Upstart Crow

David Mitchell's pompous Will Shakespeare and his family are in a potentially fatal fix

Religious intolerance is in the air in tonight's episode, with the struggle between Catholic and Protestant in the age of Elizabeth I catching David Mitchell's pompous Will Shakespeare and family in a potentially fatal fix.

Will's still knocking out the plays, though, and is pondering writing a new one. About a king, unsurprisingly.

But which one – boring Henry V? Or Henry VIII, he of the religious rift with Rome and six wives – ‘When Harry met Cathy… and Anne… and Jane… etc etc’, quips Will, just one of writer Ben Elton’s more groanworthy gags in an episode containing at least four hearty guffaws.