Right. Here are some portraits of the young Henry VIII. Here’s Henry at 18.
At 29.
At 44.
Sorry, thanks. :smack: Proof, then, that Showtime can do it right. (I’m a big fan of Dex.)
Showtime in my experience has a pretty good track record with original series. Dexter, Queer as Folk, The L Word (which I don’t watch but was critically acclaimed), Penn & Teller’s Bullshit!, Huff and Weeds (didn’t watch these either but they also got good reviews) spring to mind.
I seem to recall reading that this series was going to run ten episodes. At an hour a week and with them available on demand I think I can find the time to squeeze this in. As I mentioned in another of these threads, since I don’t know a lot about the historical period I’m mostly enjoying comparing the various interpretations and portrayals of the people from different projects.
Also Dead Like Me.
I saw the first two episodes yesterday via Showtime On Demand. I liked it, but agree with the suggestion that the guy playing the Duke of Buckingham seems better suited to play Henry VIII, although perhaps they wanted the big-name actor. It was weird watching him interact with the king of France, given that they were cousins but also fierce rivals.
Gabrielle Anwar is credited as Margaret Tudor, but IIRC Margaret was sent to Scotland to marry well before Henry became king. I’m wondering if they’ve merged the sisters into one - Mary marries Charles Brandon after her first husband, the King of France dies, but I haven’t seen anything in any of the credits about Mary.
The actress playing Anne Boleyn (Natalie Dormer) is beautifully cast–she has the kitten faced look and small pursed mouth down to a “t” but my quibble is that they should have her wearing brown contacts, as it’s definite from portraits and contemporary descriptions that Anne was dark eyed.
The slippery time sequences are a bit annoying but I’m so inured to it I can barely muster up my outrage as I used… I like JRM a lot so I can accept him in the role–basically I’m watching it as eye candy since there’s not a sparrow’s fart chance of much in the way of historical accuracy. I like Sam Neill as Wolsey and Jeremy Northam as More–that’s some nifty casting.
It’s scenic, relatively inoffensive and the costuming is very nice–it ain’t costing me anything to watch so I’ll keep up with it!
This actually sums it up much better than I did earlier! 
Henry the Eighth again? Why don’t they start with his father, that usurping little rat bastard Henry the Seventh?
I agree. Popular culture always ignores Henry VII. It’s like history stopped between the reigns of Richard III and Henry VIII.