Ben Elton has a unique gift of mining history for sitcom gold. I'm not sure anyone has ever taken the distant past and found a way to roast modern society and if someone has there's no way they could do it as well. The way he has taken the biggest literary conspiracy and played both sides of it would seem impossible until you see it. But the material would only be words without very talented performers that take it that next step and make it feel real. It's very hard picking who the clear standout is because each character really comes alive. David Mitchell is incredibly talented and I'm sure if he had a show that was him in a lawn chair with no dialogue he would somehow make it interesting. And while everyone really is amazing the two characters that stand out most to me are Mark Heap as Green who playing any other character the way he plays Green would be way over the top Is nail on the head stuff in this roll with every line he explodes with movement that adds to and not distracts from his performance. I despise Ricky Gervais and somehow he is still making a living making fun of mentally challenged people so my other standout has to be Spencer Jones as Kemp. I'm not sure why Ben Elton does not like Gervais but everything Kemp does and says is a nonstop roast of the unwelcome British import. If you know the Shakespeare conspiracy or not if you loved or hated Shakespeare in school really doesn't matter. This will go down alongside Black Adder as one of the greatest sitcoms of all time.
Review of Upstart Crow
