Press clippings

Upstart Crow axed by the BBC, David Mitchell reveals

Upstart Crow will not be returning to the BBC, David Mitchell has revealed. Ben Elton's Shakespeare sitcom ran for three series on BBC Two, with three Christmas specials and a spin-off stage play. Mitchell has said that he would love to reprise his role as the Bard and appealed to other broadcasters to rescue the period sitcom.

British Comedy Guide, 2nd October 2023

Russell Brand's Shakespeare show to be streamed

On demand and PPV service, LIVENow, has announced that on 14 July audiences can watch exclusively on the platform a filmed version of Russell Brand's one man theatre show, Our Little Lives: Shakespeare & Me, in which he takes some life lessons from Shakespeare.

Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 16th June 2021

All the best comedy groans with puns

From Tim Vine to Shakespeare.

Sam Leith, The Telegraph, 8th December 2019

On the eve of its presentation to Queen Elizabeth I, William Shakespeare's controversial new play about the Mary Stuart - Mary The Frog-Jock - goes mysteriously missing. And Will's best friend Kit Marlowe (Tim Downie) is in the frame, in ye second parte of Ben Elton's Tudor comedy. Perhaps make that "tragi-comedy": this is no Blackadder II, and the usually assured David Mitchell as Shakespeare certainly seems a trifle uncomfortable barking out lines such as "I am not going bald, I have low eyebrows."

Ali Catterall, The Guardian, 16th May 2016

Upstart Crow: joke's already wearing thin in episode 2

Last week's episode of Upstart Crow (BBC Two), Ben Elton's new ye olde sitcom starring David Mitchell as William Shakespeare, would have worked as a one-off stand-alone special for Comic Relief or similar. The thought of a whole series of the thing is a bit tiring.

Isabel Mohan, The Telegraph, 16th May 2016

Loving Ben Elton's new Shakespeare sitcom

There's no way of saying this without shredding the last vestiges of my critical credibility, but this new Ben Elton comedy series, Upstart Crow (BBC2, Mondays), about William Shakespeare: I'm loving it and think it's really, really funny.

James Delingpole, The Spectator, 12th May 2016

"Four hundred years ago this year the world-famous playwrighter William Shakespeare stopped happening ..." The Great Philomena (comedian Diane Morgan) brings all her wisdom and sensitivity to bear in her sublime exploration of the "King of the Bards", observing that Titus Andronicus is "a posh Friday The 13th"; pondering what Hamlet is all about ("about four hours long"); and noting that Shakespeare had an easy time at school "as he didn't have to study Shakespeare"

Ali Catterall, The Guardian, 11th May 2016

What's in a name? When it's Ben Elton, quite a lot, considering his new sitcom marks the writer's return to a historical setting for the first time since Blackadder. The principal character in this comedy should offer more meticulous wordplay than Bladders could: the action revolves around one William Shakespeare (David Mitchell). Sadly, this veers towards Elton's insufferable The Wright Way, with double-entendre-strewn dialogue masking a distinct lack of laughs.

Mark Gibbings-Jones, The Guardian, 9th May 2016

David Mitchell on playing William Shakespeare

"He's arguably the globally most significant artistic figure - and he's just some bloke from the Midlands. That's an amazing story."

Chortle, 3rd May 2016