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Wolf Hall
by Richard Chachowski | Looper | July 20, 2022
On the surface, one might immediately think that British television is very similar to any American TV program you can find on cable or currently streaming. However, as anyone who’s seen a decent amount of British and American series can tell you, the two couldn’t be further apart.
Known for their strong surrealistic elements, dry wit, and dramatically small number of episodes compared to American TV series, British TV shows are practically a genre unto themselves. Whether they encompass historical dramas, absurdist comedies, or sitcoms set in World War II, you know without question when you’re tuning into a TV show from across the pond, judging from its sense of humor and content alone.
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Renaissance Men’s Fashion Today
by Maria H. Loh | Art News | June 29, 2022
Certain men’s fashions have always been controversial. In 2014, Mark Rylance, a star of the BBC’s popular sixteenth-century TV drama Wolf Hall, told reporters that he thought “the codpieces are too small.” The actor, who played chief minister Thomas Cromwell, protagonist of the Hilary Mantel best seller on which the series was based, speculated that the sartorial edit was perhaps a directive from the show’s American producers, who feared that historically accurate codpieces might shock their transatlantic viewers. Indeed, if you look at any number of Renaissance portraits of Henry VIII, you might be immediately taken aback by the elaborate mound of shimmering white silk that bursts forth and rises up conspicuously between the king’s legs. Damian Lewis, who had the monarch’s role in the show, explained to the Los Angeles Times that these unusual attachments were,
“… a symbol of your virility, your derring-do, your sense of adventure. They were encouraged, it was a fashion, and Henry liked them.”
Just reading those words can instantly bring your mind to one of the most famous, scandalous, and formidable families to ever rule a nation. The powerful Tudor dynasty has long mesmerized and enthralled all who have come across their stories during history lessons. From the king who nabbed his crown against the odds to a long-awaited male heir who didn’t live past the age of 15, to the queen who defied all expectations and ruled for 45 years, their collective reign over England from 1485 to 1603 was chock full of warfare, religious reform, and treachery at a time where fealty, obedience, and adhering to the tenets of one’s social station literally meant life or death.
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Certified Royal Drama – Wolf Hall
by Devon Forward | Collider | November 13, 2021
For the days when you just want to watch some certified royal drama. Sometimes real life is even better than fictional drama, which is why so many television shows and movies are based around historical events. Take England, for example. You can’t honestly claim that you’ve never been fascinated by something that’s happened to a king or queen of the country’s past or present, right? Everyone loves to hear about the strong-willed Queen Elizabeth I, King Henry VIII and his six wives, the elegant current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, and any number of interesting English royals. Luckily, Hollywood feels the same way, and movies and television shows based on stories about English royalty have been made for decades now, with more coming out each year. But which ones are the best?
WOLF HALL
An earlier appearance by Claire Foy as an English royal, this time around she goes back a bit farther into the past to play Anne Boleyn opposite Damian Lewis as King Henry VIII in Wolf Hall. Sure, the story of King Henry VIII’s deadly reign and six wives is well-known, but there’s a reason for that, as his story is one of the most intense and memorable throughout royal history. But what makes this series a bit more unique is that it really focuses on the historical figure of Thomas Cromwell, played by Mark Rylance, a manipulative, charming man who uses his close relationship with King Henry VIII to gain more power for himself. With a target on Anne, attempting to get King Henry VIII away from her influence, Cromwell plays a risky game that might not end in his favor (Spoiler alert: it doesn’t).
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Henry and Cromwell
by Rebecca Jones | BBC News | May 20, 2021
Dame Hilary, 68, is a shrewd observer of political drama that spans the ages. “I think what my books have tried to show is that there is no life without politics,” she says.
She has been immersed in Tudor politics for more than 15 years, working on her Wolf Hall trilogy of historical novels about the plots and intrigues at the court of King Henry VIII and the rise and fall of his chief adviser Thomas Cromwell.
Dame Hilary has spent the past year writing the play of The Mirror and the Light herself. She says she wanted to “give it a go”.
But, perhaps surprisingly for a writer of 14 works of fiction and a memoir, she was not sure she could do it on her own.
“Although I’d written plays for radio… I’ve not written a whole stage play by myself. I felt my inexperience,” she admits. “I thought, ‘I need a collaborator.'”
Ben Miles, who starred as Cromwell in the Royal Shakespeare Company productions of Wolf Hall and its sequel Bring up the Bodies, suggested himself as “co-pilot” on the project.
The television adaptation of The Mirror and the Light is on its way too. “It is going ahead. It’s being written now, but delayed by Covid like everything else,” she says.
It is therefore unlikely to be on our screens before 2023. “It’s just a question of patience.” The previous BBC TV adaptation of the first two books – which was entitled Wolf Hall but brought together Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies – won two Bafta TV awards, and a Golden Globe.
She says she “would certainly hope” that Sir Mark Rylance, who played Cromwell in the BBC series and Damian Lewis, who appeared as Henry VIII, will be able to return to their roles, although “these are busy people with big schedules and it will all be a question of timing”.
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Charity Appeal and Digital Learning
by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | September 29, 2020
Just this past September 11, Damian brought awareness to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF-UK) for The Hall School Triathlon Charity Appeal with this video message. It’s not too late to give, if you can, here. All money goes towards JDRF – UK’s leading Type 1 Diabetes charity.
Earlier in June of this year, Damian participated via Zoom in The Hall School’s “History Matters” series as part of their digital learning program, which focused on the boys’ curriculum. The school was honored to welcome Damian and hear him discuss his love of history.
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Wolf Hall Has It All
by Joni Sweet | Lake Geneva Regional News | August 17, 2020
With shelter-at-home orders still in effect, the pandemic has left us with little more to do than veg out in front of the TV. Data released from Comcast in May showed that the average household watched some 66 hours of television each week—more than an additional full workday’s worth of television than people were watching in March.
But after so many stay-at-home months and the uncertainty of how many more there will be, it might be time for some fresh content to indulge in while noshing on takeout. Enter the miniseries. It might just be the perfect format for quarantine life. Miniseries offer the rich visuals and storytelling of cinema, with the ability to binge-watch a few episodes, like conventional television. Plus, you’ve got decades of compelling miniseries to choose from in just about every genre imaginable.
To help narrow down the choices, Stacker collected IMDb data on all miniseries/limited series on July 29, and ranked them according to their IMDb user rating, ties broken by votes. It also looked at reviews from The New York Times, Rotten Tomatoes, Forbes, NPR, The Guardian, and other media to see what the critics have to say.
It should come as no surprise that BBC’s striking nature documentaries score highly on this list. But scattered throughout the rankings, you’ll discover a mix of historical dramas, shocking true crime documentaries, sci-fi favorites, animated works and shows inspired by comics, and police procedurals that put a new twist on an old-school genre.
From visually-stunning nature documentaries to historical war dramas, here are the top 100 miniseries of all time, according to data from IMDb.
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The Mirror and the Light: TV Adaptation Has Begun
by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | February 25, 2020
According to this February 25, 2020 article in the Radio Times,
“Wolf Hall director Peter Kosminsky has apparently already been sent the manuscript for Hilary Mantel’s long-awaited sequel The Mirror and the Light – and the work of adapting it for TV has begun. But Piers Wenger, the BBC’s Drama Controller, said he still had no idea when the drama will make it to our screens. At a press event in London, he commented: “I can’t say that now. Genuinely I think we are engaged in those conversations around getting [co-writer] Peter Straughan, Peter Kosminsky, getting the cast back together.”
The Times February 22, 2020 article had this to say when interviewing Hilary Mantel about her third and final installment of the book series,
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Set Your Calendar for November 10
by Stephanie Prange | Media Play News | November 7, 2019
In November PBS Distribution is debuting seven new programs on the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel, including the entire series (all four seasons) of Mr. Selfridge, starring Jeremy Piven and Wolf Hall with Damian Lewis and Mark Rylance.
The six-part miniseries adapted from Hilary Mantel’s best-selling novels Wolf Hall begins streaming November 10!
A historical drama for a modern audience, this unromanticized re-telling lifts the veil on the internal struggles England faced on the brink of Reformation.
From humble beginnings and with an enigmatic past, Thomas Cromwell (Mark Rylance) is the brilliant consigliere to King Henry VIII (Damian Lewis).
Told from Cromwell’s perspective, Wolf Hall follows the complex machinations and back room dealings of this pragmatic and accomplished power broker who must serve king and country while dealing with deadly political intrigue, Henry VIII’s tempestuous relationship with Anne Boleyn (Claire Foy, The Crown) and the religious upheavals of the Protestant reformation.
PBS Masterpiece is $5.99 per month with an Amazon Prime or Prime Video subscription. Check out Amazon.com here.
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The Mirror and The Light
Matthew Moore, Media Correspondent | David Sanderson, Arts Correspondent I The Times I May 25, 2019
The book is several years behind schedule but a television adaptation of the final instalment of Dame Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy is already under way.
The team behind the acclaimed BBC adaptations of the first two novels have confirmed that they are in the “active development” phase of bringing the finale to the small screen.
Mantel’s publisher revealed this week that The Mirror & the Light, the concluding part of her series about Thomas Cromwell, will go on sale next March. The author had said in April 2017 that she hoped to have it finished by early 2018.
Wolf Hall, the first book in the series, was published in 2009, followed three years later by Bring Up the Bodies. They were adapted for television by the BBC in 2015, starring Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell, Damian Lewis as Henry VIII and Claire Foy as Anne Boleyn. The six-part series was directed by Peter Kosminsky and written by Peter Straughan. Both men are involved with the follow-up, according to the production company Playground.
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Damian Lewis as King Henry VIII in Wolf Hall
by Katie Rosseinsky | The Evening Standard |
Whatever your thoughts on the royals, there’s no denying that Britain’s most famous family make good TV.
From Wolf Hall to Victoria to Netflix’s The Crown, many of the most talked-about (and most critically acclaimed) series of recent years have all taken inspiration from royal history, be it centuries old or within living memory.
With the third seasons of Victoria and The Crown coming soon (and amid feverish speculation over future casting decisions for the latter show), the industry’s fascination with what goes on behind palace doors shows no sign of waning.
As the Jenna Coleman-led Victoria returns to the small screen this weekend, we’ve ranked some recent royal performances, in ascending order from the middling to the truly unforgettable.
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Fans of Royal TV
by Matthew Gilbert | Boston Globe | February 28, 2019
I’m a sucker for the royal dramas. They marry history to warped family dynamics, and they’re generally quite pretty and transporting. They’re like “Succession,” HBO’s Murdoch family send-up, except with a majestic makeover, more servants, and at least one crown. There’s treachery, there are big castles, and at the center of it all there is the distorted psychology of a person who has inherited, not necessarily earned, a position closer to God than we mere mortals.
These shows are just what the Anglophile TV doctor ordered, a spot of tea as the cure for the uncountably many grim crime-solving dramas and superhero spectacles elsewhere on the schedule. For some viewers, royal dramas, like period novel adaptations, are too staid, too mired in the subtleties of their indirect exchanges to be entertaining. But for me, it’s fascinating to watch lives constrained by rigid social and dynastic rules, as messy human needs struggle against ancient policies. Things can get ugly around the palace, for sure, but most of the time the messes are hidden behind an elegant veneer of dignity.
