Wolf Hall - The Mirror and the Light

[virgocatlover]

Series 2 is confirmed to start Sunday 10th November.

Almost 10 years after the first series, I'm excited to see the third and final novel brought to life.

Rylance says so much without even raising his voice.

Alex Jennings too. That slight, smug, malicious smile when Call Me does the dirty on him. He can play a slimy git without uttering a word

Yes, they did bring up the doublet, but his defence was sound, too. I have been following this historian who is a production researcher on Wolf Hall. https://kclaidenyardley.com/2024/12/15/cromwells-purple-doublet-sumptuary-legislation/

I didn't actually like Timothy Spall as Norfolk, but I liked both Mark Gatiss and Alex Jennings as Gardiner, though so confusing.

Great blog! Thanks for link

If anyone would like to watch it there's a documentary about Cromwell on the iplayer at the moment. It's presented by Cromwell's biographer Prof Diarmid McCulloch from Oxford.

Henry VIII's Enforcer: The Rise and Fall of Thomas Cromwell: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01t03ky

The biography is also very good, it really delves into Cromwell's network and friendships.

Lucy Worsley’s Six Wives of Henry VII is also on iPlayer and worth a watch as each woman gets a whole episode.

oh thanks for those additonal reccomendations.

I thought I recognised the steps up which Cromwell climbed to his execution so checked. They lead up to the Keep at Cardiff Castle. I wish I'd been there to watch filming. I believe filming took place all over the UK.

Re the Lucy Worsley series, I find them slightly irritating, as giving an episode to each wife distorts the history. For a start, Henry was married to Katherine of Aragon for years, and Anne of cleves and kath Howard were barely a blip.
Plus I've got bored of her fannying around in historical costume.

I can imagine a sexist male BBC tv executive thinking this was a great idea back in time to make the young female presenter dress up each show. Can’t think of a male equivalent funnily enough

I didn't recognise it but that was one location that didn't seem ideal as a substitute for Tower Hill - a ruined tower pre-civil war, for instance.

So many wonderful locations though - it's fairly clear where some of them are (eg gloucester cathedral cloister and lady chapel subbing for Shaftesbury abbey) but I'd like to know where the beautiful bee garden is,

can imagine a sexist male BBC tv executive thinking this was a great idea back in time to make the young female presenter dress up each show. Can’t think of a male equivalent funnily enough
Given that LW is custodian of the royal palaces and a published historian I doubt that she would do this if she didn't want to.

I’m sure she’s got great credentials IRL but that’s very different (and much less well paid) than getting herself on TV and building herself as a brand.

Oh, well spotted. Though I believe they usually erected a temporary scaffold for beheadings, so presumably the steps would have been new and wooden in reality?

I think that the Tower Hill scaffold was a permanent structure - there's a mid sixteenth century engraving of the Tower with a scaffold structure on Tower Hill. A temporary scaffold did need to be built for executions inside the Tower as they only very rarely took place there - basically the noble women.

I think it was Wells cathedral though they might have used Gloucester as well.

I recognised the keep as well, didn't realise it was Cardiff though. It's 10 years since I was last there!

I think it was Wells cathedral though they might have used Gloucester as well.

They used wells for something, a wedding I think, but it was definitely Gloucester pretending to be Shaftesbury abbey. DH had the misfortune to go to its school so we're used to spotting it. (school song was in Latin praising its illustrious founder, no prizes for guessing who!)

From things she has said in interviews, I believe it's actually Lucy who likes to do this. Her history of the home was very good and involved staying the night in a medieval house, in a medieval bed etc.

I’m curious as to why your DH hated the school? I have some associations with the area but no skin in the game.

Yes she dresses up in a lot of her shows. I remember her doing one years ago on the History of Dance with the wonderful late Len Goodman and she had a variety of costumes, including a Flapper dress for that!

Not Just the Tudors repeating their “Six Wives” series again over Christmas. First episode on KoA and AB up now.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/not-just-the-tudors/id1564113869?i=1000677757591

I did eventually watch this, having rewatching series 1 which only reminded me why I hadn't really liked it.

And it was the same with this series. All the politics and religion striped out. Which is just absurd, as it was both of these that motivated both Cromwell and Henry.

As in the first series all the costume design, interiors etc., were really well done, but only to allow each seen to be a superficial tableau.

I cant think why everyone praises it. I haven't read the books, but am assured they do cover what are actully the driving force behind events.

Which nit wit at the BBC thought the should turn it into a soap. What with Cromwell mooning over women, and the ridiculous appearance of his daughter. (It is well documented that she in fact lived with or near members of the family for years.)

Or maybe it was written by some immature student who only knows about history through film cliches.

Not unlike the idiot, or may be the same person, who wrote Rogue Heroes which is a slap stick representation of the SAS.

I cant think why everyone praises it. I haven't read the books, but am assured they do cover what are actully the driving force behind events.

The books are told entirely from Cromwell's viewpoint. We see everything he sees, and nothing that he does not. The series is the same.

And I'm not sure what you mean about politics and religion being 'striped out'? All the discussions between the various lords were the politics of the day. Wolsey was a major character, as was Cramner. What were you expecting? Deep conversations about the Lutheran reforms?

I don't think it was a 'soap' at all. Mind you, the Tudors are kind of a soap opera. This was all part of the court politics Cromwell had to manage, and which eventually contributed to his downfall. What did you want them to focus on, given that it was an adaptation of a book based on Cromwell's life?

The books are told entirely from Cromwell's viewpoint. We see everything he sees, and nothing that he does not. The series is the same

Exactly but he never articulates why he thinks a particular action is appropriate, or in line with his beliefs. He just comes over as a mister fix it.

Whether they used the device of him having conversations with himself, or thought talking it through with others, there is no context.

Even down to the very basic fact, that much as Henry wanted a wife that would give him a son, he was also very active in terms of starting and losing wars.

The "depth" of the portrayal in fact was so banal even C5 would have been embarrassed to waft through events.

Anyhow, I am reassured as apparently the books do explore this issues, and motives.

I just cant think why anyone thought that filleting the politics and religion was acceptable - or created a valid narrative.

The "depth" of the portrayal in fact was so banal even C5 would have been embarrassed to waft through events.

The portrayal was definitely not as in depth as in the books but that, to paraphrase Gregory, was for lack of time.

The series wasn't perfect but I think you're being a bit harsh. Squeezing a thousand page book into a few hours of TV was a tall order, and I think they did pretty well within those constraints.

So go and read the novels? I agree that they don’t dramatise particularly well, on stage or screen, despite good performances, high production values etc, but I think the novels, particularly the first, are extraordinary.