TV Show Review: The Tudors

4 Seasons, 38 episodes in total, that describes the most event filled years of King Henry VIII's reign in rich and exciting detail.

What makes this historical drama/thriller/comedy/horror so excellent, aside from everything else, is the way that all the opposing sides are allowed to put their two cents in, and give the audience credible reason to support them, even though to the other people on the other sides of the story, they are the "bad guys". (The main reason I list horror as one of the genre, is because of the episode that is centred on the plague. There are parts where the King is truly frightened and has nightmares about the horrible ordeal.)

There are a few historical inaccuracies, but this isn't a documentary. Its a TV show, and as such, they are not there to inform, they are there entertain. For example, they may change around a few dates and time lines, but there is no mistaking the script and acting in each scene, as being of the highest quality.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers, as Henry VIII, carries the show in every episode and is at the centre, and who the other characters revolve around. From the first episode, as a young romancing king, full of promise and life to the last, as an old man, hoarse in voice and manner, with a bad leg and worse memories. And in all these episodes, his acting is superb. He is portraying a multi faceted monarch, never the same character, always changing with each new experience and wife.

Four other main actors that portray Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, Cardinal Wolsey and Charles Brandon, are all excellent and at the end of the day, its the characters you know and watch, not the actors. Jeremy Northam as Thomas More, is probably the best, he is the one that never strays from his ideals, or his principles, or his religion, or his education and work as a lawyer even in the face of certain torture and death.
He stays calm and speaks clearly to his captors.

All six wives are portrayed well, showing their varying degrees of success or failure as Queens of England. Most memorably, Natalie Dormer as Anne Boleyn, Maria Doyle Kennedy as Catherine of Aragon and Joely Richardson as Katherine Parr. Joss Stone as Anne of Cleves, Annabelle Wallis as Jane Seymour and Tamzin Merchant as Katherine Howard are also well done.

Another reason I adore this series, is the score. Another of my favourite composers, Trevor Morris, is responsible, and with his music, lifts each episode to magnificence.

Comments

  1. Film & TV Commentator25 May 2011 at 02:41

    I will post a quote here, unusually, from the TV show I have just written about.

    “Charles Brandon: I'm not sure if this is any answer, my Lord Hertford, but I've always been drawn to a phrase used by the French peasants: "Praise the God of all, drink the wine, and let the world be the world.”

    ReplyDelete

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