Damian Lewis fans line up for Wolf Hall tonight

[Travelledtheworld]

Wednesday 21st January BBC2 Channel 4

lush costumes.

www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/11358197/Damian-Lewiss-inspiration-for-Wolf-Halls-Henry-VIII-Wills-and-Harry.html

[SwedishEdith]

I wish it was on on a Sunday night though. It feels like a Sunday night drama.

[YonicScrewdriver]

Gatiss is in it? He gets everywhere.

[Hennightpanic]

The death of the wife and daughters was so so upsetting, incredibly powerful. Could cry just thinking about it

[ArgyMargy]

I must say I was a bit disappointed - we hardly met Liz and the girls then they were dead. And all the jumping about was annoying. Raif & Richard need more explaining. Too bitty and the direct quotes from the book felt awkward. I hope it will get better.

[ExitPursuedByABear]

Agree it should have been a Sunday night drama.

[ElectraCute]

Really enjoyed it. Agree about the exposition but wrt Gregory's letter it was spot on - the book clearly has it as a clunky bit of nonsense. I love the fact that whole chunks of dialogue are lifted straight from the book!

Mark Rylance is fabulous. I've never seen him on stage and now really want to. You can see everything churning beneath that still surface, mesmerising stuff. And it's great to see Henry played as an intelligent and slightly menacing character, not full of Ye Olde Renaissance Fayre bonhomie. Well done Brody

[ElectraCute]

They've done something to Mark Gatiss's nose, right? I'm sure it's never been that long before!

[magimedi]

I loved the books so much that I was worried that BBC would cock it up but I was amazed at how good it was. Mark Rylance was amazing as Cromwell - he got it just right and yy to the stillness.

[CitronVert]

I loved it. Was also a bit worried about MR as he didn't look enough of a bruiser in the trailers as I thought he should have, but he was amazing (and a bit sexy which I also got from the books )

[Ohmygrood]

I thought it was great. I absolutely loved the books. I'm already desperate for next week's episode, so I think I'll have to re-read Wolf Hall to get me through!

I thought that Mark Rylance was perfect.

[Ohmygrood]

Yes Citron I agree with your last point!

[Idontseeanysontarans]

I've never really taken much notice of MR before, he was excellent last night! Really not too sure about Clare Foy though, she looks a bit like she's not entirely sure what she's doing. Lots of standing and striking a pose before speaking.
Looking forward to next week.

[Panicmode1]

I absolutely loved it - and thought the cinematography in particular was brilliant. Rylance was fabulous as Cromwell, and I didn't particularly buy in to Mantel's more sympathetic depiction of him in the book. Can't wait for next week's episode.

(As an aside, my mother is a NT volunteer at one of the locations they used for filming and said that there was so much panic about the candles - but it really looked amazing and worth the trouble. (She also got to meet DL and his children and said they were all really lovely. I wasn't at all!!) )

[Echocave]

I thought it was a pretty faithful interpretation of the novels. Mark Rylance was brilliant (but I've never seen him be bad in anything really) as was jonathan Pryce. I think Claire Foy is a good actor but she's not how the book presents her. In the novels she seems more self contained, more strategic and more scary.

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

I enjoyed that.
Ageingdisgracefully, normally it bugs me when men are normal-looking and women are all lovely but for once I think it is justified, since women were picked for court on the basis of their looks (I think it comes up in the Lisle Letters when they're trying to get a place at court for one of the two daughters and in the end only the prettier one is allowed to go.)

Yes it started slowly, but so do the books, and I think when the story picks up pace it will be more gripping.

Acting was top and I loved the gloomy lighting. Yosser Hughes was perfect as Norfolk.

Agree Anne Boleyn wasn't great but it's early days, she might get better.

Something else I absolutely adored, they'd decorated the rooms properly, unlike most costume dramas - brightly coloured hangings instead of lots of bare stone. And the way the architecture of these Tudor great houses worked, with increasingly special rooms opening out of each other so with each room you're getting a little bit closer to the great man/woman - I've never seen that brought to life before and it was brilliant.

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

I do still wish Rylance was bigger though. Couldn't he have put on weight and bulked up a bit for the role? His acting is superb but it couldn't disguise his lack of physical presence.

[funnyossity]

I was distracted by Yosser!

[LouiseBrooks]

I liked it very much. I loved both books and thought this was a good interpretation. Sniffed a bit at the peacock wings since I knew what was coming (absolutely blubbed when I read the book though). I liked Rylance too; I wasn't sure what I'd think since although I loathed "The Tudors" I thought James Frain's Cromwell was the best thing in it but I'm very happy MR..

Joanne Whalley as Catherine of Aragon was bit of a shock - I haven't seen her for years and she looked middle aged! (Yes I know she is but you know what I mean and she's younger than me.)

Saw no problem with the lighting and in fact thought it looked magnificent.

[Bue]

I'm not totally convinced by the modern speech. It's obviously a deliberate choice on the part of the writer, but it's nothing like the novel! "Are you really that busy?" "Except it's not." It's so jarring!

It was a bit slow but then again, Wolf Hall was slow. IIRC Bring up the Bodies was much pacier and more plot-driven. I think the casting is brilliant for the most part, loved Mark Rylance and Mark Gatiss. Jury is definitely out on Anne B.

I also loved the foreshadowing with poor old Mark Smeaton. Just thinking about the interrogation to come sends chills down my spine.

[MuddhaOfSuburbia]

I'm going to stick with it but am in two (or more) minds

to be fair I NEVER like adaptations of books I've really loved. Especially with Mantell who is so damn vivid that you can see scenes in your head long after you've read the book and forgotten loads of the actual story

that said the casting director will no doubt be delighted that I wholeheartedly approved of Gatiss

[Idontseeanysontarans]

When his daughter came to the bedroom door wearing the wings I realised what part they were up to
That was done really really well.

[catslife]

Haven't read the books and the story was quite slow moving, suspect DH fell asleep. The only bit that happened too quickly was the deaths - does anyone know what illness this sweating sickness was?
Was a bit distracted by location spotting and was amused by the labels e.g. Surrey when most of the filming was done in Somerset.
Where was Jessica Raine - she was on the credits but didn't seem to be in this episode?

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

No-one knows for sure about sweating sickness. I've seen suggestions that it was hantavirus and also that it was a form of influenza.

[ohmymimi]

I thought the staging, lighting and costumes were excellent. Thank you, BBC. MR and JP were both totally convincing in Mantel's interpretation of TC and Wolsey, despite their lack of physical bulk. I really liked the subtlety of MR's performance. I agree about the foreshadowing, so poignant. A very good start and I'm looking forward to next week - it'll be interesting to see how DL embodies H8- he's got the same gimlet eye. I'm not convinced by the Mantel take on Cromwell and More, but I do like different perspectives on the historical figures that fascinate me. The recent BBC2 programme on Anne Boleyn was interesting in it's range of views on her.

[squoosh]

I absolutely loved it. Mark Rylance's acting is so wonderfully understated. Quiet and still and watching. And the scenes with his wife and daughters were so moving.

Looking forward to seeing more of Damian Lewis' Henry. Good scene between the two of them, loved Cromwell's cheek.