The Life and Death of King John - BBC Shakespeare Collection [1984]

A chance to see one of the cannon’s rarely performed plays. Nowadays, one of the main pleasures of these BBC Shakespeares is the chance to see long dead actors in their pomp. John Thaw is a delight as the villainous Hubert, and his furious argument with the king (played by Leonard Rossiter) is a real highlight.This was one of Rossiter’s last performances, and it was interesting to see him in a serious role. His John carried real menace and, although certain of his mannerisms and facial expressions were familiar, I never got the sense that Rigsby from “Rising Damp” was just waiting to come out. The sets and filming are typical for the time and budget and a strong cast really bring one of the least successful of the Bard’s plays to life.

This production of King John was intelligently directed, beautifully filmed, wonderfully acted. It's a hard play, but this production makes sense of the plot and characters and gives the audience people to cheer for. George Costigan as The Bastard is quite wonderful, and Claire Bloom manages to show the strength as well as the desperation of Constance. John Thaw, before his Morse days, is a thoughtful and believable Hubert. Leonard Rossiter makes John as human as possible, showing clearly his weaknesses and follies, while also managing to make the Bastard's loyalty and affection for him seem quite reasonable.

The BBC Shakespeare series can be very variable, but this is a really good one - better to view it as a filmed stage production than a film adaptation, as the sets etc. are extremely basic, but this has an excellent cast and the production makes an unfamiliar, and sometimes rather static play lucid and understandable. Leonard Rossiter (King John) John Thaw (Hubert) and George Costigan (the Bastard) are particularly good.

Not sure about thsi production - it wasn't holding me and I didn't finish it , but that might be the play itself. Leonard Rossiter outstanding of course, but I will probably have to watch ithe whole thing again to make a proper judgement.

Marvellous memories of seeing thos at Stratfotd so this was nostalgic for me And we used to see George Costigan ( who plays Philip in.this) at the Liverpool Everyman and playhouse at this period all the time so it felt like old times watching this Leomsard Rossioter was super as King John in.this underrated Shakespeare play

Well acted as one would expect but the scene sets are fairly poor. The play itself is not one of Shakespeare’s better known and one can understand why. Not one of his better plays. An interesting watch for those who are enthusiasts of the Bard.

This is a really good production of Shakespeare's play. Came promptly. Thank you.

Odd but good