Shakespeare: 'In Our Time'

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The long-established BBC Radio 4 programme ‘In Our Time’, hosted by Melvyn Bragg, has many riches on a huge variety of (now over 1000) topics. The format is that expert guests discuss a topic for an hour, prompted by Bragg.

For convenience, I’ve collated a reverse-order list of programmes based on Shakespeare, prompted by the recent one on Twelfth Night, one of my favourite plays. In each case the original BBC page via the title-link has extensive reading lists and further links.

  1. Twelfth Night, or What You Will: Pascale Aebischer, Michael Dobson and Emma Smith. December 2023.

  2. Romeo and Juliet: Helen Hackett, Paul Prescott and Emma Smith. February 2022.

  3. The Sonnets: Hannah Crawforth, Don Paterson, Emma Smith. June 2022.

  4. Macbeth: Emma Smith, Kiernan Ryan, David Schalkwyk. October 2020.

  5. Is Shakespeare History? The Romans. Jonathan Bate, Catherine Steel, Patrick Gray. October 2019.

  6. Is Shakespeare History? The Plantagenets: Emma J. Smith, Gordon McMullan, Katherine Lewis. October 2018.

  7. Hamlet: Jonathan Bate, Carol Rutter, Sonia Massai. December 2017.

  8. The Tempest: Jonathan Bate, Erin Sullivan, Katherine Duncan-Jones. November 2013.

  9. Elizabethan revenge: Jonathan Bate, Julie Sanders, Janet Clare. Partly on Shakespeare, including of course Hamlet. June 2009.

  10. Lear. Jonathan Bate, Katherine Duncan-Jones, Catherine Belsey. February 2008.

  11. The Sonnet. Sir Frank Kermode, Phillis Levin, Jonathan Bate. General history of the form, including Shakespeare. June 2001.

  12. Shakespeare’s Life. Katherine Duncan-Jones, John Sutherland, Grace Ioppolo. March 2001.

  13. Shakespeare’s Work. Frank Kermode, Michael Bogdanov, Germaine Greer. May 2000.

  14. Shakespeare and Literary Criticism. Harold Bloom, Jacqueline Rose. March 1999.