Can we have a "OMG, just how BAD is The Tudors" thread please?

[beansprout]

Pretty please?

[TwoIfBySea]

expat, your points are exactly what I wonder when I watch programmes like this, or usually why I avoid them.

With so much actually happening in real life why do they have to fudge the details so much? There is enough intrigue (and lord knows Henry's court was packed full of it) to satisfy even the shortest attention span.

I think the actor playing Thomas More is about the closest thing to the portraits of him, apart from that it is very jarring.

It was like the adaptation of Mary Queen of Scots they did a few years ago that was so closely tied to what truly happened (with only a few blips) that it was a pleasure to watch - Gunpowder, Treason and Plot.

[liath]

Poor Catherine Parr finally got the husband she wanted then died horribly from child bed fever .

Anyone who's interested in Henry the Eighth might enjoy CJ Sansom's books (the first one is called Dissolution). I generally steer a wide berth around historical fiction but they are great and really bring the period alive.

[ipanemagirl]

Twoifbysea, my favourite Thomas More is Paul Schofield in 'A Man for All Seasons' his voice is just fabulous.

[expatinscotland]

her husband was sort of a twat, though.

plenty to suggest he married her because of her rank and position.

he certainly tried it on with Elizabeth enough to jar her. she died remonstrating with him over his behaviour, unfortunately.

elizabeth was suitably mortified and never, ever again let her guard slip, even with dudley.

and of course, we all know how he met his end.

[liath]

Ooh yes, expat, I'd forgotten he'd tried to fiddle with Elizabeth!! Not many Tudor men seemed capable of keeping their todgers in their cod-pieces.....perhaps this programme isn't so wide off the mark after all .

Fascinating period of tme, though - must dig out my Antonia Frasers for a re-read.

[ipanemagirl]

I'd forgotten he was a turd too.

But can you imagine having a young daughter and buying her a fancy dress outfit as Anne Boleyn?
So she could pretend to marry the king and then have her head cut off! Lovely!

[TinkerBellesMum]

I watched The Other Boleyn Girl yesterday, can't get over the difference between the two!

[ipanemagirl]

what did you think of it? I thought it was pretty bad actually. Historically all over the place and those heaving bosoms, it's made for the yanks, what can you do?

[TinkerBellesMum]

Definitely made for the Yanks. It just didn't seem to add up, even as sketchy as I'm finding my history of that time is now, I think if it had been a piece of fiction I'd still have been confused about how it added up. I was under the impression that Henry never acknowledged Mary's two (they only showed one) children as his which he did his "other" illegitimate child. What was with Henry raping Anne?

[Clary]

wow expat and others, it's a history lesson on a thread!

A bit off topic but has anyone read Mary Lovell's book about Bess of Hardwick. I found it fascinating.

I too am frustrated by much re the Tudors, not least Henry - when is he going to get all bloated an dfat and ugly then?

By my calculation he only has about 10 more years left to live!

[ipanemagirl]

I know, it was just hogwash, I was leafing through a biography of Anne B today and it was asserting that they waited probably 7 YEARS to consummate their relationship! Amazing if that's true! This biog said they probably only consummated it in Calais when they were stuck for a few days. It seems very unlikely he'd rape her if you look at the respect he held her in, in his letters etc. I dunno.
But it's all so silly.
What's wrong with the real history? It's pretty dramatic!

[TinkerBellesMum]

She seems to have been quite a strong character, I can't imagine she would have let him get away with raping her. It's a totally shocking incident to put in a film when there was no point to it. It wasn't accurate and it wasn't part of the storyline - except for a vague comment of "what was he like with you?"

[ipanemagirl]

I agree, I guess the makers figured it fitted with his image as a wife killer. But actually he was more complex than a simple villain, he worshipped her until she failed to produce a son. But why a drama would invent just for some nasty action - yuck

[TinkerBellesMum]

He wasn't just a wife killer though or he would have just had it done and that's that. Shame writers can't learn some history first!

[TwoIfBySea]

Okay Anne of Cleves, she was known as the mare of Flanders yes?

So why has Joss Stone been cast as her? Should she not take that as an insult?