Upstart Crow – BBC2

Upstart Crow BBC2 What’s on telly tonight? Our pick of the best shows on Wednesday 29th August
(Image credit: BBC/Colin Hutton)

Will needs inspiration for his new play A Midsummer Night's Dream, and a rather old but very wealthy gentleman has taken a shine to Kate

Ben Elton’s Blackadder-esque Shakespearean sitcom, starring David Mitchell as the Bard, returns for a third series.

'I don’t think Ben gets the credit he deserves,' says David (pictured above, as the Bard).

'He’s written Blackadder and The Young Ones – I mean, that’s more than anyone has a right to expect!'

This week, we discover the genesis of comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Also, Kate (Gemma Whelan) shocks everyone by rejecting the advances of ‘the richest man in Southwark’, played by guest star Nigel Planer.

Along the way, Mr Elton maketh excellent quips about the privatisation of public transport.

Plus Will endures more barbed comments about his hairline and why his ‘comedies’ aren’t funny from his wife Anne (Liza Tarbuck) and others.

Upstart Crow BBC2

Liza Tarbuck co-stars as Will's wife, Anne, as the third series gets under way

In the words of Hamlet’s Osric, ‘a very palpable hit'.

TV Times rating: ****