Sir Ian McKellen on his love of Shakespeare and that Oscars row

The actor Sir Ian McKellen has launched the British Film Institute's biggest programme of films that have been inspired by the works of William Shakespeare to mark the 400th anniversary of his death.

Speaking to ITV News Correspondent Nina Nannar, Sir Ian said he "fell in love with Shakespeare" when he was about eight years old and his sister took him to see Macbeth and Twelfth Night.

Then when he was 12, he did his "first Shakespeare, a little snippet from Twelfth Night" at school.

Sir Ian added that by the time he went to university to study English he'd "seen at least half the plays" and as an actor learned about the "thrill of discovering the difficulties and the solutions to acting Shakespeare".

The BFI and the British Council are launching Shakespeare on Film, the biggest ever programme of the bard's work on film, from the end of March.

Sir Ian added he was "so pleased the BFI is getting behind Shakespeare and showing they have such a wonderful treasury of Shakespeare films."

In the 1970s and '80s, McKellen regularly performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company playing several leading roles most notably Trevor Nunn's Macbeth with Judi Dench and Iago in Othello which were later adapted for the screen.

Other Shakespearean roles he has played on television and film are King Lear, Hamlet and Richard III, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe.

The two-time Oscar-nominee also spoke about the diversity row where high profile stars have said they plan to boycott the Academy Awards in response to the all-white list of nominees.

McKellen said that he had "great sympathy for any group that feels they are under represented."

The Academy has promised to double the number of female and ethnic minority members by 2020.

• Shakespeare On Film is at the BFI from March 31 until May 31.