Wolf Hall v The Tudors

[Satchmo Distel]

I am four episodes into Wolf Hall (have reached More's execution) so my comparisons can only go to that point but generally I would say:

1) Acting in Wolf Hall is generally better: I think all the main players have been outstanding.

2) Characters in Wolf Hall are darker: Henry is a weak drunk, More is an egomaniac, Ann Boleyn is a monster.

3) Everything in Wolf Hall seems to be from Cromwell's POV, so we see the king as weak and More as a tyrant because that's how Cromwell saw them.

4) However, I think this has the disadvantage of whitewashing Cromwell to a large extent: he seems to have acquired huge wealth and power without displaying greed or behaving like a total bastard.

5) Wolf Hall perhaps assumes too much prior knowledge on the viewers' part. A lot of suffering is occuring offscreen (burning, torture, robbery of assets) and could perhaps be shown more fully, as it was in The Tudors.

[G-Man]

Wolf Hall v The Tudors

Everything in Wolf Hall seems to be from Cromwell's POV

Ah well, that's my interest unpiqued.

[San Bernardhinault]

Wolf Hall v The Tudors

(have reached More's execution)

Spoiler alert! Don't tell us what happens to Anne, please.

[Various Artist]

Wolf Hall v The Tudors

Weird, I just got around to watching episode 4 last night, so I'm at just the same stage as you satchmo. You're quite right on those points, although I'd say that there's enough hints and glimpses into Cromwell's darker side that one can imagine how (4) could've come about. This ties into (5), though, leaving me thinking that a stranger to the period of history being discussed could be left floundering in the dark — even the king and queen(s) are secondary characters as it's so much Cromwell's tale, they are merely orbiting in his periphery from the point of view of the story. The tight focus on him inevitably leaves a lot of things unseen (and must help keep the budget down), to the extent that Henry and Anne's marriage — a pivotal point of the saga by any reckoning — almost got tossed away as an afterthought with the dramas of their courtship having taken place almost entirely offscreen.
Arguably though it makes it all the more effective when, as happened late in episode 4, Henry does suddenly show his claws (to pluck a metaphor from the very episode), as it makes you remember how Cromwell isn't really as in control as he'd like to be. You never know, he might meet a sticky end yet.

One thing I'm relishing without a shred of doubt is Bernard Hill's Duke of Norfolk. You get ten or fifteen minutes at a time of people like Cromwell being measured, thoughtful, watchful, manipulative and circumspect, then in rolls Norfolk to bellow "I should have your fucking head for this!", "By the thrice beshitted shroud of Lazarus!" or "BOLLOCKS!". To call it scene-stealing grossly undersells the joy of this. To say he gets all the best lines barely covers it.

[Satchmo Distel]

Wolf Hall v The Tudors

I thought Episode 5 was a cracker. It convincingly sets up the scenario where Cromwell knows that either Anne Boleyn must die or he'll be for the chop himself. Destroy or be destroyed. Revenge on the Boleyns for Wolsey's fall is also reiterated.

Henry is an extraordinarily weak king who needs Cromwell, as shown by how things turned to shit after Crowell's death.

It will be interesting to see how Episode 6 handles the allegations of Anne sleeping with her brother and others.

[Sits]

Wolf Hall v The Tudors

In the last three days I've flown seven hours each way from Sydney to Singapore and back. I was considering one or two movies off the list, but noticed they had the Wolf Hall series so I thought I'd give the first episode a go.

That was it. No movies; all six episodes when I wasn't trying to sleep. I absolutely loved it and was totally gripped. The performances are all superlative, and I think seeing all six in a row was a privilege. I could go on, but I won't.

Are there plans for more?

[Amor de Cosmos]

Wolf Hall v The Tudors

They'll have to wait for Hilary Mantel's final book in the trilogy.

[Sits]

Wolf Hall v The Tudors

It's been a while since I fought my way through the first book, but aren't the six episodes all contained within that? Maybe my memory's playing tricks.

[Satchmo Distel]

Wolf Hall v The Tudors

The six episodes end with Anne's execution, which is the end of Book 2.