Wolf Hall shows how every generation gets the Henry VIII it deserves 

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Wolf Hall shows how every generation gets the Henry VIII it deserves

Through our fictional representations of the past we can clearly see who we really are today

BBC Two gives us a slim, sexy Henry VIII (Damian Lewis) - here with Anne Boleyn (Claire Foy). 

The last few days have seen a frenzy of excitement building over the BBC\'s adaptation of Hilary Mantel\'s first two Tudor novels, Wolf Hall, and Bring Up The Bodies. We\'ve had controversy about codpieces, vigorous discussion of historical accuracy and endless cast gossip.

Wolf Hall is significant because every decade gets its own particular vision of Henry VIII, and we’re going to meet ours tonight. It seems that we will never tire of Bluebeard and his brides, one of history’s greatest stories. And just as each generation re-fashions Sherlock Holmes in its own image, so we’re going to get the Tudors we deserve.

So what do we require of the fictional 16th century in the Year of Our Lord 2015? Let\'s start with what doesn\'t matter: its "accuracy" or "authenticity". Some people may not have noticed, but it’s a drama, folks! Drama stands or falls by its ability to carry you along with its storytelling and to convince you willingly to suspend your disbelief. Director Peter Kosminsky will make you suspend it, I promise.

This concept of "authenticity" changes over time, which is why historical dramas - notoriously - look so dated so quickly. And it is why the 2015 version, which we watch in chilling times, is not a cosy story of bodice-ripping - it’s a hard, political story about power. Religious extremism and unflinching violence find their way into the plot. Viewers tonight will find Thomas Cromwell’s sect of undercover, black-clad religious extremists reminiscent of other, more modern sects, now that beheadings have come back out of the history books and into the news.

The television news itself is not an entirely implausible reference point for the look of the drama. The viewer sees what Cromwell sees as he travels along the passages and corridors of power: not all blurred and shaky like a camera phone, but in the spirit of citizen journalism.

Henry VIII\'s diet: lobster, porpoise and custard (on fast days)

And, thanks to the genius of Hilary Mantel, the characters have had a makeover. We have a slim, sexy Henry VIII, a far cry from the obese, camp monster of feature films past, tossing chicken legs over his shoulder. In tonight’s episode he’s refined and deadly, a kind of couture version of an action hero.

Thomas Wolsey too has had a makeover. Traditionally seen as a corpulent and corrupt cardinal, here he’s a very sympathetic and vulnerable character. And yet some things don’t change: the centuries-old tradition of Catholic-bashing continues, with Thomas More re-invented as the intransigent baddie.

Mantel gives us Thomas Cromwell himself as spin doctor, bruiser and fixer, all recognisably 21st-century roles, while Anne Boleyn is an astonishingly modern woman in her wish - no - her deep-felt duty to make the best of herself and to win power in a man’s world.

Why does Wolf Hall matter? Well, on one level, I’m hoping that it will drive visitors in their millions to see the places where Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey themselves lived and breathed – places like their joint creation, Hampton Court Palace, which this year celebrates its 500th birthday.

It was in February 1515 that Cardinal Wolsey purchased the spade to begin the palace that Henry VIII would complete, the largest and best surviving Tudor building in Britain. When images of Britain’s historic buildings flash across America as the series is shown on PBS, they will launch a thousand holidays.

But more deeply, it’s in our drama and particularly in our fictional representations of the past that we can see who we really are at any given point in time. I think we can take heart. We may be just as conflicted and violent as the Tudors were, but we also share their grief, their frailty and their humanity. Trust me. It’s going to be good.

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