TV Show - Hillary Mantel's Wolf Hall on BBC this week

[Pauline]

The BBC Two TV series made from Hillary Mantel's Booker winning novel Wolf Hall shows on BBC 2 on Wednesday and will be available after that on iPlayer. Read more on BBC website. I will add this to our Recommended British TV shows thread, but wanted to give it its own thread so we can talk about it more.

Wolf Hall is an "historical drama chronicling the rise of Thomas Cromwell, the son of a humble blacksmith who became King Henry VIII's chief minister, as he navigated the corridors of power in the Tudor court." Starring Mark Rylance, Claire Foy, Damian Lewis (from Homeland - yes, he is a Brit!!) and Jonathan Pryce.

ARTICLE: The Guardian - Wolf Hall sticks to England after director rejects plan to film in Belgium, Jan 19 2015
Period drama, set to be one of BBC’s key shows this year, praised by novel’s author Hilary Mantel for its authenticity

Wolf Hall was filmed entirely on location in the summer of 2014. Six of the locations used are National Trust properties that are open to the public.

- Montacute House, Somerset used as Greenwich Palace, Henry VIII's London home.

- Barrington Court, Somerset used for interiors scenes in York Place, Whitehall, home of Cardinal Wolsey.

- Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire (on the southern edge of the Cotswolds) used as Wolf Hall, the Seymour family home.

- Chastleton House, Oxfordshire (in the Cotswolds east of Stow) - exterior used for scenes from Cromwell's childhood, interior used for Wolf Hall scenes.

- Great Chalfield Manor and Garden, Wiltshire - interiors used for Austin Friars, Thomas Cromwell's home.

Read more on BBC Two - Wolf Hall, the Locations.

 

[Roz]

Pauline, thanks for the alert, and for the links to the articles. I just hope it won't take too long to get to the US. We often have to wait quite a while until PBS brings it over here. It was so good to read that Hilary Mantel is so pleased with the filming. The books were just extraordinary.

 

[jonathan]

So far, I've only read the first book, which I absolutely loved. They're big books, though, and I've been waiting for a suitably free period of time in which to tackle the second. My 13.5hr flight to Singapore next month looks like the perfect opportunity! And it's followed by some down time by a pool on Langkawi

I'm also really looking forward to the TV series - wonderful casting and, yes, the locations look great.

 

[Lisa in Ottawa]

This is what I'm missing. I enjoyed streaming from ITV when I was in Oxford. Can;t do that now. Stuck with Netflix. Boring. You can tell I'm missing jolly old ...

 

[Pauline]

I recorded the first episode but have not watched it yet. I think I will wait until I can watch them all together, so I can attempt to figure out the plot (and plotting). Much is being said about it on Radio 4. Most reviewers love it.