BBC2 Bardathon

A brilliant tribute and such a mixture of tragedy and fun, the to be or not to be sketch was hilarious and I agree on the lines given by Ian McKellen , great evening

Dame Judy in doublet and hose. What a lady!

I thought it was wonderful, although I do admit to making a cuppa during the opera bit.
Al Murray had those ears on all day and Prince Charles is a good sport too!
I do love a bit of Shakespeare. All the different interpretations are fascinating.

I really enjoyed it - even, surprisingly, the rapping! The pas de deaux from Romeo and Juliet was probably the most beautiful and erotically charged piece of ballet I have seen, and I am no ballet fan. I had never heard the Thomas More speech - amazing how Shakespeare resonates down the ages - and who but Ian McKellen could have put it across so well. The whole evening was a feast.

I wasn't keen on the presenters but other than that I enjoyed the evening.

The Othello dance was amazing as was the Romeo & Juliette pas de deux. I'm going to watch them both again.

Did anyone else think that Catherine Tate's dress was ill-judged?

I only saw the last 20 minutes or so - stumbled on it and was so cross that I hadn't known it was on . However, have just discovered it is on iPlayer .

The whole event was brilliant, we both thoroughly enjoyed it (tho DH fell asleep and missed the "to be...." Sketch). The dancing was all amazing, and I found the rap part surprisingly good. Good on Prince Charles for joining in! But yes, Catherine Tate's dress was definitely a distraction!

I really enjoyed it but I'm afraid I didn't enjoy Catherine Tate's presentation (or the dress too revealing and it seemed to slip lower and lower throughout the evening. I don't think I have ever heard 'all the world's a stage' so badly.
Overall though a brilliant evening and HRH is such good fun.

I missed it - OH wanted to watch something else and was recording another programme - but good to see it is on iPlayer. I would watch anything with David Tennant in - never mind the bard!

I agree that All the World's a Stage was dreadful.

Missed it! We were out carousing....Shakespaere would have approved of us.

Catherine Tate was a huge error of judgement on the part of the producers. She was a real lightweight surrounded by some real actors. She looked haggard and totally out of place - and as for that strange garment with her boobs bouncing about with every breath........!

But it was a very worthwhile programme with a good variety of aspects of the bard. Judi Dench is a cracker - and Ian McKellen on top form.

I do wish though that they had had Bryn Terfel or Roderick Williams to sing Come Away Death - I did not like Ian Bostridge's interpretation at all.

So much to enjoy. I even enjoyed the Hip Hop Shakespeare much to my surprise. Lovely to see Judi Dench playing Titania again, I saw her in Midsummer Night's Dream about 5 years ago.And To Be or Not To Be was great fun.