Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius

1587. William Shakespeare leaves the small rural town of Stratford to pursue his dreams of becoming a playwright in the dangerous, growing metropolis of London. Public theatre is red-hot modernity, and Shakespeare begins his journey at the very bottom. Inspired by the live fast, die young world he inhabits, he writes the schlock horror hit Titus Andronicus and a teenage romance where all the young people die: Romeo and Juliet.

A 30-year-old Shakespeare is at the top of his game: he's got a job at England's best theatre company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and the money is rolling in. Determined to restore his family's reputation, Shakespeare works harder than ever, producing hit after hit: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Henry IV and Julius Caesar. 

But as his star rises, a series of tragedies strike. Shakespeare's life, purpose and family are thrown into chaos, and he begins to question if his new life is worth the sacrifice.

Shakespeare's life and legacy is threatened when the Gunpowder Plot unearths a secret he has worked all his life to bury: his family are Catholics, traitors to the crown. When his daughter is implicated in the fallout, Shakespeare unleashes his most epic work to date: Macbeth, which appeals to the new monarch, King James I. As Shakespeare teeters towards death, he reflects on his successes and failures, questioning family, forgiveness and mortality as his work is at risk of being lost forever.