Will: Virgin TV to show the wild side of Shakespeare
David Farnor | On 13, Dec 2017
Virgin TV will be showing customers Shakespeare as never seen before this Christmas, as a new drama about the Bard is unleashed as a box set.
From the writer of Great Gatsby and Moulin Rouge, Will promises “wild, rowdy and seductive” portrait of the playwright.
The TNT series stars a host of established and upcoming British talent, charting the lost years of a young William Shakespeare as he finds his feet and fortune in the punk-rock lifestyle of Elizabethan London. Will successfully sells one of his plays to James Burbage’s theatre and in doing so befriends the company and starts up a relationship with Burbage’s daughter, Alice.
The show is created by Craig Pearce, who with Baz Luhrmann, has been responsible for writing several anachronistic adaptations of classic tales in a bold, contemporary style – most notably, The Great Gatsby (2013), Romeo + Juliet (1996) and Moulin Rouge! (2001).
The drama consists of 10 one-hour episodes and is available exclusively to Virgin TV Full House customers.
David Bouchier, Chief Entertainment Officer at Virgin Media, says: “We’re very pleased to have as our ninth Exclusive “Will”, a fun and irreverent portrayal of Will Shakespeare as a young man. With Craig Pearce (Moulin Rouge, Strictly Ballroom, Romeo & Juliette) leading a fantastic creative team, our customers can enjoy a wild historical drama with plenty of flair that will hook them from the start and make for great viewing after Christmas.”
The first four episodes will launch on Virgin TV on demand on Thursday 28th December, and a new episode will be released every week thereafter.
Will is Virgin Media’s ninth exclusive UK launch and follows in the footsteps of Kingdom, Ash vs Evil Dead, Imposters and Good Behavior. Along with all Virgin TV Exclusives it is available On Demand through the Virgin TV V6 or TiVo boxes as well as on mobile devices through the Virgin TV Anywhere app available on iOS and Android.