Henry VIII

Last Update: 30 Oct 2004 (You need a browser capable of viewing tables to see this page properly)

Thanks to Lynn from Full of Beans for the scan. Pic from the Sunday Express (UK).

The violence, sex and corruption of the Tudor court is to be played out on TV screens in a £6 million epic about Henry VIII for UK's ITV1. Granada Television has commissioned screenwriter Alan Bleasdale to paint a warts-and-all picture of the period, omitting none of the seamier elements of Henry's reign. Directed by Pete Travis, who created the comedy series Cold Feet, the 100-minute film, to be broadcast in the autumn, promises to capture a "complex and charismatic King who turned from handsome playboy to a bitter invalid, desperate for a son and heir".

The production is co-funded by international broadcasters, including WGBH of Boston, CBC of Canada and the Australian ABC channel.

Filming locations include Rochester and Leeds castles, East Head in Sussex, and Middle Temple in London.

Ray Winstone, best known for his East End gangster roles, has been cast to play the king. Helena Bonham-Carter stars as Anne Boleyn. David Suchet, Emilia Fox, Joss Ackland, Charles Dance and Michael Maloney also feature in the star-studded cast.

Sean has filmed a cameo appearance as Robert Aske. The role involved several days' filming from March 31-April 4, 2003.

Click on the thumbnails to see larger screen caps from the Henry VIII promo trailer currently running on UK television.

Granada says that the series would show the "ruthless ambitions, power struggles and the magnificence" of the period. The resulting drama will be a "sexy mix of power, intrigue, glamour and danger". Henry's six wives will feature strongly but the show will also explore his whole 40-year reign. "It's a fantastic part for an actor to get his teeth into," said Winstone, who was last seen on screen in the ITV series Tough Love.

Andy Harries, the controller of drama and comedy at Granada, says the project should prove popular with modern viewers. "Henry VIII's reputation as a womaniser and tyrant lives on 500 years after his death," he says. Bleasdale, creator of Boys from the Black Stuff, was the obvious choice: "He's the perfect writer to portray fully the cut and thrust of the Tudor court." - Info from The Guardian (16 March 2001), OK Magazine (March 2003) and The Times (22 March 2003)

Part 1 of 2 (from ITV TV Listings) First in a two-part drama starring Ray Winstone as the 16th-century monarch Henry VIII, chronicling his 38-year reign and epic descent from handsome playboy to embittered invalid through a series of unsuccessful marriages, political intrigues, religious upheavals and the failure to produce a male heir. When the Plantagenet claimant to the throne of England, the Duke of Buckingham, leads a revolt against the king, Henry's retribution is so merciless that his own wife, Catherine of Aragon, can barely recognise the man she married. But relations between the royal couple deteriorate further when he sets eyes on the strikingly beautiful Anne Boleyn. Determined to have her as his mistress, he forbids her imminent marriage to Henry Percy, but the ambitious Anne is not about to accept life as a mere courtesan.   Part 2 of 2 Conclusion of the two-part drama starring Ray Winstone as the 16th-century monarch Henry VIII, chronicling his 38-year reign and epic descent from handsome playboy to embittered invalid via a series of unsuccessful marriages, political intrigues and religious upheavals. Merely a day after Anne Boleyn`s execution, Henry weds Jane Seymour, against a backdrop of violent countrywide rebellion resulting from the torture and slaughter wreaked by Henry`s soldiers during the dissolution of the Catholic monasteries. Henry is forced to face a growing army of dissenters led by his former lieutenant Robert Aske. Worse is to come when Jane dies giving birth to his desperately awaited son and heir, Edward, propelling Henry into deep depression and weight gain. A disastrous, unconsumated marriage to Anne of Cleves follows, but it is not long before the 15-year-old beauty Catherine Howard is hovering in the wings... With Danny Webb, Emilia Fox, Sean Bean, Pia Girard, Emily Blunt and Mark Strong.

Read more about Robert Aske here. Click here for Henry VIII Production Notes.

Visit the Henry VIII Press Archive (includes more pix of Sean as Robert Aske).

PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS:

Joss Ackland Sean Bean Lara Belmont Emily Blunt Helena Bonham-Carter Charles Dance Marsha Fitzalan Emilia Fox Pia Girard Christopher Good Scott Handy Terence Harvey Clare Holman William Houston Kelly Hunter Edward Kelsey Thomas Lockyer Dominic Mafham Michael Maloney Rhys Meredith Sid Mitchell Joseph Morgan Edward Tudor Pole Assumpta Serna Mark Strong David Suchet Tom Turner Danny Webb Benjamin Whitrow Ray Winstone

Henry VII Robert Aske Mary Tudor Katherine Howard Anne Boleyn Duke of Buckinghamshire Duchess of Norfolk Jane Seymour Anne of Cleves Sir John Seymour Lord Henry Percy Bishop Gardiner Katherine Parr Thomas Seymour Lady Rochford Campeggio Edward Seymour George Boleyn Thomas Cranmer Thomas Smeeton Young Henry Thomas Culpeper Friar Peto Catherine of Aragon Duke of Norfolk Cardinal Wolsey Francis Dereham Thomas Cromwell Thomas Boleyn Henry VIII

PRODUCTION CREDITS:

Produced by Producer Directed by Writer Cinematography Production Design Costume Design Film Editor Music by Running time Transmission date (UK) Projected transmission date (US) DVD Release (Region 2) Projected DVD Release (Region 1)

ITV/Granada Television, WGBH (Boston), CBC (Canada), ABC (Australia) Francis Hopkinson Pete Travis Peter Morgan 2 x 100 minutes Oct 12 and 19, 2003 November 7 and 14, 2004 (PBS) Oct 27, 2003 November 16, 2004

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