logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2023
12m 37s

The Real Macbeth

The Retrospectors
About this episode
Immortalised by Shakespeare, Scottish king Macbeth was killed in battle near Lumphanan, Aberdeenshire on 15th August 1057; a demise that brought significant changes to Scotland's monarchy. But the real Macbeth, contrary to his portrayal in the play, ruled for 17 relatively peaceful years and displayed generosity toward the church. That said, his relationship ... Show More
Up next
Today
Comstock's War On Obscenity
Sending rude mail was dealt a devastating blow on 3rd March, 1873, when the campaign against pornography, reproductive health, birth control, and abortion led by self-appointed ‘Special Agent’ of the US Postal Service Anthony Comstock went all the way to Washington. After the ‘Co ... Show More
11m 58s
Yesterday
It's King Kong!
King Kong roared onto the silver screen on March 2nd, 1933, in an extraordinary simultaneous screening at Radio City and the Roxy, New York - attracting 10,000 viewers in one hit. The buzz around the film was no accident — RKO Pictures had blitzed the public with an aggressive ma ... Show More
11m 32s
Feb 27
Unmasking Mardi Gras
New Orleans witnessed its first modern Mardi Gras procession - kick-started by a group of students eager to revive the traditional masquerade, banned for six decades - on 27th February, 1827. The city’s parades and revelry can trace their origins back to ancient pagan festivals a ... Show More
12m 5s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2020
Macbeth
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. When three witches prophesy that Macbeth will be king one day, he is not prepared to wait and almost the next day he murders King Duncan as he sleeps, a guest at Macbeth’s castle. From there we explore their ... Show More
51m 45s
Oct 2020
Macbeth
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. When three witches prophesy that Macbeth will be king one day, he is not prepared to wait and almost the next day he murders King Duncan as he sleeps, a guest at Macbeth’s castle. From there we explore their ... Show More
51m 45s
Feb 2023
Lady Macbeth
Playwright Zinnie Harris, author Isabelle Schuler and New Generation Thinker Emma Whipday and Michelle Assay have looked at the murdering husband and wife of Shakespeare's Scottish play. Chris Harding hosts a discussion about the Macbeth story from Kurosawa and Shostakovich to a ... Show More
44m 52s
Jan 2022
Sir Kenneth Branagh, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Cow, Scream, Ascension, Memoria and Save the Cinema
Sir Kenneth Branagh talks about his new film Belfast. Mark reviews Scream, set twenty-five years after the original series of murders in Woodsboro; Joel Coen’s adaptation of Sir William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, about a Scottish lord who becomes convinced by a trio of ... Show More
2h 2m
Nov 2020
Saying “Macbeth” Inside a Theater
According to theatre lore, this famous play by William Shakespeare has carried a witch's curse since it's earliest performances. If you say the name 'Macbeth' inside a theater when you're not performing the Scottish Play... blood will have blood, so they say. Learn more about you ... Show More
34m 20s
Oct 2021
104. Macbeth
Something wicked this way comes. Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook take a deep dive into the real history of Scotland’s most notorious king. Was he really the murderous man of Shakespeare’s writing? Plus the boys examine the play for its insight into the politics of the time in w ... Show More
54m 20s
Mar 2023
Macbeth by William Shakespeare retold by Edith Nesbit
<p>Tonight's sleep story is Macbeth by William Shakespeare, retold by Edith Nesbit. You know the story of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and their thirst for power at any cost originally written by William Shakespeare. This adaptation by Edith Nesbit condenses and simplifies the story ... Show More
30m 2s
Dec 2017
Hamlet
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Shakespeare's best known, most quoted and longest play, written c1599 - 1602 and rewritten throughout his lifetime. It is the story of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, encouraged by his father's ghost to take revenge on his uncle who murdered him, and is ... Show More
52m 33s
Dec 2017
Hamlet
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Shakespeare's best known, most quoted and longest play, written c1599 - 1602 and rewritten throughout his lifetime. It is the story of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, encouraged by his father's ghost to take revenge on his uncle who murdered him, and is ... Show More
52m 33s