When Romeo Met Juliet met the red button

Shakespeare Updated 11/6/2010: Breaking News! This has been moved to Saturday night, 12/6/2010 at 9:40 on the red button after the final episode of When Romeo Met Juliet . Yes, because of the football. 'Twas forever thus. The last five minutes of one clashes with the first five minutes of the other, but hopefully that'll just be countdown material.

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This fortnight's running list for the BBC's Red Button service has been released and includes a welcome addition to BBC Two's new bringing the bard to the kids series When Romeo Met Juliet. The entire production is being presented in its entirety afterwards:

When Romeo Met Juliet

One city, two schools, eight weeks and a slot in a major theatre to put on a professional production of Shakespeare's most famous love story. What will happen when Romeo meets Juliet?

In BBC Two's new three-part series, Paul Roseby, the Artistic Director of the National Youth Theatre, brings together two schools from opposite sides of the same city in a unique experiment. Each school will be cast as one of the two feuding families at the heart of the play. Romeo and his Montague clan come from a Coventry city centre comprehensive while Juliet and the Capulets are from a Catholic school in the city's northern suburbs.

The unique Shakespeare performance by the two schools that forms the climax of When Romeo Met Juliet is available in its entirety on the red button, complete with special programme notes. Filmed live at Coventry's Belgrade Theatre and screened to an audience outside as well as inside, it features an original score performed by a band made up of pupils from both schools.

Sky/Virgin/Freeview:
Friday 18th June, 9.55pm - 4am (19th) (see above)
(Not available on Freesat)