I thought the production values were excellent and particularly liked Patrick Stewart and David Suchet. I am warming up to Rory Kinnear although he is not what I think of as Bolingbroke. And although well played, I do not care for Ben Wishaw's Richard at all. He comes across as very wishy-washy so one sees his downfall as inevitable. He was good in the early scenes but seemed very one dimensional in so many of the later ones. The director's choice to emphasize the Christ imagery is unfortunate - it feels very high school drama teacher being clever. I have to admit that many years ago I saw Ian Richardson as Richard II and I doubt anyone will ever match the brilliance and subtlety of his performance for me.
The ads that were running on my PBS station made no indication that this was a series of films based on Shakespeare. They made it look like a Game of Thrones rip-off. Had I known, I would have set my DVR for it.
It's worth nothing that there are three directors for these - the first of whom was Rupert Goold (he of ENRON fame and recent wunderkind of British theatre if he could just stop pissing off everyone he works with) in what was I believe his TV debut.
The two Henry IV films were directed by Sir Richard Eyre, and Henry V by Thea Sharrock (EQUUS and THE BODYGUARD). The whole enterprise was exceptionally theatrical.
I really enjoyed it! I didn't think my PBS station was going to carry the series, but I got lucky this time. Looking forward to Henry IV part I next week.