This whimsical imagining of William Shakespeare’s ‘lost years’ certainly pays one or two playful homages to that other less-than-accurate biopic, but its real heritage can be traced to Monty Python and Blackadder. In the fashion of the former, the sextet of main actors, already known for their ensemble work on CBBC’s Horrible Histories and Sky’s Yonderland, share the majority of the roles between them. Each has a main role, and Mathew Baynton proves a lovably optimistic Shakespeare at the heart of it all. Yet it is the minor characters – ‘the body collector’ and ‘sausage guy’ being particular favourites – who bring this world to life. Most importantly, though, it is funny. The humour of the main storyline is interspersed with yet more gags; sometimes the same cast member will make you laugh three times as three different characters in the space of a few minutes. These smaller skits hark back to the sketch-writing days of Horrible Histories, but the feature-length format allows for the repetition of jokes in such a short space of time that they gain a momentum which would be beyond a TV series. It is wide-ranging too, with jokes for kids (and big kids), jokes for Shakespeare aficionados, and jokes for grown-ups all packed in together. But Bill is also tightly plotted. Willbond says it took them a year to get the story right before they wrote the first draft, and the precision of planning shows. Recent comedy films like The Inbetweeners Movie and now The Bad Education Movie have led us to accept ‘they go on holiday’ as a suitable storyline, but Bill carefully intertwines the development of a young artist and his rocky marital life with Elizabethan court politics and a treasonous plot. In addition to the core six performers, comic actors Justin Edwards and Rufus Jones drop in as courtiers, and Helen McRory plays a grumpy old Queen Elizabeth I – an almost direct answer to Miranda Richardson’s childish portrayal in Blackadder II. Her husband Damian Lewis also guest-stars in the first scene, but is woefully underused as a captive Sir John Hawkins, who seems forgotten not only by King Philip but also by the writers for most of the film. Yet in amongst the supporting characters, the multi-layered plot and the bum jokes, there is a real emotional core to Bill. The audience remains engaged the whole way through, never bored, responding to each scene in turn. We become invested in the relationship between Bill and Anne (Howe-Douglas). The film doesn’t just make you laugh; it evokes sympathy, builds tension, and finally leaves you with a warm satisfaction. This is no small part due to the closeness and dedication of the group of people who made it. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.