The Merchant of Venice

Although this episode screened to relatively no controversy in the UK, in the U.S., it created a huge furor. As soon as WNET announced the broadcast date, the Holocaust and Executive Committee (H.E.C.) of the Committee to Bring Nazi War Criminals to Justice sent them a letter demanding the show be cancelled. WNET also received protest letters from the Anti-Defamation League (A.D.L.) and B'nai B'rith. Additionally, Morris Schappes, editor of Jewish Currents, wrote an open letter of protest to The New York Times. The H.E.C. stated that Shylock can arouse "the deepest hate in the pathological and prejudiced mind", urging WNET "that reason and a reputable insight into the psychopathology of man will impel you to cancel the play's screening." They later stated, "our objection is not to art, but to the hate monger, whoever the target. This includes the singular and particular work of art, which, when televised, is viewed by millions and alarmingly compounds the spread of hate." The A.D.L. stated that screening the episode would be "providing a forum for a Shylock, who would have warmed the heart of Nazi propagandist Julius Streicher." PBS and WNET issued a joint statement citing the protests of Saudi Arabians regarding the screening of Death of a Princess (1980), a docudrama about the public execution of Princess Masha'il, and quoting PBS President Lawrence K. Grossman; "The healthy way to deal with such sensitivities, is to air the concerns and criticism, not to bury or ban them." PBS and WNET also pointed out that both Producer Jonathan Miller and Warren Mitchell are Jewish. For their part, Miller and Director Jack Gold had anticipated the controversy, and prepared for it. In the Stone and Hallinan press material, Gold stated, "Shylock's Jewishness in dramatic terms, is a metaphor for the fact that he, more than any other character in Venice, is an alien." Miller stated "It's not about Jews versus Christians in the racial sense; it's the world of legislation versus the world of mercy."

Jack Gold chose an unusual presentational method in this episode; completely realistic and authentic costumes, but a highly stylized non-representational set, against which the characters contrast. "If you imagine different planes, the thing closest to the camera was the reality of the actor in a real costume. The costumes were totally real and very beautiful. Then beyond the actor is a semi-artificial column, or piece of wall, and in the distance is the backcloth, which is impressionistic."

The backcloths were used to suggest locale, without photographic representationalism. They imply air, water, sea, hills, and a city, but never actually show anything specific.

Part of the long-running BBC Television Shakespeare project, which ran between 1978 and 1985.