission by the man in her life. For some reason Kate is less than impressed, and Anne isn’t convinced either. Will thinks the solution is to try out a bit of 'taming' on his very stroppy teenage daughter Susannah.
'Romeo and Juliet' is finally finished, and the only problem is now who will play the young lovers. Burbage and Condell see themselves in the title roles of course, but is there a polite way for Will to tell them they may no longer look like young teenage lovers? Kate would give anything to take to the stage, but she can't possibly be Juliet as she's a girl, and lady-acting is illegal in Tudor England.
In this festive 40-minute episode of Ben Elton's Shakespearean situation comedy, Will has promised his wife Anne that he will be home in good time for a quiet Christmas with just the family. But when Marlowe, Kate and even the usually horrible Robert Greene look likely to be facing a miserable lonely Christmas in London, Will's big heart gets the better of him and he asks them all back with him to Stratford. There is Christmas good cheer galore with games like Snuffle the Truffle and Snaffle the Apple, and wassailing aplenty, but is Robert Greene up to no good? And does it have anything to do with Will's forthcoming Yuletide appearance with his company of players at Hampton Court in front of Queen Elizabeth herself? Is this Will's moment to shine? Or is the first ever performance of his brand new comedy Eighth Night likely to be postponed for another day?
Will needs inspiration for his new play, 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. How can he get hold of some love potion, and where is Bottom going to put that stuffed donkey head?
Will has been working on his masterpiece. His friends tell him it's his greatest comedy yet, but Will insists that Hamlet isn't actually meant to be funny.
London is full of anti-immigrant rioting. Will looks forward to an age when such sentiments are long-gone, but in the meantime he and the players plan to do their bit to help those worse off than themselves with a fund-raising charity gala night. 'Inflated Pig's Bladder Day' is a triumph.
When Kate stands in for Sue at the masked ball she accidentally sets off a chain of events that leaves Sue humiliated by the other local teenagers and Will needs to come up with a ruse to turn the tables on the bullies. In all the confusion, Hamnet has gone missing.
Will has decided to write a play about the life of Julius Caesar, but his only problem is how to deal with his assassination. The Queen is not likely to approve of any play about doing in the head of state, and Robert Greene is particularly keen to label Will a traitor.
The day of Hamnet’s confirmation is approaching and Anne has made sure it’s been in Will’s diary for months. The only problem is this also turns out to be the night of the first ever London Theatre Awards and, with Will being the greatest writer of all time—and with all the other theatre companies in London being closed all year because of the plague—Will reckons he may be in with a chance of a prize.
It's a bleak midwinter in the Shakespeare household as the family comes to terms with a cruel loss. But when a mysterious stranger (Kenneth Branagh) offers to share with Will a tale of redemption he becomes filled anew with love and light and hope. Now Will has a mission - to save another soul from despair. He and his family and friends get together to save Greene from a mean and miserly life, and arrange for three midnight "ghosts" to visit him before Christmas. Who is the stranger? Can Will and his family and friend's efforts persuade Greene to change his ways and show some generosity to his servant Job Scratchit? And at the end of it all could this tale of Yuletide redemption be another smash Shakespeare hit on the stage, or is its time not yet come? In short, what the Dickens is going on?
The plague has hit London, and as Christmas approaches, Will and Kate are in wave fifteen of state-enforced home confinement together in Will’s London lodgings.
