

DramaBBC One

Pilot
S1, E1
Three Card Trick
99%
Tomatometer
80%
Popcornmeter
7.5
TMDB
England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the King dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The Pope and most of Europe oppose him. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell: a wholly original man, a charmer, and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people, and implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?

MASTERPIECE | Wolf Hall: Preview | PBS
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Based on Hilary Mantel's imaginative novels "Wolf Hall" and "Bring Up the Bodies" this six part drama tells the story of the machinations at the court of England's King Henry VIII (Damien Lewis) as he falls in lust then love with Anne Boleyn (Claire Foy). Her refusal to join the ranks of his mistresses means the king has to find a way to extricate himself from his twenty year marriage to Katherine of Aragon (Joanne Whalley). Trying to get the Pope to agree to the annulment is the tricky task that falls to Wolsey (Jonathan Pryce) - the Chancellor who has an whole slew of enemies waiting for him to fail. The one man who is steadfastly in Wolsey's corner, though, is the ambitious and shrewd lawyer Thomas Cromwell (Mark Rylance) and with the Cardinal's position becoming more precarious by the day and the king's infatuation becoming more dangerous for any opposition, the scene is set for some high political manoeuvring. This dramatisation offers us a different timeframe for it's chronology than we are more used to, and isn't so focussed on the person of the king. It's told more from the perspective of the ambitious and scheming Cromwell who learns quickly how to walk on the eggshells that are strewn all over the Tudor court. The assembled cast deliver strongly as the power vacuum constantly needs filling - Bernard Hill's Duke of Norfolk isn't a man to mess with; Anton Lesser offers…
Title
Wolf Hall
Released
2015
Rated
15
Region of Origin
United Kingdom, United States of America
Original Audio
English
Show Type
Scripted
Network
BBC One, BBC Two