Upstart Crow

The day of Hamnet�s confirmation is approaching and Anne has made sure it�s been in Will�s diary for months. The only problem is this also turns out to be the night of the first ever London Theatre Awards and, with Will being the greatest writer of all time�and with all the other theatre companies in London being closed all year because of the plague�Will reckons he may be in with a chance of a prize.

Will has decided to write a play about the life of Julius Caesar, but his only problem is how to deal with his assassination. The Queen is not likely to approve of any play about doing in the head of state, and Robert Greene is particularly keen to label Will a traitor.

When Kate stands in for Sue at the masked ball she accidentally sets off a chain of events that leaves Sue humiliated by the other local teenagers and Will needs to come up with a ruse to turn the tables on the bullies. In all the confusion, Hamnet has gone missing.

London is full of anti-immigrant rioting. Will looks forward to an age when such sentiments are long-gone, but in the meantime he and the players plan to do their bit to help those worse off than themselves with a fund-raising charity gala night. 'Inflated Pig's Bladder Day' is a triumph.

Will has been working on his masterpiece. His friends tell him it's his greatest comedy yet, but Will insists that Hamlet isn't actually meant to be funny.

Will needs inspiration for his new play, 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. How can he get hold of some love potion, and where is Bottom going to put that stuffed donkey head?

'Romeo and Juliet' is finally finished, and the only problem is now who will play the young lovers. Burbage and Condell see themselves in the title roles of course, but is there a polite way for Will to tell them they may no longer look like young teenage lovers? Kate would give anything to take to the stage, but she can't possibly be Juliet as she's a girl, and lady-acting is illegal in Tudor England.

Will is thrilled with his new play, 'The Taming of the Shrew', in which a bright and strong-minded young woman is crushed and humiliated into submission by the man in her life. For some reason Kate is less than impressed, and Anne isn�t convinced either. Will thinks the solution is to try out a bit of 'taming' on his very stroppy teenage daughter Susannah.

Will takes it badly when everybody tells him his new play about two sets of identical twins separated at birth and given the same names is rather far-fetched, until he hits on a sure fire way to stop any audience minding when the plot gets really ridiculous � make it a musical. Back in Stratford, Will's dad is determined to get Will to use his new-found writing fame to make the Shakespeare family properly posh, which turns out to be rather a big ask.

Will finds himself tricked by his evil nemesis, Robert Greene into writing a blood-soaked tragedy for a nobleman who only really likes romances set in exotic foreign locations. Suddenly Will needs to write a whole new play and he's all out of ideas. Marlowe is taking Italian lessons from Kate, and they seem to have developed something of a soft spot for each other.

Will is off to Stratford to get some serious writing done, but when Simon Hunt, his terrifying old school teacher, invites himself to stay, Will is unable to say no even though his presence stirs up some pretty awful memories of the classroom. Marlowe and Greene are also up in Warwickshire hunting for a Roman Catholic spy.

Will is desperate to make a good impression with the College of Heralds so he can get his family a coat of arms and finally make the Shakespeares posh. The only problem is that his deadly rival, Robert Greene is the Master of Heralds. When a dashing African Prince comes to town by the name of Otello, Will suddenly sees a way to make a favourable impression amongst the gentry. Otello makes a very favourable impression on the heart of Will's friend, Kate and the stage seems to be set for Robert Greene to stir up a little jealousy.

There is money to be made investing in cargos from the New World, but while Marlowe invests in tobacco and potato products, Will would rather invest in building a new theatre. But when Will's savings go missing, he is forced to make a rather unusual bargain with his rival Robert Greene. Kate's frustration with the lack of roles for women leads her to make a rather dramatic intervention...

The plague leads Will and his friends to escape to the family home in Stratford. On the way, they meet three witches who have some surprising predictions to make about Will's future, leading to a very serious case of house envy.

Will completes his final sonnet and senses literary immortality just around the corner. But will the fair youth and the dark lady like them as much as he hopes? And is Anne likely to be impressed that her husband's 154 hot new love poems don't contain much about her?

Will hopes to move up in the world when he is invited to Lord Southampton's party. But what should a poorly-educated country boy wear to London's poshest do? And are Sir Robert Greene's fashion tips a double bluff, a triple bluff or something even more fiendish?

Will's controversial new play is about to be presented to Queen Elizabeth, but it goes missing and the finger of suspicion points to his best friend and fellow author KIt Marlowe. The playwright has to scramble desperately to come up with a way to recover his stolen masterpiece, though given its politically sensitive content, is he really wise to want it back?

Will struggles to find inspiration for Romeo while having to deal with an angry actor, a very annoying house-guest and his family�s not terribly helpful script suggestions.