William Shakespeare (I)

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.

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."

Ten comedians who have played Shakespeare

Including Catherine Tate, Benny Hill and Ken Dodd.

Bill' set for U.S. event cinema release via Fathom

BBC Worldwide North America and Fathom Events are partnering to commemorate the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death with the U.S. theatrical release of origins comedy, Bill.

The Twitter-led adventures continue apace as irrepressible comedian Ross Noble cherry-picks his favourite tweets from the daft, dangerous and entertaining selection proposed by his faithful followers. This week his devotees become bona fide disciples as their leader sets up his own religion in the West Country. Next he embarks on an ambitious experiment to test out a Noble version of the theory that involves monkeys, typewriters and the works of William Shakespeare. Friends, chimps, countrymen, lend me your tweets...

Stephen Fry praised for return to West End stage

Stephen Fry has made his official return to the West End stage as Malvolio in an all-male production of William Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night.