Upstart Crow: Star Crossed Sitcom

I approached this with a little trepidation, since Ben Elton’s last historical sitcom was the hilarious, wonderful and revered Blackadder; I didn’t want to sit there harking back to how awesome that was.

There’s no getting away from it, though, there are definite shades of the Elizabethan Edmund in David Mitchell’s Will Shakespeare, and a supporting cast that put me to mind of Melchett, Flashheart, Percy and Baldrick - although Bottom is far less gross than Tony Robinson’s put upon servant - and far cleverer too.

It felt like a welcome return of old friends, with a rich source of material for Elton to plunder plus modern aspects of family life thrown in (a very down to earth family homestead try to help Will with his writing: “Why doesn’t she just say ‘Where are ya, Romeo?’”). And Will Kempe’s Ricky Gervais persona was spot on.

The running gag was that it’s illegal for girls to do anything remotely interesting: “Don’t go there: Lady acting is illegal, besides which girls can’t act, just as they cannot practice law, cure the sick, handle financial matters or stand for any office” - still relevant, of course, with all the mansplaining going on - and a more comforting than cliched sending up of everything from public transport and the state of the Queen’s highways “wouldst more likely see a toothless crone with a tooth than an English rut filler actually filling a rut” to privileged public figures “In England, I’m afraid, it’s not what you know, it’s what dead farmyard animals you rogered at university …”

The chuckles came mainly (for me, anyway) in the form of Elton’s own Shakespeare language for his characters. You can imagine Elton brainstorming with a few pals as they threw every word and phrase into a melting pot, before straining the mix and crafting them back together, modernising them in a way the 21st century audience would understand. Except for “The two tunnels which lie beneath the bridge be blocked” **. I had to wait for the explanation on that one!

Don’t let me give you the impression that this would’ve been an easy write for Elton - the attention to historical detail is huge and the pace is perfect. If you’re still unconvinced about the Bard’s greatness, there’s enough here for you to enjoy on its own merits. Mondays, 10pm BBC2.

** Bunged up nose.

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