Dvd/150: THE HOLLOW CROWN: THE WAR OF THE ROSES - HENRY VI PT 2 (Dominic Cooke, 2016)

The plot - and spilled blood - thickens as the balance of power seesaws between the houses of Lancaster and York in Dominic Cooke and Ben Power's adaptation of HENRY VI PART 2.

Nearly all Shakespeare's original PART 2 is jettisoned - Irish wars, Jack Cade's revolt - to concentrate on his PART 3: the clamorous battle in the narrow streets St Albans results in York forcing Henry VI to disinherit his young son in favour of York's children. 

Furious Queen Margaret wreaks bloody vengeance on York and his youngest son, leading to his other three sons, Edward, George and infamous Richard, seeking revenge on her and the mentally-unstable Henry.

Allegiances change and change again and all the time, bodies keep falling - and Richard inches nearer and nearer the throne.

Standout performances include Benedict Cumberbatch as the murderous Richard, Sophie Okonedo as Margaret, Geoffrey Streatfeild as Edward IV and Stanley Townsend as Warwick.

Shelf or charity shop?  Fighting it out in gory detail on the shelf - the death toll is now 14...buying the farm here are the Dukes of York, Exeter and Suffolk, Prince Edward, Henry VI, Somerset, Warwick, Edmund Plantagenet, Young Lord Clifford - and you know there are more to come in RICHARD III...