The plots of a new BBC1 drama series for the autumn might sound strangely familiar to Shakespeare scholars. A scene from one shows a celebrity chef in a blood-stained apron standing in his kitchen, clutching a meat cleaver as his ambitious wife watches on.

A shrewish opposition MP is instructed to find herself a husband to increase her chances of election. How about the presenter of a popular early evening regional TV news show who's alarmed when an ex-lover and arch enemy is hired as her co-anchor?.

And high jinks in a holiday park result in funny man Johnny Vegas making an ass of himself over a woman.

Those of a literary bent might, after due consideration, work out that they're all contemporary adaptations of plays by William Shakespeare - Macbeth, The Taming Of The Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Being dead, Shakespeare can't complain that the BBC realised that it was on to a good thing after the reworking of six of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, set in modern times, met with critical and viewer approval.

The Beeb had already produced the complete works of Shakespeare back in the 1980s, but they were more or less straightforward records of the classic plays. They included John Cleese as Petruchio in The Taming Of The Shrew, Helen Mirren and Geoffrey Palmer in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Derek Jacobi as the troubled Danish prince in Hamlet.

The series was not without its problems. One production, Much Ado About Nothing, was scrapped because of technical problems and filming began again with a new cast. The producers also ran into trouble when they cast American actor James Earl Jones as Othello. Equity, the actors' union, blocked the plan and Anthony Hopkins took over the role.

The cinema has never been averse to taking liberties with the Bard of Avon's work. Hollywood teen comedy Ten Things I Hate About You transposed The Taming Of The Shrew to an American high school. O, taken from Othello, was a tale of love and jealousy, also with a college setting.

The same play was taken by Andrew Davies and set in a police department seething with racial tensions for the ITV drama Othello, featuring a pre-Doctor Who Christopher Ecclestone.

Now the BBC is doing much the same thing in four Shakespeare-based plays, part of a festival of Bard-themed programmes and projects on TV, radio and online.

All very different to the 1960s when the Royal Shakespeare Company's acclaimed historical cycle The Wars Of The Roses was transferred from the Stratford-upon-Avon stage to the small screen with a cast that included David Warner and Peggy Ashcroft in their original stage roles. These were little more than filmed stage plays.

The new Macbeth is written by Peter Moffat, whose recent TV work includes Hawking and Cambridge Spies. James McAvoy, from Shameless and State Of Play, plays celebrity chef Joe Macbeth with former Spooks star Keeley Hawes as Ella Macbeth.

David Nicholls reworks Much Ado About Nothing with Cutting It's Sarah Parish as Beatrice, reunited with old flame Benedick on a TV regional news show. Billie Piper, taking time out from being Doctor Who's companion, features as TV weathergirl Hero.

She starred in one of the updated Canterbury Tales and two writers from that series are contributing to the Shakespeare season. At Home With The Braithwaites creator Sally Wainwright brings The Taming Of The Shrew into the 21st century with Shirley Henderson playing rude, aggressive opposition MP Kate who needs a husband to increase her election chances. No prizes for guessing that she finds a mate in Rufus Sewell's Petruchio. Twiggy Lawson, Stephen Tompkinson and Hustle's Jaime Murray also feature in this romantic comedy set against a glamorous London backdrop.

Wainwright contributed The Wife Of Bath to the BBC's Canterbury Tales, while Peter Bowker did The Miller's Tale. He now tackles A Midsummer Night's Dream, seting it during a weekend in a holiday park. As well as Johnny Vegas in the Bottom role, the cast includes Imelda Staunton, Bill Paterson, Rupert Evans and Sharon Small.

Vegas' appearances shouldn't be too surprising as stage productions often use comedians in key roles. Kenneth Branagh's film of Hamlet included Ken Dodd and Robin Williams among the players.

The Bard of Avon himself took centrestage in a six-part series called, unsurprisingly, Will Shakespeare, written by Rumpole Of The Bailey creator John Mortimer. The title role went to Tim Curry, fresh from his outrageous turn in stockings and suspenders as Frank N Furter in the stage hit The Rocky Horror Show. Meg Wyn Owen, who played Captain Bellamy's wife in Upstairs Downstairs, was in her cottage as Anne Hathaway.

Other TV shows aren't averse to ripping off Shakespeare, like the time Star Trek managed to do a version of The Taming Of The Shrew in outer space with Captain Kirk in the Petruchio role.

In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Data appeared dressed as Henry V to be told by Captain Picard that "you're here to learn about the human condition, and there is no better way of doing that than by embracing Shakespeare".

Even EastEnders is getting in on the act with star-crossed lovers Leo and Demi, the teenagers who've fled Albert Square with baby Aleesha.

The climax of the runaways' love story next week is lifted straight from Romeo and Juliet. Leo finds Demi apparently dead and decides to take an overdose too. As soon as he loses consciousness, she comes round. Unlike Shakespeare, the final act is played out in hospital.

* The plays in the Shakespeare season begin on BBC1 this autumn.