Wolf Hall (TV series)

Wolf Hall is a British television series adaptation of two of Hilary Mantel's novels, Wolf Hall^[1] and Bring Up the Bodies,^[2] a fictionalised biography documenting the life of Thomas Cromwell.

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Wolf Hall
Genre	Historical drama
Based on	Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Written by	Peter Straughan
Directed by	Peter Kosminsky
Starring	Mark Rylance Damian Lewis Claire Foy Bernard Hill Anton Lesser Mark Gatiss Mathieu Amalric Joanne Whalley Jonathan Pryce
Composers	Original music by Debbie Wiseman Tudor music by Claire van Kampen
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	12
Production
Executive producer	Colin Callender
Producer	Mark Pybus
Cinematography	Gavin Finney
Running time	60–65 minutes
Production company	Company Pictures
Original release
Network	BBC Two
Release	21 January (2015-01-21) – 25 February 2015 (2015-02-25)
Network	BBC One
Release	10 November 2024 (2024-11-10) – present

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The six-part first series was first broadcast on BBC Two in January 2015 and documented the rapid rise to power of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII through to the death of Sir Thomas More, followed by Cromwell's success in freeing the king of his marriage to Anne Boleyn. It was first broadcast abroad in April 2015 in the United States on PBS and in Australia on BBC First. The first series was a critical success and received eight nominations at the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards and three nominations at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards, winning for Best Miniseries or Television Film.

The second series, adapted from The Mirror & the Light, the final novel in the trilogy, featured Mark Rylance, director Peter Kosminsky, and writer Peter Straughan returning;^[3] it was filmed between November 2023 and April 2024, before being first broadcast on 10 November 2024.^[4]

The series centres on the character of Thomas Cromwell, a lawyer who has risen from humble beginnings. The action in Series 1 opens at a point in Cromwell's career where his master, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, is about to fall from power because of his failure to secure a marriage annulment for King Henry VIII of England.^[5] It proceeds through Cromwell's own rise to political power, and ends with the execution of Anne Boleyn.^[6] Series 2 picks up after Anne's execution, following Cromwell's continued rise and Henry's marriage to his third and fourth queens, Jane Seymour and Anne of Cleves, the latter of which will ultimately lead to Cromwell’s fall from power and execution.

On 23 August 2012, BBC Two announced several new commissions, one of which was Wolf Hall.^[13] According to The Guardian £7 million was to be spent on the adaptation.^[14] BBC Two controller Janice Hadlow said it was "very fortunate to have the rights" to the two novels and called Wolf Hall "a great contemporary novel".^[15][16]

Peter Kosminsky, the director of the series, said: "This is a first for me. But it is an intensely political piece. It is about the politics of despotism, and how you function around an absolute ruler. I have a sense that Hilary Mantel wanted that immediacy. ... When I saw Peter Straughan's script, only a first draft, I couldn't believe what I was reading. It was the best draft I had ever seen. He had managed to distil 1,000 pages of the novels into six hours, using prose so sensitively. He's a theatre writer by trade."^[14]

The drama series features 102 characters and Kosminsky began casting the other parts in October 2013. Although originally set to film in Belgium,^[17] most of the filming took place on location at some of the finest British medieval and Tudor houses and buildings, including Berkeley Castle, Gloucester Cathedral and Horton Court in Gloucestershire, Dover Castle and Penshurst Place in Kent, Broughton Castle and Chastleton House in Oxfordshire, Wells Cathedral, Barrington Court, Cothay Manor and Montacute House in Somerset, Stanway House in Gloucestershire, and Sherborne School in Dorset, Bristol Cathedral in Bristol, St Donat's Castle in the Vale of Glamorgan, Hospital of St Cross in Hampshire, and Great Chalfield Manor and Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire.^[18][19] In all, 28 locations were used, mostly in the south-west of England.^[20] The series was filmed from May to July 2014. The series, which was made in association with Masterpiece Entertainment and Playground Entertainment,^[21] consists of six episodes and was broadcast on BBC Two in the UK from 21 January 2015.

The Guardian speculated that the BBC's hiring of Kosminsky with Straughan showed they wanted "a darker and grittier take on British history" than more fanciful programmes such as The Tudors or The White Queen.^[14] Mantel called Straughan's scripts a "miracle of elegant compression and I believe with such a strong team the original material can only be enhanced".^[14]

Kosminsky determined to undertake much of the interior filming by candlelight, this led some of the actors to collide with the scenery and to be concerned by the risk of fires.^[22] Wolf Hall was filmed in two locations in Kent: Dover Castle doubled for the Tower of London, and the Long Gallery, Tapestry Room, and Queen Elizabeth Room at Penshurst Place were used as specific rooms in Whitehall (York Place), which was Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII's residence. The Long Gallery doubled as Anne Boleyn's chamber.^[23] Some scenes were filmed at Stanway House in Gloucestershire.^[24]

The series' executive producer, Colin Callender, stated in February 2015 that he hoped that the BBC would commission an extension of the series based on the final novel in Mantel's trilogy, The Mirror & the Light, which was published in 2020.^[25] Callender said that lead performers Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis were "eager" to return.^[25]

A second series of Wolf Hall was confirmed on 27 May 2019,^[26] officially announced as Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, and began filming on 24 November 2023 with Mark Rylance, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Damian Lewis, Jonathan Pryce, Kate Phillips and Lilit Lesser all reprising their roles from the previous series.

On 4 April 2024 the BBC announced that filming of the second series had been completed,^[27] and revealed details of several roles that had been recast, including: Timothy Spall as the Duke of Norfolk (replacing Bernard Hill), Harriet Walter as Lady Margaret Pole (replacing Janet Henfrey), and Harry Melling as Thomas Wriothesley (replacing Joel MacCormack).^[28]

Critics have been "almost unanimous" in their praise of the series, with particular reference to the attention to period detail, the faithful adaptation of the source novels, Kosminsky's direction, and the performances of the leading cast members, particularly Rylance as Cromwell and Foy as Boleyn.^[31] Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the show a 98% rating based on 53 reviews with an average rating of 8.4/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Beautifully filmed and brilliantly acted, Wolf Hall masterfully brings Hilary Mantel's award-winning novels to life."^[32] Sam Wollaston in The Guardian called it "sumptuous, intelligent, event television."^[33] Will Dean in The Independent felt that it did not compare favourably with the stage adaptation of the book, yet he predicted that it would "secure a devoted following."^[34] James Walton in The Daily Telegraph gave the first episode five stars out of five, commenting: "it’s hard to see how this one could have been done much better."^[35] Mick Adam Noya from the television review show Channel Crossing called Wolf Hall "the best show of 2015".^[36]

A few dissenting voices found some flaws. The Daily Telegraph alleged that there was a substantial drop in ratings between the first and second episodes, despite all the following episodes holding high and consistent ratings.^[37] Simon Schama stated concerns about how the series depicted historical figures.^[38] Emily Nussbaum of The New Yorker cited "small weaknesses", but wrote "the show’s deliberately paced six hours turn out to be riveting, precisely because they are committed, without apology or, often, much explanation, to the esotericism of their subject matter."^[39] Sophie Gilbert of The Atlantic wrote, "Magnificent...a tour de force."^[40]

The lighting design, which used historically accurate natural light sources (such as candlelight for evening scenes) prompted criticism from viewers who felt parts of the series appeared too dark.^[41]

• Australia: BBC First premiered the series on 11 April 2015^[42] and it was watched by 46,000 viewers.^[43]
• United States: PBS broadcast the series on Masterpiece from 5 April 2015 to 10 May 2015.^[44] The series was subsequently licensed to Amazon Prime.^[45]
• Germany / France: Arte broadcast the series on 21 and 28 January 2016.^[46][47]

For the 5th Critics' Choice Television Awards, the series received four nominations: Best Limited Series, Mark Rylance for Best Actor, Jonathan Pryce for Best Supporting Actor, and Claire Foy for Best Supporting Actress.^[48]