Simon Thorp

In the midst of a marital crisis, a High Court judge must decide if she should order a life-saving blood transfusion for a teen with cancer despite his family's refusal to accept medical treatment for religious reasons.

Henry IV is dead and Hal is King. With England in a state of unrest, he must leave his rebellious youth behind, striving to gain the respect of his nobility and people. Laying claim to parts of France and following an insult from the French Dauphin, Henry gathers his troops and prepares for a war that he hopes will unite his country. Gregory Doran continues his exploration of Shakespeare's History Plays with Henry V performed in the 600th anniversary year of the Battle of Agincourt. Following his performance as Hal in Henry IV Parts I & II Alex Hassell returns as Henry V.

King Henry's health is failing as a second rebellion against his reign threatens to surface. Intent on securing his legacy, he is uncertain that his son Hal is a worthy heir, believing him more concerned with earthly pleasures than the responsibility of rule. Sir John Falstaff is sent to the country side to recruit fresh troops. Amongst the unwitting locals opportunities for embezzlement and profiteering prove impossible to resist - as the king's health continues to worsen, Hal must choose between duty, and loyalty to an old friend.

With his crown under threat from enemies both foreign and domestic, Henry IV prepares for war. Having deposed the previous king, he is only too aware how tenuous his position is, and the price to be paid if he falters.

A monarch ordained by God to lead his people. But he is also a man of very human weakness. A man whose vanity threatens to divide the great houses of England and drag his people into a dynastic civil war that will last 100 years.

When Prince Malachy returns to his father’s kingdom after the Crusades his first impression is that a bad harvest is the reason that the villagers are sick and hungry. But all is not as it seems and a stranger to the village, warns the new king that a dark force is the cause of their ills.

The Black Death, a pandemic disease that ravaged in the 1300s, caused a never-before-seen human catastrophe of frightening magnitude. Over the course of three terrible years, more than a third of Europe's population was wiped out.