The Latest Breaking News from Henry V

Some say Shakespeare invented the “history play” – but he had a lot of help.

Shakespeare’s Henry V (stylised by Bell Shakespeare as Henry 5) is famous for many things. Henry’s rousing speeches. Its chorus directly addressing the audience. Its critical treatment of war. Its comic characters like Fluellen. And the comic exchanges between the French Princess and her maid Alice, trying to speak English.

Costume designer who won Oscars for her work on the film epic Doctor Zhivago and for Kenneth Branagh’s 1989 Henry V

Scottish musician Patrick Doyle is an acclaimed composer of over 60 feature film scores with many attendant accolades, honours and awards. I first met him in 2001 while making a now long-vanished series on movie music called Silverscreen Beats for BBC Radio.