Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius — star-studded BBC documentary traces the life of the Bard

“He was not of an age but for all time!” So eulogised the poet Ben Jonson in his introduction to Shakespeare’s first folio, published 400 years ago this week. Yet a new three-part BBC series — marking the anniversary of what can safely be called the greatest collection of literature in the English language — is less a celebration of the Bard’s immortal verse than a prosaic survey of his life in a very specific place and time.

Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius combines documentary commentary with dramatic re-enactments that follow the playwright from rural Stratford to the urban chaos of Elizabethan London to the royal court. As a chronicle of the upward trajectory of a largely uneducated “upstart crow” — as he was branded in a damning early review that has aged rather poorly — the show is serviceably insightful.

There are summaries of the myriad obstacles that he had to overcome to establish himself in a theatre industry at the mercy of political agendas, puritanical censors and plagues, as well as informed speculations about the personal experiences that likely shaped his work.

Some biographical contexts, such as the death of his son Hamnet or the financial ruin of his father, are of course integral. But the series’ commitment to giving a sense of the man and his ambitions and struggles arguably come at the expense of a more comprehensive study of his peerless talents. Faced with the variety and depth of his writing, the show frequently does little more than offer cursory introductions to the plays in its synopsis-heavy overview of histories, tragedies and comedies.

Things really come alive when the show gives its illustrious contributors — who include Helen Mirren, Brian Cox, Jeanette Winterson and James Shapiro — a chance to immerse themselves in the richness of the language and storytelling. Gordon Brown leads a compelling analysis of the rhetorical intricacies and subtexts of Mark Antony’s famous speech in Julius Caesar while actress Jessie Buckley speaks eloquently of the linguistic musicality of Romeo and Juliet. Best of all, however, is Judi Dench, who stirringly recites passages that let Shakespeare’s genius speak for itself.

★★★☆☆

On BBC2 from November 8 at 9pm; new episodes air weekly and available on BBC iPlayer