Shakespeare & Hathaway is back with series 4 – hurrah! – and there’s one question on fans’ lips: Will Frank and Lu ever get together?
Thanks to some gentle cosy crime thrills and spills, viewers can’t get enough of the show.
Shakespeare & Hathaway season 4: Who plays Shakespeare and Hathaway?
Frank Shakespeare and Lu Hathaway are about to get underway for their fourth series solving crimes together.
A yin-and-yang crime-solving couple, Frank is played by Mark Benton.
Mark, 56, has also starred in Clocking Off, James Nesbitt crime drama Murphy’s Law and BBC school drama Waterloo Road.
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He also appeared in the 2013 series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnering Iveta Lukosiute. They were eliminated in week 10.
When it comes to Lu Hathaway, Jo Joyner first became a name to watch in Channel 4’s nurse drama, No Angels.
Jo, 44, then went on to EastEnders, where she played Tanya Branning on and off for 12 years.
With Albert Square behind her, Trying Again, Candy Cabs, The Interceptor and Ackley Bridge on Channel 4 followed.
Jo is married to Neil Madden, and is mother to twins Freddie and Edie.
Will Shakespeare and Hathaway get together?
There’s always been an element of will-they-won’t-they about Frank and Lu.
But whether they’ll get together is an entirely different question.
In an interview with ED! and other journalists, Mark said: “If they ever got together, it wouldn’t be the show. Their relationship would change and in some ways I think it’s slightly too deep for what we do.
“I think it would take it in a different direction.”
Jo added: “I do think there was an element of that in the first season, and in the second season people were a bit like ‘will they, won’t they?’
“Now it’s matured. Their relationship has matured and our understanding of it has matured.
“I feel like even big fans of Shakespeare & Hathaway wouldn’t want them to get together because it’s one of those brilliant friendships.
“A, they wouldn’t want to risk losing anything, and B, they know that they’re going to be together forever.
“I almost feel like they’ve skipped a process, and they are that married couple.”
How many seasons of Shakespeare & Hathaway are there?
So far, three series of Shakespeare & Hathaway have been made and aired on BBC One during daytime.
A fourth is now beginning – on Monday, February 14.
Where can you watch Shakespeare & Hathaway’s previous series?
There’s good news for S&H fans – there are plenty of ways you can watch previous series.
First off, you can watch all episodes from the three series on the BBC’s iPlayer.
You can also watch previous episodes on UKTV’s dedicated crime channel, Alibi.
Those episodes currently air Thursday nights at 9pm.
Is Shakespeare & Hathaway filmed in Stratford-Upon-Avon?
It is indeed.
In fact, the clue is in the title of the show – Shakespeare refers to the old bard himself, William Shakespeare, and Hathaway refers to his wife Anne Hathaway.
However, our two heroes don’t have anything to do with their namesakes.
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Because William and Anne lived and worked in the Warwickshire town of Stratford-Upon-Avon, the show is also set there.
But it’s not just Stratford the show is filmed in – neighbouring historic towns like Warwick and Royal Leamington Spa are also featured heavily.
Jo told us: “I live in Oxfordshire and I did my A levels in Stratford, so for me it’s the icing on the cake because I never get to work anywhere like this.
“I do a lot of work in the north and the northern cities, but Oxfordshire and Warwickshire are beautiful in their own way. So it’s good to show off the area.”
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