Wolf Hall BBC2

[Flosshilde]

If it were to be a dramatisation of the books it would need to be a great deal longer than six episodes .

Long gone are the days of the 26 part adaptation of The Forsyte Saga, or the 15 episodes of The Jewel in the Crown, or 11 episodes of Brideshead Revisited

[VodkaDilc]

Long gone are the days of the 26 part adaptation of The Forsyte Saga, or the 15 episodes of The Jewel in the Crown, or 11 episodes of Brideshead Revisited

I could mention Game of Thrones, but it would perhaps be lowering the tone. I agree with Flosshilde completely.

[jayne lee wilson]

well the slow enigmatic silence worked for both Guiness and Oldman playing George Smiley and Rylance has it to a tee ....chess games start slowly usually as momentum and attack await the building of positions ...

for me it needs to neither be faithful to presumed historical fact nor Hilary Mantel's novels; i take it as a work in its own right just as with Tinker Tailor and Smiley's People ....

i find the concept, manifestations, and diagnosis of motive deeply problematic in any case ... and am grateful for the lack of any interlocution .... repeated watching is the only way to make something of it in such terms ...

it is a supreme delight for me

Absolutely Cal, yes...

Televisually - "Hints and guesses, hints followed by guesses..." on screen and off.
It not only bears repeated viewings but yields many pleasures thereby... I feel the screenwriter really knows what he's doing here - that the narrative noose will tighten quickly as the end draws close...

[arancie33]

Sorry to say I fell asleep half way through Ep. 1. As a part-time history buff (aren't we all?) I really did want to like this, maybe I tried too hard. I'm enjoying reading everyone's comments anyway.

You are able to watch it in Italy? I need to tell my family how it's done, if you can tell me.

[Belgrove]

Thoroughly enjoying this for all the reasons stated already. I've not read the books but the iconoclastic swapping of hero's and villains is refreshing. Rylance is superb and brings an unexpected warmth and humour to the character for all his circumspection. Pryce reinvents the character of Wolsey, kicking Orson Welle's bloated portrayal into touch. I especially like Anton Lesser's More as a querulous, waspish and a hugely dangerous intellectual - certainly at odds with Peter Ackroyd's biography of the subject, but this is an adaptation of a work of fiction after all. Must read the books. Interesting the number of commoners who rose to high office in Henry's reign, I guess he needed the services of lawyers more than most monarchs hitherto.

[Historian]

Interesting the number of commoners who rose to high office in Henry's reign, I guess he needed the services of lawyers more than most monarchs hitherto.

The process was well under way in his father's time. Henry VII often preferred to promote 'new men' who were loyal to him, rather than the nobility who had traditionally advised and served Kings. A good example is Reginald Bray who became Henry VII's effective chief minister. Others include Empson and Dudley, who came to a sticky end at the beginning of Henry VIII's reign.

[Daniel]

I feel very much like Calum and others, I found this spellbinding. To me it was the very opposite of ponderous. I have just watched both episodes on the iPlayer and the hour of each one flew by, I'd have been quite happy if they'd each been two hours.

I felt Mark Rylance's (and other's) tacit way fleshed out and enhanced the psychological intensity of the drama, much in the same way a Schubert piano accompaniment does its song's text (it's wordless nature allowing far greater depth of understanding of events) and look forward to the next episode with great anticipation. I haven't read the books.

[french frank]

I'm in the, um (bites lips) - I don't think I shall bother with the next episode: the big question for me was solved by looking up-thread: Bernard Hill. It was very good looking - I'm always fascinated how they manage to get physiognomies looking as unlikely as contemporary portraits. And very good performances but - the story, the story ...

That said, I really don't like historical fiction and wouldn't touch the novels with a bargepole. So it was always going to be hard to sell it to me.

[Flosshilde]

That said, I really don't like historical fiction and wouldn't touch the novels with a bargepole. So it was always going to be hard to sell it to me.

Call them novels of political intrigue instead then (rather like the House of Cards). The fact that you know the eventual outcome allows you to concentrate on the writing and the plotting (political rather than novelistic).

[Radio64]

You are able to watch it in Italy? I need to tell my family how it's done, if you can tell me.

Have sent you a private message.

[arancie33]

Have sent you a private message.

Many thanks.J

[Richard Tarleton]

Watch Mark Rylance's hands - his hand-acting is brilliant. The sleeves probably help.

[mercia]

how much documentary evidence has been available to Hilary Mantel to paint her personal portrait of this period, or in other words, how much has she guessed ?

[french frank]

how much documentary evidence has been available to Hilary Mantel to paint her personal portrait of this period, or in other words, how much has she guessed ?

I would think of it as 'how much has she created' rather than guessed. There's a lot of documentary evidence - but think of the reams written about Richard III and Henry VII: yet no one knows for sure if they were heroes or villains. I think for a novel you 'create' your own story/drama - something that doesn't do violence to the facts but which goes beyond them. If you stick to the facts you write a history book.

I'm not convinced that the psychology of the historical characters is known at all - the records of the time weren't objective enough.

[antongould]

You are able to watch it in Italy? I need to tell my family how it's done, if you can tell me.

I would guess Clemmie sends him pirate DVDs.......