A Crow Christmas Carol

Short Summary
It's a bleak midwinter in the Shakespeare household as the family comes to terms with a cruel loss. But when a mysterious stranger offers to share with Will a tale of redemption he becomes filled anew with love and light and hope.

Now Will has a mission - to save another soul from despair. He and his family and friends get together to save Greene from a mean and miserly life, and arrange for three midnight "ghosts" to visit him before Christmas.

Who is the stranger? Can Will and his family and friend's efforts persuade Greene to change his ways and show some generosity to his servant Job Scratchit? And at the end of it all could this tale of Yuletide redemption be another smash Shakespeare hit on the stage, or is its time not yet come? In short, what the Dickens is going on?

Regular cast

 * David Mitchell as William Shakespeare
 * Rob Rouse as Bottom
 * Gemma Whelan as Kate
 * Liza Tarbuck as Anne Shakespeare
 * Harry Enfield as John Shakespeare
 * Paula Wilcox as Mary Shakespeare
 * Helen Monks as Susanna
 * Steve Speirs as Burbage
 * Tim Downie as Marlowe
 * Dominic Coleman as Condell
 * Mark Heap as Sir Robert Greene
 * Spencer Jones as Kempe
 * Jocelyn Jee Esien as Lucy
 * Rosanna Beacock as Judith

Guest cast

 * Kenneth Branagh as Colin / The Stranger
 * Karl Theobald as Scratchit
 * Lily Cole as Ephie
 * Hannah Jane Fox as Mrs Scratchit
 * Luka Petrovic as Tiny Todge

Trivia

 * 1) Kenneth Branagh, who was born in Belfast, is using his real accent for the character of Colin.
 * 2) Will's prediction that a future writer will make use of the stranger's tale is a reference to A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, which uses the same premise and basic structure as the tale provided by the stranger.