Benedict Cumberbatch proves a superb villain in The Hollow Crown's Richard III

THE GUARDIAN
Michael Billington
@billicritic
Saturday 21 May 2016 18.10 EDT

 The camera is a close bosom friend … Benedict Cumberbatch as Richard III. Photograph: Robert Viglasky/BBC/Carnival Film & Television Ltd


Richard III brings the BBC’s Hollow Crown cycle to a fine climax. It also confirms that Benedict Cumberbatch is a highly physical, as well as a natural Shakespearean, actor. Watching him wrestle his way into his clothes in the opening soliloquy, I was reminded of his superb performance as the creature in the National Theatre’s Frankenstein. On stage, we witnessed the tortured birth of a monster; here we see Richard acquiring a new identity as he gets laboriously dressed.



Cumberbatch starts with two great advantages. The previous episode enabled him to lay the ground for Richard’s throne-hungry mania. Like Olivier in the film of Richard III, he also uses the camera as a close bosom friend. Having wooed Phoebe Fox’s Lady Anne – an episode that here takes place in a forest glade – he confides to the camera, and thereby to us, his rasping astonishment at her pliability.

In fact, Cumberbatch takes us stage by stage through Richard’s systematic progress to power. The dominant image of the production is of Cumberbatch’s index finger tapping a chessboard, as he works out how to remove the pieces that stand between him and the crown. But it is a mark of Shakespeare’s progress that the dramatist also allows us to see inside Richard’s soul: Cumberbatch is especially good in the eve-of-battle soliloquy, where a character who might simply be a murdering monster pathetically realises “there is no creature loves me”.

Although Cumberbatch dominates the screen, this is far from a one-man show. Judi Dench brings all her clarity of speech and matchless sincerity to Richard’s mother, who views her son with undisguised horror: when she asks “What comfortable hour canst thou name / That ever graced me in thy company?” you totally believe her. Sophie Okonedo’s Queen Margaret stalks the action, right up to the climactic battle, like a vengeful ghost. Keeley Hawes turns Queen Elizabeth into a helpless pawn in Richard’s power games. Anyone who has seen the previous episodes will also understand – in a way that is tricky when the play is seen in isolation – just what the women are talking about when they catalogue Richard’s endless crimes.

READ MORE: http://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2016/may/21/benedict-cumberbatch-the-hollow-crown-richard-iii

Benedict Cumberbatch stars as crazed royal in trailer for The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses

SUN

Benedict Cumberbatch takes centre stage in the latest instalment of BBC Shakespeare series The Hollow Crown.

Titled The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses, Benedict will star alongside Dame Judi Dench, Hugh Bonneville and Sophie Okonedo.

The Sherlock star will be leading the cast as Richard III in the show as the UK celebrates Shakespeare's 800th birthday.


The story will follow Richard III's descent into madness and tracks his life from childhood.

Writer Dominic Cook, while talking to The Express, said of the king, “He’s quite monstrous, he ends up murdering children in the plays. He’s a psychopath. There’s no two ways about it: he’s a psychopath.

“But why did he become like that? There’s a story that leads up to that."

He later added: “There are some incidents he witnesses as a child that are horrific and contribute to him becoming a human being who is not able to empathise with other human beings.”

This new collection will be sure to delight Sherlock fans as Benedict, 39, reunites with Andrew Scott — who plays nemesis Moriarty on the hit BBC show.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/7085904/Benedict-Cumberbatch-stars-in-The-Hollow-Crown.html

Benedict Cumberbatch, Judi Dench, Hugh Bonnevill, Michael Gambon and Philip Glenister head back west

By Western Daily Press  |  Posted: October 09, 2014

Keira Knightley and Bendict Cumberbatch pose during the press conference for The Imitation Game at the Corinthia Hotel, London, yesterday. The film tells the story of Dorset man Alan Turing, one of the founding fathers of computing. Cumberbatch is also set to start filming another series of The Hollow Crown in Wells in the next few weeks PICTURE: Anthony Devlin/PA

Wells residents should keep their eyes open for a slew of famous faces who are heading to the city to film the concluding part of The Hollow Crown, the War of the Roses.

Next weekend, production for the second series will take place in Wells.

The cast includes Benedict Cumberbatch, Judi Dench, Sophie Okonedo, Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Michael Gambon and Philip Glenister.

Cast and crew will be in Wells from October 19 until October 24, filming at Cathedral Green and Vicars Close – although the BBC press office has been tight-lipped about which of the cast will be headed to Wells.

Motor vehicles will be excluded from the area between 8am and 7pm on October 19-21, between 10am and 11pm on October 22, 9am and 9pm on October 23 and 8am and 5pm on October 24.

The Hollow Crown is based on William Shakespeare's history plays, and is one of the BBC's flagship dramas.

The first cycle was an adaptation of Shakespeare's Richard II, Henry IV, Part I and Henry IV, Part II (treated as one film in two parts in the series) and Henry V and starred Ben Whishaw, Jeremy Irons and Tom Hiddleston, and scooped a handful of awards from the South Bank Sky Arts Awards, Broadcasting Press Guild and BAFTA.

The second cycle, which includes Henry VI (in two parts) and Richard III – is being co-produced by Neal Street Productions with Carnival Films/NBC Universal and Thirteen.



Read more: http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/History-comes-life-stars-head-west/story-23070409-detail/story.html#ixzz3FnXa1yYl 
Follow us: @WesternDaily on Twitter | WesternDaily on Facebook

HEADING TO PBS: This First Look At Benedict Cumberbatch In 'The Hollow Crown' Is Everything

HUFF POST TV
By Bill Bradley

Thanks to the BAFTA award-winning "The Hollow Crown" series in 2012, you can expect three more adaptations of Shakespeare’s "History" plays from Neal Street Productions and Carnival Films/NBCUniversal, with "Henry VI" in two parts and also "Richard III," according to BBC. The star-studded cast includes Cumberbatch, Judi Dench, Sophie Okonedo, Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Keeley Hawes and Tom Sturridge.

Though an air date hasn't been set, the series will be shown on PBS in the U.S. and BBC2 in the U.K.

 

READ MORE HERE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/02/benedict-cumberbatch-the-hollow-crown_n_5920754.html

Judi Dench, Hugh Bonneville and Keeley Hawes join Benedict Cumberbatch in BBC2's The Hollow Crown

RADIO TIMES
By Ellie Walker-Arnott
Thursday 21 August 2014 at 11:55AM



A host of famous faces will be joining Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch in the second run of Shakespeare adaptations The Hollow Crown.

We already knew that Cumberbatch was poised to play Richard III in The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses, a three-parter which will consist of Henry VI parts 1 and 2 and Richard III, but the BBC has now confirmed that he'll be acting alongside stars such as Judi Dench, Downton Abbey's Hugh Bonneville and Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins.

In Richard III, Judi Dench, Sophie Okonedo and Keeley Hawes will star as Cecily, Duchess of York, Queen Margaret and Queen Elizabeth respectively.
Cumberbatch is sure to be pleased that Dench has signed on, after he asked her if she'd join the drama during a live Q&A at Hay Festival.

Henry VI parts 1 and 2 will see Hugh Bonneville play Humphrey, the Duke of Gloucester and Sally Hawkins take on the role of his wife Eleanor, while Tom Sturridge will play an unknown role.

"To have the chance to work with some of Britain’s most talented actors is a dream come true. We couldn't be more delighted to have them on board," said executive producer Pippa Harris.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2014-08-21/judi-dench-hugh-bonneville-and-keeley-hawes-join-benedict-cumberbatch-in-bbc2s-the-hollow-crown

Benedict Cumberbatch, James McAvoy: Neverwhere - BBC Radio

London Below
Episode 1 of 6
Duration: 1 hour

First broadcast: Saturday 16 March 2013

Beneath the streets of London there is another London. A subterranean labyrinth of sewers and abandoned tube stations. A somewhere that is Neverwhere.

An act of kindness sees Richard Mayhew catapulted from his ordinary life into a subterranean world under the streets of London. Stopping to help an injured girl on a London street, Richard is thrust from his workaday existence into the strange world of London Below.

So begins a curious and mysterious adventure deep beneath the streets of London, a London of shadows where the tube cry of 'Mind the Gap' takes on new meaning; for the inhabitants of this murky domain are those who have fallen through the gaps in society, the dispossessed, the homeless. Here Richard meets the Earl of Earl's Court, Old Bailey and Hammersmith, faces a life-threatening ordeal at the hands of the Black Friars, comes face to face with Great Beast of London, and encounters an Angel. Called Islington.

LISTEN TO THE PREVIEW HERE

ACCESS BBC RADIO 4 HERE

Why Detective David Tennant is a prime-time suspect British murder dramas Mayday and Broadchurch have helped bring event television back from the grave, by Libby Brooks The Guardian,

Life's a beach for police officers David Tennant and Olivia Colman in Broadchurch. Photograph: Patrick Redmond

Who wants to think about murdered children on a weekday evening? A fair few of us, if the ratings are anything to go by. This week BBC1 and ITV have gone head to head with new crime dramas Mayday and Broadchurch: both with decorated casts and nuanced scripts that lift them above the standard police procedural; both previewed as the kind of event television that can seem antediluvian in an age of download and bargain box sets.

Mayday, which tracks the disappearance of 14-year-old Hattie as she is about to take the part of May Queen in her village's annual parade, stars Sophie Okonedo, Aidan Gillen and a fabulously overwrought Lesley Manville. It launched on Sunday – the first of five consecutive nights – with 6.2 million viewers and a 25% audience share; but lost out the following evening to the first of eight weekly installments of Broadchurch, which began with 6.8 million and a concurrent gush-in on social media. Coincidentally, both series are made by Kudos, the production company behind Spooks and, most recently, the bizarrely brilliant Utopia.

It has already been suggested that Broadchurch detectives David Tennant and Olivia Colman, investigating the death of a local boy in the eponymous seaside town, owe a debt to the Nordic noir plotlines that have dominated quality crime drama of late – although the scenery of Dorset's Jurassic coast, where the series was filmed, could give any fjord a run for its money, and, as Tennant proved on Monday night, it is difficult to be entirely sombre when you're eating a 99 ice cream.

READ MORE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/05/tennant-prime-time-suspect-mayday-broadchurch

New photos of Benedict Cumberbatch, James McAvoy and the cast of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere (RADIOTIMES)

An exclusive first look at shots of the star-studded cast of the Radio 4/4 Extra fantasy drama, also featuring Natalie Dormer, David Harewood, Sophie Okonedo, Christopher Lee and Bernard Cribbins

Paul Jones
10:08 AM, 04 March 2013
London Below is slowly coming to life. With less than two weeks to go until Radio 4/4 Extra opens a portal to the magical realm in fantasy drama Neverwhere, we have a gallery of exclusive shots of the star-studded cast, including Benedict Cumberbatch, James McAvoy and Natalie Dormer.

McAvoy is Richard Mayhew, a young businessman drawn into the subterranean world of London Below after he comes to the aid of a girl named Door, played by Dormer. In a place where famous landmarks take on a life of their own, Benedict Cumberbatch is the Angel Islington, an actual angel who watches over the city beneath the city.

VISIT THE BBC NEVERWHERE SITE HERE

READ MORE: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-03-04/new-photos-of-benedict-cumberbatch-james-mcavoy-and-the-cast-of-neil-gaimans-neverwhere

Benedict Cumberbatch, James McAvoy and the cast of Neverwhere - first photo and air date revealed (RADIO TIMES)

Paul Jones

6:24 PM, 20 February 2013

As anticipation mounts among fantasy fans ahead of the Radio 4/4 Extra co-production of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, RadioTimes.com can reveal the first exclusive shot of the star-studded cast, which reads like a who's who of cult TV.

Sherlock's Benedict Cumberbatch and X-Men's James McAvoy are joined by Game of Thrones and former Fades star Natalie Dormer, Doctor Who alumnus Sophie Okonedo and Homeland's David Harewood for the tale of London Below, an alternate reality beneath the capital where famous landmarks take on a life of their own.

Screen legends Christopher Lee and Bernard Cribbins also star in an adaptation that is being described as an "audio film".

READ MORE: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-02-20/benedict-cumberbatch-and-the-cast-of-neverwhere---first-photo-and-air-date-revealed

Benedict Cumberbatch to play angel in star-studded Neil Gaiman fantasy Neverwhere (RADIOTIMES)

The Sherlock star is among a who’s who of cult character actors in the Radio 4 production about the magical world of London Below

Paul Jones

11:42 AM, 29 November 2012

A who's who of sci-fi and fantasy actors is lining up for a new radio version of Neil Gaiman's fantasy Neverwhere.

James McAvoy, star of the X-Men movies, heads up the cast, along with Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch and Natalie Dormer, formerly of BBC3’s supernatural drama The Fades and currently filming Game of Thrones.

Homeland’s David Harewood and his fellow Doctor Who alumni Sophie Okonedo and Brenard Cribbins are joined by Anthony Head, star of Merlin and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as Saruman (and Dracula) himself, Sir Christopher Lee.

Neverwhere is the tale of businessman Richard Mayhew (McAvoy) whose life is turned upside-down when he comes to the aid of a young woman named Door (Dormer). In helping Door, Richard ceases to exist in his own world – London Above – and is transported to the magical parallel universe that lurks beneath it – London Below, where the capital's landmarks take on new significance.

READ MORE: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2012-11-29/benedict-cumberbatch-to-play-angel-in-star-studded-neil-gaiman-fantasy-neverwhere