THE LIFE AND DEATH OF KING JOHN (1984)

DAVID GILES

Literary Classics Drama Shakespeare 10th - 19th Centuries Television Recommended Historical

Cast

IAN BARRITT CLAIRE BLOOM IAN BRIMBLE ROB BROWN TIM BROWN JOHN CASTLE WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Plot

From the BBC's exhaustive and typically exemplary adaptations of some of the great bard's best known plays and, like this, a number of his lesser known works, all filmed in the late 70s and early 80s and performed by pretty much the cream of British theatre. The five acts depict a dizzying change of alliances, a Papal excommunication and subsequent acceptance, and the play ends finally with King John's death at the hands of a monk.