Wolf Hall BBC2

[DracoM]

Presumably you did read Anna's comment about her refraining form spoilers? Which means your posting is deliberate?

[Flosshilde]

I think Anna's comment was tongue in cheek (as indeed I suspect yours is).

Lookin down the comments after the Telegraph review Anna's link was for, one is suddenly confronted with -

"How about chocolate and lime meringue tartlets for dessert?"

under a picture of Anne Boleyn from the serial.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

"How about chocolate and lime meringue tartlets for dessert?"
under a picture of Anne Boleyn from the serial.

What? No topping?

[Flosshilde]

It was probably fairly appropriate, as Anne came across as a little tart.

[Darkbloom]

By an odd coincidence I visited the Tower of London last year on the anniversary of AB's execution. When we went to the chapel we found one of the yeomen bringing in some flowers for her. I thought the last episode showed what we had been lacking in the previous ones, a very real sense of terror and drama, and it is something that I will remember for quite a while. The actual execution was a variant on the story we were told at the Tower - that the sword was hidden, and when it was called for Anne turned her head in that direction and the executioner did his work. I don't think she was blindfolded in the version we were told. This was one of the most individual dramatisations I can recall, and it is no wonder that some people found it not to their taste. The very painterly effects that the makers were going for, coupled with the odd moments of vulgarity (Bernard Hill, usually), was an unusual mixture that I cannot recall seeing before in anything else. The lighting was particularly striking, and gave a curiously Dutch feeling to the interiors, when we would expect from previous experience to see more saturated colours.

A considerable achievement.

[Anna]

I think the scene around the beheading of the King Henry's wife was one most moving pieces of TV I've ever seen.

It was terrible, a shock, we knew what was coming, but - suddenly there was this little frightened girl kneeling there, all artifice stripped - and the last scene, when Cromwell walked along the corridor and Henry reaching out as a lover, clasping him, and the horror on Cromwell's face - what have I done, what am I reduced to?

Well, I dunno, maybe I'm reading too much into it, and I don't apologise for spoilers as I assume all have seen it. I do hope Mantel finishes the last book and we see Cromwell's last days, if not, we have our imagination.

I haven't looked forward to, and enjoyed, a BBC drama so much as this. I only wish I'd recorded it for future viewing!

[mangerton]

I haven't looked forward to, and enjoyed, a BBC drama so much as this. I only wish I'd recorded it for future viewing!

Indeed. It was an excellent series, and I hope they do book three once it's written.

I see dvd and bluray are available from tomorrow.

[ardcarp]

Just saw the final episode. I agree. Quite tense.

and the horror on Cromwell's face - what have I done, what am I reduced to?

I didn't see much horror, just a man gone emotionally cold, even being unsurprised by Henry's delight that the deed had been done.

[Flosshilde]

Anyone who thought that Wolf Hall on TV was too slow and, shall we say, pretentious (not me on either count) might find this more to their taste http://www.radiotimes.com/film/ymkz/carry-on-henry

[Nick Armstrong]

Anyone who thought that Wolf Hall on TV was too slow and, shall we say, pretentious (not me on either count) might find this more to their taste http://www.radiotimes.com/film/ymkz/carry-on-henry

'Twas already set to record!


.

King Henry VIII: Tell me about her face...

Thomas Cromwell: I am assured, sire, it is the fairest in all Normandy.

King Henry VIII: What about her... [indicates hourglass figure]

Thomas Cromwell: The fullest in all Normandy.

King Henry VIII: Has she been chaste?

Thomas Cromwell: All over Normandy.

[Ferretfancy]

'Twas already set to record!


.

King Henry VIII: Tell me about her face...

Thomas Cromwell: I am assured, sire, it is the fairest in all Normandy.

King Henry VIII: What about her... [indicates hourglass figure]

Thomas Cromwell: The fullest in all Normandy.

King Henry VIII: Has she been chaste?

Thomas Cromwell: All over Normandy.

Nice One!

I have a couple of nice LPs based on John Barton's RSC production The Hollow Crown. In one section, Max Adrian replies to a secret instruction from Henry VII in which he describes the physical attributes of the Queen of Naples. Henry was planning to marry her, and needed to know whether her breath was sweet ( amongst other things !)

I wonder if Talbot Rothwell, the scriptwriter of Carry On fame had done some academic research ?

[Richard Tarleton]

We dropped into Montacute House two days ago as we were in the area - lots of Wolf Hall was shot there, including the King's Bedchamber, the King's Chambers, Greenwich Great Hall, the river wharf (in spite of there being no river nearby), the jousting and archery, the stableyard, the entrance to the palace.....Aside from all that it is a most beautiful house, in honey-coloured ham stone, described by Simon Jenkins as "the loveliest building material in England".