It's perhaps fair to say that several of the young bucks of Verona are cast more for their glamour and attractiveness than their acting chops. Douglas Booth has a better stab at Romeo, but this is more like a case of miscast lovers, rather than starcrossed ones. As such, she delivers the text with a rushed delivery that suggests she holds a distinctly unsure grasp on much of what she is expected to say. She seems to have learnt her script like a non-English speaker would - phonetically. So promising in the Coen Brothers remake of True Grit, she's hopelessly adrift here. It was embarrassing enough to see Olivia Hussey bare her breasts for the classroom, but it was downright strange (though perhaps understandable) to have the teacher than confide with us the fervent crush that scene brought about when he first saw it and how, just like Morrissey once sang, there's a light that never goes out. Then again, maybe they're hoping to spare teenage English students everywhere who, like me, had to watch the 1968 classic alongside their teacher. Fair enough, but the proceedings have more than air of 'why bother?' when Zeffirelli's already been there.

Opting not for a modern day retelling a'la Baz Luhrmann (which wouldn't really work nowadays on hearing from Benvolio that Romeo is full of woe by his love's side, we would have to endure the Friar commenting 'Wait didn't he get my text?') they return the narrative to the correct time period and the very streets of Verona Shakespeare set his play upon. Was yet another version truly needed? Director Carlo Carlei and writer/producer Lord Snooty.I mean, Julian Fellowes, seem to think so. Watching it today, I'm wondering why they bothered.

This most recent adaptation of Shakespeare's oft-told tale was the big Christmas Day matinee on BBC2.

Romeo and juliet script 2013