BBC drama Shakespeare & Hathaway set for second season
THE BBC daytime drama Shakespeare & Hathaway - Private Investigators has been recommissioned for a second series.
The RSC is featured in the series, which was filmed in Stratford and around south Warwickshire last summer as Jo Joyner (Luella Shakespeare), Mark Benton (Frank Hathaway) investigated the fictional secrets of rural Warwickshire’s residents.
The ten-part drama has been broadcast on the BBC One from late February.
The full first series is available to watch on demand via BBC iPlayer: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09trrn9
The second series will begin filming in and around Stratford in September 2018.
The announcement follows a hugely successful launch series which generated exceptional audience feedback and was met with widespread critical acclaim.
Shakespeare & Hathaway – Private Investigators is the most watched Daytime series on catch up (+0.4m) to date, and has had a huge volume of traffic on iPlayer with over 2m requests so far. In the programme’s first week it was in the top 10 of all BBC content on iPlayer.
The series, produced by BBC Studios in Birmingham, averaged 2.11m viewers and a 26.4% audience share (against an average viewership of 1.0m/16% at this time on BBC One), making it the biggest drama launch for Daytime since Father Brown in 2013.
Dan McGolpin says: “This new series has amused and delighted so many viewers with its inspired story-telling, intriguing characters and knowing comedy - all set in Shakespeare country. I’m very pleased to confirm that it will return to both BBC One Daytime and iPlayer early next year.”
Will Trotter, Head of Daytime Drama, BBC Studios says: “Series Two will see Frank and Lu investigating kidnapped canines, locked room mysteries, dead ringers and doppelgängers, vice, fraud, extortion and identity theft. Our detectives will continue where they left off putting the world to rights as they snoop and pry. More ado in Stratford-Upon-Avon.”
Jo Joyner says: “I’m totally thrilled to have the chance to visit Lu, Frank and Sebastian again in the beautiful surroundings of the Warwickshire countryside. We were really blown away by the support the first series garnered and we can’t wait to see what they get up to next!”
