History Series / Will

* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: Topcliffe makes one to [[spoiler: Will: either he helps Topcliffe write an anti-Catholic play to combat Father Southwell, or Will's family becomes a target.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Topcliffe is disgraced and the theater is back in business, but Alice flees the country with Southwell--effectively [[ShipSinking ending]] her romance with Will.]]
* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler: Emerson]] is a classic example of this, due to having initially "debauched" his lover [[spoiler: Kit]] before dying.

* {{Confessional}}: Will confesses [[spoiler: his affair with Alice]] to his cousin Father Southwell--naturally, Southwell proceeds to hold this information over Will's head for the rest of the series.
* ConvertingForLove: Inverted in a pretty interesting way-- [[spoiler: Alice converts to Catholicism only after Will spurns her and leaves her heartbroken.]]
* CreatorBreakdown: [[spoiler: Kit Marlowe]] goes through an epic one. He eventually [[CreatorRecovery recovers]].
* CreepyChild: Invoked in the scene where Presto [[spoiler: burns down Burbage's theater.]]

* CruelToBeKind: [[spoiler: Alice's mother]] asks Will to be this in regards of his relationship with [[spoiler: her daughter]]. He complies to a devastating effect.

* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler: Baxter, who spends the first episode sneeringly trying to one-up Will as a playwright, dies because Kit considers him to be the "lesser of two poets."]]

* EasilyForgiven: Will lets Presto stay with him and vows to help [[spoiler: avenge his sister's death]] despite the fact that Presto has [[spoiler: actively tried to get Will killed and burned down his theater.]]
* EasyEvangelism: Father Southwell manages to convert [[spoiler: Alice]] to Catholicism rather easily considering the fact that English Catholics were illegal at the time and given traitors' deaths.[[spoiler: It especially applies since Alice had previously criticized Will quite sharply for getting involved in the movement.]]

* ExactWords: Topcliffe never tortured [[spoiler: Baxter]], oh no--he did but set him against a wall, that's all. Bonus points for the fact that this line is something that real-life Richard Topcliffe actually said.

** The players at The Theatre have weekly bets on the amount of [[ThePlague plague]] victims that week. [[spoiler: It's less fun once one of them is among the numbers.]]
** Kit, [[spoiler: in a fit of self-destructive despair]], starts a bar brawl...

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* HigherUnderstandingThroughDrugs: Kit takes Will to an [[spoiler: occult ritual]] to try to achieve this effect, hoping it will inspire him or allow him to glimpse hell. It goes about as well as you would expect.

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: In real life, [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Southwell_(Jesuit) Robert Southwell]] was a Jesuit poet who was eventually captured by Topcliffe, tortured, imprisoned for years, and martyred without betraying his fellow missionaries. All that's really known about his connection to Shakespeare is a letter in which he criticizes the poetry of a "W.S." for not being focused enough on God. In the series, Southwell is a manipulative, cowardly, selfish hypocrite who not only treats his cousin Will cruelly when he refuses to [[spoiler: risk his and his family's lives by getting involved in the Catholic underground movement,]] but also [[spoiler: regularly lets people die for him with little effort to prevent it and even sacrifices Alice to save himself when their safe house is raided by Topcliffe.]] Oh yeah--and the real Southwell is also a canonized saint.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: In the finale, [[spoiler: Topcliffe invites his superiors to watch Will's commissioned play and proudly proclaims the main character to be based on himself. The only issue: the play in question is {{Theatre/Richard III}}, and the officials are horrified by Will's depraved portrayal of the man, even going so far as to cancel Topcliffe's upcoming promotion.]]

* KickTheDog: Topcliffe's snide exchange with Presto in episode 1 after he [[spoiler: turns in Will as a Catholic]]--the guy is a high-ranking official of the queen and could certainly have afforded to pay Presto as a reward, but instead just equivocates his way out of it.

* LeavingYouToFindMyself: [[spoiler: Alice during the last few minutes of the finale.]]

* MakingLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: [[spoiler: Will and Alice]] have ''loud'' sex in Hell, a.k.a. the space under the stage. While her mother is showing her would-be suitor around in the theatre.

* YouAreWorthHell: [[spoiler: Kit to his lover, who he calls "my king".]]
* YouShouldHaveDiedInstead: Will's Catholicism leads to [[spoiler: Baxter's death and Alice's torture, while he gets off (mostly) scot-free.]] Understandably, the Burbages aren't very happy about this.

* IDidntMeanToTurnYouOn: After some goading from Kit (channelling his inner [[DoctorFaustus Mephistopheles]]) slightly drunk Will grabs him by the shirt and throws him on the table, getting right in his face. Kit, being Kit, ''loves'' this while Will appears to have something of a [[AmbiguouslyBi sexuality]] [[StupidSexyFlanders crisis]].

* WritersBlockMontage: Kit has considerable trouble inspiring ''DoctorFaustus'' out of himself.

* RaisedCatholic: Will himself in this adaptation of his life. It is also a major plot point.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The characters use rather colorful and downright filthy language, but F-bombs are avoided by using the Elizabethan slang instead. ''"Swive thee, William Shakespeare"'', indeed.

* YouShouldHaveDiedInstead: Will's Catholicism leads to [[spoiler: Baxter's death and Alice's torture, while he gets off (mostly) scot-free.]] Understandably, the Burbages aren't very happy about this.
* YourCheatingHeart: London offers many temptations to a married man...

* SpiritedYoungLady: Alice.