BBC's Wolf Hall
BBC's Wolf Hall continues Madeleine and my summer series of Costume Dramas. Since the death of Montana Sunday Night Theatre, the absence of quality, if somewhat stolid, period dramas has been felt keenly on our television screen. Also the absence in our living room of a television screen has contributed to this issue. So far we have knocked off the Forsyte Saga, don't bother watching the eighteen pained episodes of Captain Richard Winters trying to rekindle the flame of his abortive marriage with Mary from "Our Friends In the North"; North and South, in which a pretty and stereotypically Southern gentlewoman gets up close and person with our friends in the North and discovers that love can grow amidst impoverished northern mill workers, as long as love is with someone of equal social status; and Wives and Daughters, which is okay.
Wolf Hall breaks the BBC tradition of slavishly recreating Regency England, but it is not as if they haven't previously covered Tudor Britain . Their previous attempt "The Tudors" was brutally, magnificently shit. Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall is a book, and it was a great book. From memory I believe it won the Booker Prize, but not the Nobel Prize for Literature. I would suggest that Wolf Hall is the best thing on television at the moment, but this is largely skewed by my keen focus on period dramas at the utter exclusion of everything else with the exception of Broad City, which has come back more assertive and with more blurred out nudity than before. Also more Seth Rogen, which was unwelcome.
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| (Definitely a rushed job from Hans Holbein the Younger) |
I would go through the basic narrative, but I am pretty sure we have all read Wolf Hall, aside from Sophie but her knowledge of Tudor England is assured thanks to consistent Christmas presents of Phillipa Gregory novels.
Points of Interest: Wolf Hall has Captain Richard Winters as a sexy Henry VIII, questionable verisimilitude as I feel by the point he was wanting to marry Anne Boleyn he should have looked like Andrew circa 2010. Pretty sure he was about forty, which should really have been the end of easy on the eye King Henry VIII and the beginning of easy on the axe King Henry VIII.
Bernard Hill, who played Captain Edward Smith in the beloved feature film "Titanic", also appears.
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| None of this weight change is apparent in BBC's Wolf Hall |
Bernard Hill, who played Captain Edward Smith in the beloved feature film "Titanic", also appears.
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| Thomas Cromwell always looks sad in Wolf Hall |
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Agreed on Henry VIII's weight, they try to give him like slightly heavier clothes than usual to imply weight but they are not kidding anyone, where is the double chin? Loving the slight dig there, after a weekend of lying around and eating every ounce of food in my house, I fear I may be slipping back.
ReplyDeleteAlways a bit odd when they do a pretty close adaptation of a good novel, it can work, but complicated period pieces are always going to struggle a bit. Janet pointed out that if you hadn't read the books, it'd be all a little confusing. I like all the casting, fits nicely with my imagination, but if you didn't know intimately tudor history and Stephen Gardiner and Cromwell's emnity, you'd be struggling to follow the very little moments. To put it simply - this is not going to sell in America, rule of three people, rule of three.
And you are clearly missing all the good television on at the moment, Better Call Saul has had a promising first few episodes, Adventure Time, Its Always Sunny and Archer are back for some throw away half an hours, Portlandia too. a little bit over the latter though, they have taken to doing entire episodes focussed on one of their characters. Feels very close to how far they pushed Little Britain, except, Americans really never know when to give up.
Agreed on Henry VIII's weight, they try to give him like slightly heavier clothes than usual to imply weight but they are not kidding anyone, where is the double chin?. From my extensive knowledge of Renaissance male fashion, I believe he is on trend. For instance, when Philip The Bold got caught in England during the late years of Henry VII's reign, he removed his large outerwear to play tennis which, in Starkey's conjecture, emboldened young Henry VIII to see himself as a sportsman king as well. But apparently not too much of a sportsman king. The double chin should definitely be there by this point. But also they struggle with Damien Lewis in "The Forsyte Saga" too make him look old enough.
Deletebut if you didn't know intimately tudor history and Stephen Gardiner and Cromwell's emnity, you'd be struggling to follow the very little moments
Feel the Stephen Gardiner thing is definitely underplayed, but whatevs.
Agreed, so you are probably wondering who is the tall religious guy and why does he matter. Still great anecdote, 10 points.
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