"The Tudors" (2007-2010) - Showtime Drama Series on Henry VIII's Reign

[Moonmaiden23]

I don't think I remember reading that Henry VIII had a sexual affair with his repudiated fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, but he was shown to do so in the series(after the divorce)

And of course the inaccuracies in the first series were just glaring...and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers is a brilliant actor but physically so different from the historical Henry VIII that I was left baffled...was it SO difficult to find a strapping Englishman with red gold hair who could act the part?

Visually, "The Tudors" was stunning, I will give it that much.

But enjoyed the BBC's 1971 series starring Keith Michell much, much more. I have it on DVD!

 

[melissaadrian]

Yes but how many people watched the BBC series? And how many watched 'The Tudors' and how many millions upon millions of copies of dvd's were sold? The fact is people now a days don't want to watch documentries. Why do you think soap operas and reality shows are so popular? They pick Henry VIII because he is a king who had lots of affairs, knocked off a few wives, and had an exciting reign. The first season (to anyone other then the UK a series is the entire run of a show, when a series ends that means the show is off the air for good) was horribly inaccurate, but still exciting. Remember 90% of people watching the show don't know the real history, a lot of people think Henry VIII had eight wives, and beheaded them all.

There was talk he considered remarrying Anne of Cleves later in life. There is no historical proof they were lovers though. Anne remained at court, a respected member of the court, and treated as a royal princess. She was given the status Catherine should have been when named Dowager princess of wales after their divorce. Anne got it because she divorced quietly and never fought it. So the producers took speculation that perhaps Anne may have had an affair with him, to spice it up.

As for the actors, again this is not a BBC production. One of the companies is actually Canadian. They wanted names people knew, who they'd recognize, draw people to watch. Rhys Myers is good looking, reckognizable and women wouldn't mind turning in to watch him. I personally think the actor who played Charles Brandon far hotter, but that's just me. Same for the casting of women. Joss Stone as Anne of Cleeves really? Absolutely beautiful Joss Stone, as the woman called the Mare of Flanders? As the woman so ugly Henry refused to consumate the marriage? A little unbelievable there.

I am excited, the producers are doing a new series about to thart "The Borgiase'. I know it will not be historically accurate any more than the Tudors. I studied history for six years in university, undergrad and on, with a specialization in British history. I love to study history, and watch documentries a lot. I also like a good steamy exciting drama. I also love reading historical fiction or romance novels too. I don't look at them to be accurate, it just takes my passion for history and directs it into entertainment.

 

[RubyPrincess168]

I watched the show through the third season. Towards the end there it got a little too.......graphic for my taste. I just couldn't bring myself to watch season four. But up until that point (a certain torture scene) it was really interesting. I loved looking at the jewels!

 

[Lumutqueen]

Season four is actually a lot less graphic and has only a few very minor torture scenes. I love the show.

 

[Duchessmary]

And the actor that played Thomas Culpepper~YUMMY!!

 

[Humera]

Thomas Culpepper is played by Torrance Coombs (one of several Canadian actors in the series). Peace Arch Entertainment which produces the show (along with the CBC and two other companies) is a Canadian company.
I enjoyed the show despite the glaring historical inaccuracies, I had to remind myself that it's meant to entertain. Some of the scenes were indeed too graphic but I loved the costumes and jewels. The scene where Henry dreams of his own death was poignant and sad, a bit scary even. This version was certainly better than the one with Ray Winstone and Helena Bonham Carter.
The CBC has the entire show available online: CBC.ca Player

 

[Moonmaiden23]

And the actor that played Thomas Culpepper~YUMMY!!

Wasn't he a hottie!? He had great chemistry with the actress who played Catherine Howard. Unfortunately, he was quite a nasty guy both in the series and in real life I have read.

I have to say the thing that disturbed me more than the historical inaccuracies and (often)gratuitous sex scenes was the violence.

The 16th century was a violent period, but the torture scenes in The Tudors were simply over the top, imo. I actually found myself fast forwarding a great deal of it.

I am very much interested in seeing "The Borgias"...I love Jeremy Irons!

ETA: The series with Ray Winstone as Henry VIII was beyond disappointing! What a waste of money!

 

[cmkrcwi]

The actor who played Francis Dereham also played the Irish chauffeur in "Downton Abbey."

 

[Humera]

Now that you mention it, he was also in Rome, he played Agrippa.

 

[melissaadrian]

Wasn't he a hottie!? He had great chemistry with the actress who played Catherine Howard. Unfortunately, he was quite a nasty guy both in the series and in real life I have read.

I have to say the thing that disturbed me more than the historical inaccuracies and (often)gratuitous sex scenes was the violence.

The 16th century was a violent period, but the torture scenes in The Tudors were simply over the top, imo. I actually found myself fast forwarding a great deal of it.

I am very much interested in seeing "The Borgias"...I love Jeremy Irons!

ETA: The series with Ray Winstone as Henry VIII was beyond disappointing! What a waste of money!

You do realize the Borgias is the same producers and writers right? So it will likely have the same drama, gratuities and such. They saw how succesful it worked with the Tudors.

But talking yummy, sorry but the guy who played Charles Brandon, send him my way any day thank you. Culpepper was too immature looking for me, though pretty easy on the eyes too.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

I'll take my chances with The Borgias...if it's just more of the same sex-and-violence+screwy history i'll probably be skipping out early.

I didn't know it was produced by the same people who did "Tudors"...but I adore Jeremy Irons so I will at least give it a try.

 

[melissaadrian]

I'll take my chances with The Borgias...if it's just more of the same sex-and-violence+screwy history i'll probably be skipping out early.

I didn't know it was produced by the same people who did "Tudors"...but I adore Jeremy Irons so I will at least give it a try.

They had considered continuing with the Tudors, Bloody Mary and Elizabeth but decided there would not be enough drama. They decided to end the Tudors on a high note, at the height of its popularity, instead of continuing for further seasons and dropping. They looked for a new subject, and the Borgias family definitely offers the intrigue. I assume if Lecretia makes an appearance, considering the vast rumors about her, it will be a lot like the Tudors. The Tudors took the juciest most dramatic rumors of Henry VIII and mixed it with history, I assume Borgias will too.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Wow...I did not know they had considered continuing with the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth! If they think there wasn't enough DRAMA there they are clearly crazy!

Eliizabeth's imprisonment by her sister, Mary's doomed marriage to Philip II of Spain, the burnings of Protestants under Mary and the persecution of Jesuits under Elizabeth, Mary Queen of Scots vs Elizabeth, Elizabeth's love for Robert Dudley...the list goes on and on!

But I am kind of glad they stopped...can you imagine the gruesome fun they would have had with all those burnings and beheadings?!

 

[Skippy]

Charles Brandon, or better said Henry Cavill, was very much a hottie in this serial; and I quite liked Duke Philip of Bavaria (Princess Mary's [unfortunately] one-episode love interest) - played by Colin O'Donaghue.

Henry VIII - Jonathan Rhys-Meyers - was too rogue, aggressive for me.

And Torrance Coombs - Thomas Culpepper - eeeewww, his eyes are so scary for me. Almost lifeless because they are so bright. Greyish blue or so? To me they feel like looking at glass. I'll pass.

 

[royski1]

Humera, thanks for the link on CBC to see the whole series, but unfortunately that only works if you are in Canada.
Does anyone know a website that you can watch them in the USA?

 

[MRSJ]

Humera, thanks for the link on CBC to see the whole series, but unfortunately that only works if you are in Canada.
Does anyone know a website that you can watch them in the USA?

Netflixs has them all-

 

[Morrobay59]

the Tutors series

The best part for me in the Mini Series by far was the costumes. God how Love Love Love the clothing from that period in history. So grand! My biggest dislike of the series? The casting of Henry. Really? Maybe it's because this is my personal favorite piece of history, but because it's also one of the most well known, why in the world did they Make Henry look NOTHING like Henry? A skinny, dark haired, pencil pimp moustached looking king Henry??? Through the series I kept waiting for the make up people to at least attempt to make him look somewhat like the king, but no. I can deal with the cheesier parts but The king, the main character, should at least look the part. This was Rock and roll Henry = keith Richards as the king. BOOOOOOOOoooooooooo I hope they do continue the series with the queens, whatever I could watch this type of show nonstop.

 

[royski1]

MRSJ, thank you, but I meant for free.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

JRM is a great actor, but I found him really miscast as Henry VIII. He hardly ages at all during the series, and they certainly never bulked him up to the king's legendary girth!

But I agree about the costumes, they were magnificent! The best part of the entire production, imo.

 

[Lumutqueen]

The series has just finished on BBC and I am a little bit sad. I will miss seeing it on a saturday evening. I loved all the actors and actress especially, Lady Mary, Henry and Catherine Parr. I hated seeing Joss Stone cast as Anne of Cleves.

 

[IloveCP]

I love the show but it is not really true in some areas.Like JRM is way too good looking to play the king in his latter years.And Catherine of Aragon did'nt have dark hair-nothing like the painting!

But still I love the show despite the charcters not looking themselves.

 

[Lenora]

I've enjoyed the show and it would be great to make similar shows as "Stuarts","Hannovers","Windsors" etc.But I 've observed a lot of historical mistakes,I do not mean the great ones,but some details as well.
Speaking on the actors,I would say the actor performing Henry VIII was not convincing at all,very boyish and mild in comparison with real Henry who was feared by all.During his fight for divorcing Catherine Aragon,he and Ann Boleyn were presented nearly as the same generation or teenager lovers,while he was elder than Ann and it was visible.Ann was presented as a capricious girl living her first love.
The other wrong point was that the name of Henry's beloved sister was not Margaret,but Mary,who was actually married to Charles Brandon,the first Duke of Suffolk.

 

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi Lenora,

Yes, I agree with you about the age difference between Henry and Anne; and also that Henry was much more of a brute than portrayed here.

Mary, his younger sister, did marry Charles Brandon after her first husband, Louis XII of france died.
But, Henry did have an elder sister named Margaret, who married the King of Scotland.

Neither sister ever went to Portugal and murdered that country's king as depicted in "The Tudors" - that was just ludicous screenwriting....

Larry

 

[IloveCP]

I think Natalie is a great actress who deserved to be nominated for emmy.She should also get more acting roles.

 

[HRHHermione]

I think Natalie is a great actress who deserved to be nominated for emmy.She should also get more acting roles.

Agreed. I really hated how they portrayed Catherine Howard though. Not the actress, just the way they told her story.

 

[Lenora]

I did not like exactly the way Nathalie played Ann Boleyn,maybe it was the director's of series idea,but Ann Boleyn in these series lacked the specific charm that seduced the king.
The movie was someway far from reality,the series are very colourful and rich in different scenes(including semi-nude) ,but do not reflect the appropriate truth.
Anne Boleyn was more or less appropriate,while Henry VIII is totally inappropriate,as his daughter Mary in the movie seemed to be his younger sister.

 

[PrincessKaimi]

The screenwriters have stated that they wanted the King of France to be contained to his enemy-of-Henry subplot, and not have his father introduced at all (Henry's sister married an older king of France, not the young King of France they wanted to present in the show).

A mini-series can't have too many characters (unlike history) or the average viewer gets confused. That's not ludicrous to me, it's just show business.

I watch for the costumes (which can be critiqued as well) but also to compel myself to read more history (and threads like this one). The screenwriters/producers needed to collapse the cast down to a manageable/memorable number (hence the killing off of Henry FitzRoi before he really died, he would have had to have had his own marriage subplot; and the combining of Henry's two sisters into one sister). The fact that politics were very personal to Henry is dramatized, but real history is lost in the process.

Lenora, I agree with you about the casting for both Henry and Ann - although I find it impossible to take my eyes off of Nathalie in any scene she is in, so while she wasn't seductive per se, she did capture that part of A.B.'s allure. I was a little astonished to see their romance firing up over mere appearance (Henry appears to see Ann mostly from a distance, and she is far from being seductive towards him; she's acting pretty much like every other lady in the story).

I'm only to episode 5, though, and still mulling over the Queen of Portugal-as-Murderer plot (seems thrown in for no good reason; it is said the King's sister's husband died trying too hard to make an heir with her - he was in his mid-50's, old for the time). They could have kept to that story, would have been amusing.

 

[AristoCat]

I think that it would be interesting to see how the dynamics play if they did a series on Edward's reign and then the conflict between Mary and the Dudleys and then Mary's reign and how she descended completely into fanatical insanity. Elizabeth's reign has been gone over all the time and besides, the miniseries with Helen Mirren and the movies done by Cate Blanchett have been among the most accurate.

 

[PrincessKaimi]

Yes, I agree - they need to continue onward with the Tudors! I'm watching it rather slowly...will have to at least check out the mini-series with Helen Mirren (pretty sure that's available now).

 

[AristoCat]

I think the biggest fault was that they didn't make Jonathan dye his hair red. If he had, he would have probably been the most accurate portrayal of Henry at his youngest and this was after all, about Harry as he was a young man, married to Katherine and as he went through his wives. The real problem is that he (Jonathan) was allowed to bascially decide how HE would portray Henry, without following the script and other stuff like looks.


Other than that, this is probably an accurate depiction since men did wear shirts like that and Harry was in an acceindent with his head stuck underwater. Men back then were athletic because they wore armor that was incredibly heavy and had ot learn how to mount a running horse all the while wearing armor. So his muscular physique was certainly accurate.


As for Mary, the actress who portrayed her was utterly brilliant. She managed to portray a young kid used to being an heiress to a throne, to a woman who was reduced to being forced ot denounce her mother's own marriage and accept her father as head of a church that she viewed as heretical. I mean, from a kid trying to be a decent human being to a woman who was trying to find a husband, to a woman who was forced to denounce her own mother and faith and legitimacy, to a woman who lost a beloved governess, who finally broke and then became a budding monster. Up until her reign so much was done to her that it's no wonder she became the mess she did. The evolution is amazing.

Natalie Dormer WAS Anne Boleyn and there has never been anyone like her. She portrayed Anne's passion, her greed, her ambition, and her skillful campaign to get to the throne like a genius and the one thing that I admired is how she never tried to make herself (Anne) out to be a better person or a constant victim. Anne had her bad points and Natalie (and the script) showed them all and didn't hold back. It was amazing how everything changed after she became Queen, she went back from being a doted upon mistress to Harry saying "I said, be happy," practically beginning as a husbandly tyrant.