According to Anita Singh in The Telegraph ‘Benedict Cumberbatch and Judi Dench say they will star in Richard III TV adaptation’.
Dame Judi Dench is said to star opposite Benedict Cumberbatch in Richard III after Cumberbatch ‘ambushed her during a Shakespeare masterclass’.
Dame Judi Dench will play the role of Queen Margaret to Cumberbatch’s hunchbacked monarch in a BBC production later in 2014.
‘Appearing before an audience on the final day of the Hay Festival, in conversation with Sir Richard Eyre, Dame Judi was initially coy about whether she would take the part.’
The report states that Cumberbatch had approached Dame Judi several months ago, and has been trying to persuade her to take the role. She was put on the spot when the audience were invited to participate in the discussion and Cumberbatch, from his seat in the front row, seized his opportunity.
“Would you like to be in Richard III with me?” he asked. “Yeah,” Dame Judi replied after a theatrical pause, prompting cheers from the crowd.
The play will be directed by Dominic Cooke, former artistic director of the Royal Court. It is the concluding part of The Hollow Crown, a series of Shakepeare history plays for the BBC which began in 2012.
