Upstart Crow

Will needs inspiration for his new play A Midsummer Night's Dream. Meanwhile how can he get hold of some love potion, and where is Bottom going to put that stuffed donkey head?

Will Shakespeare has been working on his masterpiece. His friends tell him it's his greatest comedy yet, but Will insists that Hamlet isn't actually meant to be funny.

London is full of anti-immigrant rioting. Will looks forward to an age when such sentiments are long-gone, but in the meantime he and the players plan to do their bit to help those worse off than themselves with a fund-raising charity gala night. “Inflated Pig's Bladder Day” is a triumph.

When Kate stands in for Sue at the masked ball she accidentally sets off a chain of events that leaves Sue humiliated by the other local teenagers and Will needs to come up with a ruse to turn the tables on the bullies. Meanwhile in all the confusion Hamnet has gone missing.

Will's troupe plot against each other, but his defusing of the situation helps give him a better idea for his new play about Julius Caesar.

As Will wrestles with temptation a bigger threat to his family lurks in the wings.