When Dame Helen Mirren talks about Shakespeare, it is usually worth listening. The iconic actress has won pretty much every acting award you can imagine and is now bringing that experience to Mobland Season 2. Though her opinion could be slightly biased, Helen Mirren has favorably compared Mobland writer Jez Butterworth to at least one William Shakespeare character, which might be the highest possible praise any writer can receive.

Helen Mirren made the comments in a recent interview with Radio Times, where she talked about her return in the second season of Mobland. She had incredibly, almost unbelievably kind things to say about the new writer on the series. “Ronan [Bennett], who originated the story and created the world, was fantastic, but Jez [Butterworth] has taken that and elaborated it. He is one of the great living playwrights. He understands character,” Mirren said.

To emphasize that point, Helen Mirren compared her Mobland character, Maeve, to a character in one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. “I’ve played Lady M,” Mirren said, careful to avoid saying “Macbeth” as many superstitious actors are wont to do. “And Maeve does have elements of Lady M, but if only Shakespeare had written like Jez Butterworth, she would have been a much better character to play.”

Considering this was an interview designed to promote Mobland, it is safe to take Helen Mirren’s words with at least a tiny pinch of salt, but even with that caveat, it is high praise for Butterworth’s writing to be compared to William Shakespeare. Now, if she starts comparing him to a summer’s day, we know she’s gone a bit too far.

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