To think Wolf Hall / Damian Lewis is the best ever portrayal of Henry VIII?

Ray Winston was the strangest approach to Henry that I ever hope I see.

No he is in old age (for him) during this period, he was 47 when he had Edward and he died 9 years later, his young days are long gone even by the time he is with Anne Boleyn

Or Glenda Jackson as Elizabeth, similar age. She is phenomenal, cant take your eyes off her, or the others.

I think he shows some of the vulnerability because he isnt playing it really visciously, plus the paranoia is good. He is well proportioned, I like the screwed up face a lot because if you look at pictures of Henry as he aged, he turned quite scrunched up in the face, horrible little pursed lips and squinty eyes

Much better than bloody Ray Winston who can only play Ray Winston and also Rhys thingy mabobby, who was too pretty, too thin

He has great range. I watched "Life" after I saw BoB and had no idea it was the same actor, even though he was hardly in heavy disguise!

I see the odd flash of his Soames Forsyte in Henry at times

ETA the penny dropped after a few eps

No, I disagree with you, even though I loved I Claudius - I watched it when it first came out and several times since. They're different, but equally good. As was the original Smiley's People.

I always measure every TV adaptation against I Claudius. This is way inferior.

Damien Lewis and Mark Rylance are both amazing in every episode, the series is the highlight of Sunday nights at the moment

I recently watched DL in 'Band of Brothers' and had no idea he was playing Henry VIII until I sat down to watch the current series of 'Wolf Hall'. I was fascinated by his transformation from a military tactician in BoB to a mercurial monarch.

He's obviously "younger" Henry before he became the bloated, immobile hulk and the fact he is still attractive is OK..

Most importantly he's playing a blinder with the personality. The considerable charm of Henry's youth is being overtaken by something much darker, but I think DL has shown that elements of this were always there, even pre head injury.

He's an extraordinary actor.

Whenever I think of Sir Thomas More, I think of the Blackadder quote to the Prince Regent: "Well it is too often the way sir, too late one thinks of what one should have said. Sir Thomas More for example, burned alive for refusing to recant his Catholicism must have been kicking himself as the flames licked higher, and it never occurred to him to say "I recant my Catholicism". 😂

Every member of the cast is outstanding but it takes a director as brilliant at Kominsky to wrangle all that talent and ego and get those performances to gel on the small screen.

I watched the first episode and was bored rigid. I take it things get going when Henry arrives on scene?!

I've really been enjoying the portrayal of Cromwell - absolutely brilliant.

I don't quite understand the fascination with Henry and that period of history in general. So many dramas focusing on that period.

I like Mark Rylance a lot, and I love the way he's doing this, but Ben Miles at STratford was much more the TC I had in my head from the books. More life, looked like he could have killed a man ... or hugged him.

We have to look at the Tudors in the context of the historians who came afterwards, who were keen to deify Elizabeth and denounce Mary. Religious zeal wasn't unusual in the sixteenth century. Interesting to compare the Mantel/BBC representation of Thomas More with this Roman Catholic vew

He has the sinister and increasingly unhinged side of Henry perfectly imo

And the fact does remain that both princesses had extremely precarious existences! They were lucky to survive their early years.

Elizabeth condemned more to death, especially as her reign wore on. I realise it was longer of course. She grew more and more intolerant as she grew more and more paranoid about the threat from Catholic nations in Europe who were so keen to topple her.

We have to look at the Tudors in the context of the historians who came afterwards, who were keen to deify Elizabeth and denounce Mary. Religious zeal wasn't unusual in the sixteenth century.

Interesting. I have just started the Shardlake series. I am on Dark Fire thd second in the series.

I have read all three books in the Wolf Hall series and I do think the adaptation is very very good and beautifully shot

Agree, especially that you don't know what version of Henry DL will portray from one scene to the next...but LOVE Mark Rylance's performance. Surely he is Hilary Mantel's Cromwell come to life!😍

DL as H8 is superb in this adaptation, the right mercurial, changeable, now on the edge of despotism portrayal. I enjoyed The Tudors, and at times JRM was excellent, but he did lack the sheer physical presence. Keith Michell in the TV version was good, Ray Winston had the bulk but oh dear that accent.
Two versions/portrayals up there with DL’s have got to be Robert Shaw in A Man for All Seasons, and the wonderful Richard Burton in Anne of a Thousand Days. Both these only deal with Henry and Anne Boleyn, so Henry is still fairly young and attractive, the rot really sets in after Jane Seymour.
Hilary Mantel’s books are a simply fabulous retelling from a different perspective of Thomas Cromwell. He is such an interesting man, and along with Henry, reshaped our country greatly in terms of what it was, and what it became. Some of the peripheral characters like Gregory and Richard Cromwell, and Rafe Sadler are worth researching as well. There’s a good biography of Jane Rochford (Anne Boleyn’s sister in law) by Julia Fox.

I do enjoy DL as Henry, but I recently watched Firebrand and thought Jude Law was amazing. Not one for historical accuracy purists but the terrifying unpredictability and surrounding tension, sycophancy and the need to walk on eggshells was so well done...

I think he’s brilliant. Just the right level of charm (you do get the feeling those around him loved him) but then completely unpredictable temper and absolute vengeance against anyone who he feels has wronged him. I can totally see parallels in the likes of Boris, Trump, Putin etc.

And I’m also absolutely transfixed by the prospect of Cromwell on the precipice of either becoming his heir apparent (Henry saying he could appoint Cromwell if he wanted too, rumours of him marrying Mary) but then worrying signs that it’s all about to fall apart- the uprising, the Poles, Norfolk the wife beater and Henry accusing him of always being the one with the bad news. Again so many parallels with real life that one minute you can have the ear of power, the next you’re cast out into obscurity. And he’s so obviously being tormented by the past but then being forced into more and more awful deeds by Henry.

Such a tragedy that Hilary Mantel wasn’t around to write for another 30 years, think of all she could have done.

We’ll Im not sure how you can revise Mary’s reputation when so many ‘heretics’ were persecuted and burned at the stake during her brief reign. She had a very sad life but was a religious zealot. I always think the late C J Sansom Shardlake books evoked the fear and confusion of that era better than anything else I’ve ever seen or read.