A Waste of Shame (2005 John McKay)

William Boyd's sympathetic Shakespeare, his story behind the sonnets. Rupert Graves gives a good performance as the bard, suffering mixed feelings about a young 'adonis' (Tom Sturridge) and a French 'doxy' (Indira Varma), feeling the commercial pressure of the plague, and suffering from the pox.

It's uniformly well played by all - rest of cast: Zoe Wanamaker, Tom Hiddlestone, Anna Chancellor, Andrew Tiernan (Dr. Johnson), Nicky Henson. Alan Williams, Nicholas Rowe, John Voce, Christopher Fairbank (lots and lots and lots of telly since Z Cars in 1978).

Lovely music by Kevin Sargent (also The Hours). Photographed by Tim Palmer.