Road to Shrewsbury, The

Synopsis: Fourth episode in a fifteen-part televised series comprising Shakespeare’s history plays from Richard II to Richard III (the two tetralogies), effectively presenting a chronological history of British royalty from 1377 to 1485. This episode covers Henry IV, Part 1, Acts III-V.
Series: Age of Kings, An
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Television
Transmission details: 9 Jun 1960 at 20:45 (Channel: BBC)
Duration: 75 mins

Director

Michael Hayes

Producer

Writer

Music

Art Direction

Contributor

Arthur Bliss; Eric Crozier; Lionel Salter

Cast

Tom Fleming	King Henry IV
Robert Hardy	Prince Henry (Hal)
Frank Pettingell	Sir John Falstaff
Sean Connery	Henry Percy (Hotspur)
Angela Baddeley	Mistress Quickly
Alan Rowe	Sir Richard Vernon
Andrew Faulds	Archibald, Earl of Douglas
Anthony Valentine	Messenger
Brian Smith
David Andrews	Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March
Derek Ware
Edgar Wreford	Richard Scroop (Richard Scroop, Archbishop of York)
Frank Windsor	Sir Walter Blunt
Geoffrey Bayldon	Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester
Gordon Gostelow	Bardolph
Jeremy Bisley
Jerome Willis
John Greenwood
John Murray Scott
Julian Glover	Earl of Westmoreland
Kenneth Farrington	Sir Michael
Leon Shepperdson
Michael Graham Cox
Patricia Heneghan	Lady Percy
Patrick Garland	Lord John of Lancaster
Terence Lodge
Terry Scully
Terry Wale
Timothy Harley
Valerie Gearon	Lady Mortimer
William Squire	Owen Glendower

Notes: The complete episode may be viewed online at the British Film Institute ‘Screenonline’ website: http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/527213/index.html
Please note, however, that the video material on ‘Screenonline’ is only accessible from schools, colleges and public libraries in the United Kingdom.
Commercially available on DVD as part of a 5-disc box set from BBC Warner (released March 2009). A written transcript of the series is being held at the Birmingham Central Library as part of their Shakespeare Collection.
General: As Michael Brooke notes, this production was "the most conceptually ambitious Shakespeare project ever attempted for either film or television." Each episode involved expenses of £4.000 and a cast of 600. The rehearsal period took thirty weeks.
History: Transmitted in the US on PBS’ WNEW-TV channel 9 June 1961
Awards: Directors Guild of Great Britain Award for Excellence in Directing (Peter Dews)

1962 The George Foster Peabody Award
Textual information: Script editor Michael Cozier cut the texts into 60 -75 minute episodes which, for the most part, comprised half a complete play.
Reviews: Michael Brooke, "Age of Kings, An (1960)", http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/527213/index.html

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