Steven Knight and Sarah Lancashire team up for new Shakespeare series
Steven Knight and Sarah Lancashire are working together on a new drama series about the life of William Shakespeare.
Steven Knight is adding to his already immense list of projects coming down the pipeline, and in doing so is teaming up with Happy Valley star Sarah Lancashire.
The Peaky Blinders creator is developing a drama series based on the life of William Shakespeare, from a concept by Lancashire, with the series being a co-production between Kudos and Lancashire’s own production company, Via Pictures.
The synopsis for the drama says: "For the first time on television, the drama will tell the complete and thrilling story of the glove-maker’s son who became the greatest storyteller in history. And how one man’s genius survived and thrived in an age of turmoil and terror, danger and disease.
"This is the first full account of the passion, people and politics that made William 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 and exciting periods in history."
Lancashire said: "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. This is a thrilling project about a golden age beset by plague, Puritanism and deadly politics."
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Meanwhile, Knight added: "I’m 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 isn't currently attached to a specific broadcaster, but will be one of a number of projects to be produced at Knight's Digbeth Loc Studios in Birmingham.
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Other projects coming from the studios include This Town, the drama set against the backdrop of the ska and two-tone scene in the Midlands in the late '70s and early '80s, and the Peaky Blinders movie, which Knight gave an update on when speaking with RadioTimes.com earlier this year.
He said that the movie will be "the same but different", adding that viewers should "expect the unexpected".
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Authors
James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.
