Like the first series, the second installment of Shakespeare Uncovered combines history, biography, iconic performances, new analysis, and the personal passions of its celebrated hosts – Hugh Bonneville, Kim Cattrall, Joseph Fiennes, Morgan Freeman, David Harewood, and Christopher Plummer – to tell the stories behind the stories of Shakespeare’s greatest plays.

The new season investigates A Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and The Taming of the Shrew.  As before, the broadcasts will be accompanied by a rich Web site and community outreach. Each of our six hosts has a personal connection with the play they present.  Christopher Plummer is one of the great Lears of our time; Kim Cattrall has played Cleopatra twice on the English stage, and Morgan Freeman has taken on The Taming of the Shrew’s Petruchio at New York’s Shakespeare in the Park; Joseph Fiennes portrayed Shakespeare playing Romeo in the Academy Award-winning movie blockbuster Shakespeare in Love; and Hugh Bonneville began his career as an understudy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  David Harewood was an acclaimed Othello at London’s National Theatre– the first black actor to play the role there (and will be familiar to Homeland fans as CIA director David Estes and, currently, as Sam Saperstein on Selfie).