A Review of the Shakespeare and Hathaway mystery television program

Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators is a British mystery television series set in Stratford-upon-Avon and produced by the BBC Birmingham from 2018 to the present. The many writers draw on Shakespeare’s plays for characters and situations but give every show a contemporary twist and use humor to lighten up tense situations. The main characters are private investigator Frank Hathaway (played by Mark Benton) and Luella Shakespeare (played by Jo Joyner).  Luella is a former hairdresser who joins Frank’s firm after he solves the mystery of who killed her fiancé.  They work together to solve various crimes in Stratford-upon-Avon, ably assisted by their employee Sebastian Brudenell (played by Patrick Walshe McBride), a young RADA-trained actor who uses his impersonation skill for their undercover investigations.  Detective Inspector Christina Marlowe (played by Amber Aga), who had been Frank’s subordinate at the local police department, sometimes helps and sometimes hinders Shakespeare and Hathaway.  Of course, Christopher Marlowe was a contemporary playwright competing with William Shakespeare.  The actors do a wonderful job in their roles. Most of the television programs…

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A Review of Sanditon by Jane Austen as Revised by Andrew Davies on PBS’s Masterpiece

Jane Austen died in 1817 before she could finish her novel The Brothers, later called Sanditon. In January and February, 2020, PBS’s Masterpiece aired Andrew Davies’ 2018 adaptation of Sanditon. This production features superb acting by Rose Williams as Charlotte Heywood, Theo James as Sidney Parker, Crystal Clarke as Georgiana Lambe, Charlotte Spencer as Esther Denham, Jack Fox as Edward Denham, Lily Sacofsky as Clara Brereton, Leo Suter as Young Stringer, Kris Marshall as Tom Parker, and the versatile veteran Anne Reid as the wily and cranky Lady Denham. Davies begins his adaptation of Sanditon with a situation similar to that in Pride and Prejudice: the heroine Charlotte and the hero Sidney misunderstand and offend one another. They gradually learn to appreciate each other. However, Davies’ script violates many important themes of Austen’s novels and incorporates some scenes that focus on male athleticism, which never appear in any other work of the famous English novelist and which disrupt the feminist perspective. In various interviews broadcast after each episode, Davies brags that he can easily duplicate…

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