Thursday Frontline airs "Much Ado About Something" which explores the idea that Shakespear didn't write the plays attributed to him.

Michael Rubbo who made the documentary for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation just doesn't think the Bard has the background to have produced such brilliant work. He finds people who agree with him including Mark Rylance who is artistic director of the Globe Theater and John Baker. He also talks to skeptics such as Prof. Jonathan Bate.

The theory Rubbo examines is that the playwright Christopher Marlowe faked his death, retreated to Italy and wrote the plays. Although I wasn't convinced, Marlowe and those devoted to him are interesting characters.

Others think Francis Bacon wrote the plays. In 1989 "Frontline" aired "The Shakespeare Mystery" (the extensive website was created in 1996) which examined the theory that it was the Earl of Oxford.

Rubbo has more of a sense of humor than your average producer for the flagship PBS documentary series. He writes about making the film.

Gavin McNett wrote at length on the documentary early last year when it played at Film Forum in New York City (it also was shown at the Roxie in San Francisco and in a few other cities).

You can read all of Marlowe's plays and poetry.

This originally appeared on TVBarn.