A true telling of history

The new production of Wolf Hall is about to get underway and already there is a debate going on about how realistic, or not, the show looks. And there will no doubt be more in the coming weeks as Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis bring to life the embattled, dark and destructive relationship between Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell.  But is historical reality really a necessity for historical drama? As Wolf Hall gets under way, does a story have to be realistically told to stand a realistic chance of being good?

Mark Rylance is Thomas Cromwell in BBC Two's Wolf Hall which starts on January 21st 2015

We already know that this production has been lit, in part, just by the flame of one candle to make it look to us as it would have looked to those whose lives it chronicles. The clothes won't be as bright as costume designers have tried to use the same kind of dyes available to those dressing kings and queens in the 16th century. But nothing changes the fact that those bring Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell to life do look remarkably different from the stars of the Tudor court. And not just facially.

Spot the difference - a new cast of Tudors is about to take to our screens

Life is better, easier and healthier now. The portraits we have left to us of kings and queens of times past show them as they wanted to be seen - glowing and glorious. The fact is that with much poorer hygiene, medicine and healthcare even the sexiest and prettiest monarch in their prime would have suffered, ever so slightly, from grime. We want sultry and sensual princes on our screen but chances are that these royal protagonists would have had problems with their skin, teeth and hair because they just couldn't look after them to the same standard as we can today. But then why have a Henry VIII with greasy hair when you can have Damian Lewis?

Henry VIII on a good day - Damian Lewis isn't going to look like this

And isn't that the whole point of retelling historical tales? We want our own version, not the gritty reality of a dirtier day. What sings from the pages of history is the human tale, the love and the hate and the longing and the violence and the power and the intrigue and the drama. And that can be told in whatever setting we choose. OK, it's nice to have it played out in gorgeous Tudor houses in gorgeous Tudor clothes with plenty of authentic Tudor drama. But the bottom line is the anger, jealousy, politics and passion that informed the story.

He's got the beard and the anger - can this new version of Henry VIII do justice to his story?

It will be interesting to see what areas of Tudor life are given the most prominence in this production for very often that tells us more about the audience watching than the people whose lives are being told. Tudor tales made in the 1960s and 1970s focussed on the power of Henry and the passion of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard while the Tudors showed us an early 21st century version where the women were the stars. We know Wolf Hall focuses on the relationship between Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell putting the focus on the dynamic between a powerful man and his chief adviser. But how the women in Henry's life and their entourages are shown will be just as interesting.



Wolf Hall already has all the makings of a TV classic. And whether or not it is just like Tudor times doesn't really matter. The story, that great royal epic of an adventure that was the reign of Henry VIII, is so powerful that it could be told a thousand times and still fascinate.