FANDOM NAME: Will (TV 2017) WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: Hello all may I introduce you to the trashfire show of my heart, Will?
Ambitious (Catholic) aspiring young poet William Shakespeare leaves his wife and children behind in Stratford to go to London to pursue a career as a playwright. He talks his way into a job at the Globe under James Burbage, gets his first play on the stage, gets embroiled in love and politics, and it all goes from there. That's Will, in that photo above. He's rather clueless, but very well meaning.
Meet some of the other characters! Here's Alice Burbage.
Yes, she's the love interest. She's also scribe, prop manager, and intends to manage the Globe herself one day. She gets a lovely character arc and she's TOO GOOD for almost any other character in the show.
This is her brother, Richard.
He is, and I make no apologies for the pun, a bit of a dick. He's not the brightest of sparks, but he learns and he develops and by the end of the series, he's grown up a lot. (That's Autolycus behind him. Autolycus is kind of awesome.)
And THIS is Christopher Marlowe, goth (canonically and explicitly) gay nihilist punk poet playwright and spy of my heart.
I make no secret of the fact that Kit Marlowe is my favourite. He's deeply messed up, incredibly charismatic, the superstar of his day, intrigued by Will's writing talents, and manipulates nearly every situation to his own advantage. (Except personal ones, where he's self-destructive as fuck.)
Will aired on TNT in 2017. There's only one season, ten episodes, and it does come to a satisfying conclusion. As you can probably tell from the images, it's got a definite punk approach to history - the creative team have described it as trying to evoke the same reactions in a 21st century audience as would have been evoked in a contemporary audience. Yes, that means a very Knight's Tale approach to history and a punk soundtrack. It's got scenes of torture, it's got moments of glaring misogyny, and it doesn't treat its characters of colour very well, so if those are hard limits for you, probably give it a miss. It's also got the obligatory annoying child character, but even he's not too bad by the end. Watch it for Marlowe, for Alice, for the Burbage family, for Emilia, for Moll, for Topcliffe's comeuppance and Southwell's unmasking, for the glorious soundtrack, for the riot of colour in the set and costume design, for a vibrant London and for a love of theatre and expression and words and humanity.
WHERE CAN I FIND IT: It's available on Amazon Prime streaming and YouTube, both paid services instead of included with any packages. If you're in the US, it may still be on TNT streaming. If you have Virgin TV in the UK, it's in the box sets on your set top box.
WILL (TV 2017)
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: Hello all may I introduce you to the trashfire show of my heart, Will?
Ambitious (Catholic) aspiring young poet William Shakespeare leaves his wife and children behind in Stratford to go to London to pursue a career as a playwright. He talks his way into a job at the Globe under James Burbage, gets his first play on the stage, gets embroiled in love and politics, and it all goes from there. That's Will, in that photo above. He's rather clueless, but very well meaning.
Meet some of the other characters! Here's Alice Burbage.
Yes, she's the love interest. She's also scribe, prop manager, and intends to manage the Globe herself one day. She gets a lovely character arc and she's TOO GOOD for almost any other character in the show.
This is her brother, Richard.
He is, and I make no apologies for the pun, a bit of a dick. He's not the brightest of sparks, but he learns and he develops and by the end of the series, he's grown up a lot. (That's Autolycus behind him. Autolycus is kind of awesome.)
And THIS is Christopher Marlowe, goth (canonically and explicitly) gay nihilist punk poet playwright and spy of my heart.
I make no secret of the fact that Kit Marlowe is my favourite. He's deeply messed up, incredibly charismatic, the superstar of his day, intrigued by Will's writing talents, and manipulates nearly every situation to his own advantage. (Except personal ones, where he's self-destructive as fuck.)
Will aired on TNT in 2017. There's only one season, ten episodes, and it does come to a satisfying conclusion. As you can probably tell from the images, it's got a definite punk approach to history - the creative team have described it as trying to evoke the same reactions in a 21st century audience as would have been evoked in a contemporary audience. Yes, that means a very Knight's Tale approach to history and a punk soundtrack. It's got scenes of torture, it's got moments of glaring misogyny, and it doesn't treat its characters of colour very well, so if those are hard limits for you, probably give it a miss. It's also got the obligatory annoying child character, but even he's not too bad by the end. Watch it for Marlowe, for Alice, for the Burbage family, for Emilia, for Moll, for Topcliffe's comeuppance and Southwell's unmasking, for the glorious soundtrack, for the riot of colour in the set and costume design, for a vibrant London and for a love of theatre and expression and words and humanity.
WHERE CAN I FIND IT: It's available on Amazon Prime streaming and YouTube, both paid services instead of included with any packages. If you're in the US, it may still be on TNT streaming. If you have Virgin TV in the UK, it's in the box sets on your set top box.