Broadcast in six parts, the series is a dramatisation of the life and times of the great poet William Shakespeare, played by Tim Curry, and was co-produced by Lew Grade's ATV and RAI and distributed internationally by ITC.

Each episode is based around the creation of a play and the idea of Shakespeare's life influencing his writing is used as the central plot device.

The wife of a judge, she falls in love with Shakespeare after seeing his performance as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet, adding a secondary storyline elaborating on class divisions.

[1] In 1977, Hodder and Stoughton published Will Shakespeare as written by John Mortimer, author of the Rumpole series.

The series was initially released on VHS under the title William Shakespeare: His Life & Times.