ma-cortes Passable but not great rendition based on the life and loves of the famous and lecherous king Henry VIII . A tour de force for Ray Winstone as the robust 16th century ruthless king who loved and killed wives . In 1526 Henry tosses aside his current wife the Spanish Catherine of Aragon played by the Spanish Assumpta Serna. Firstly , Catherine married Arthur , Henry VIII older brother, but Arthur died 6 months later , and Catherine then married Henry . As Henry falls for the young and devastatingly beautiful Anne Boleyn , Helena Bonham Carter . But after the birth of princess Elizabeth , Henry tires of Anne and wishes to marry another, Jane Seymour : Emily Fox . So he decides to rid himself of her presence .Anne was judged and accused of adultery with his brother and four commoners .11 days later Henry married Jane who died 12 days after giving birth to a son , later Edward VI. For political reasons , Henry next selection was Anne of Cleves whom he married by proxy in 154o. She was not to his taste , however , and the marriage was annulled by Parliament 6 months later . Catherine Howard had the misfortune to be Henry' s fifth wife but she was charged with having committed adultery before the marriage. Catherine Parr married and tended the ailing lecher in his last years .Soon after Henry death in 1547 , she married a former lover and died in childbirth.This is a lavish historical spectacle lustily portraying the life and lovers of notorious British Monarch , and shot in Soap style . Ray Winstone's acting as the amoral and womanizer king garned him awesome reviews .Including outstanding performances by the entire cast , such as Emily Blunt as Catherine Howard , Clare Holman as wife Catherine Parr , David Suchet as Cardinal Wolsey, Danny Webb as Thomas Cromwell , Michael Moloney as Thomas Cranmer , Charles Dance as Duke Buckingham and Sean Bean as the rebel Robert Aske. The series was well directed by Pete Travis . He is a good craftsman who has made a lot of films and TV series as Fearless , Falcon, The Jury , Cold Feet , Omagh , Vantage point and Dredd.Henry VIII life has been adapted several times, as TV as Cinema , for example : The private life of Henry VIII by Alexander Korda with Charles Laughton, Merle Oberon , Elsa Lanchaster , Robert Donat ; Anne of the thousand days by Charles Jarrot with Richard Burton, Genevieve Bujold , Vanedsa Redgrave ; The other Boleyn girl with Natalie Portman , Scarlett Johansson , Eric Bana , Jim Sturgess . And series as the starred by Keith Mitchell, Charlotte Rampling , directed by Warris Hussein and the successful starred by Jonathan Rhys Meyers produced by Michael Hirst .

Michael O'Keefe He was loathed, loved, feared, respected and definitely left his mark in history. This is a lavish production dramatizing the life and 38-year reign of no doubt the very influential King Henry VIII(Ray Winstone). This shrewed and ruthless ruler was obsessively determined to sire a male heir. His wife, Catherine of Argon(Assumpta Sema)failed after numerous tries. Henry would take a mistress, Anne Boleyn(Helena Bonham Carter), who cleverly demanded marriage before having a child. She failed to provide a male child, so Henry had her placed in the Tower of London before she was beheaded. The harsh ruler grew restless with age and would have many slaughtered in a religious gesture; growing impatient and untrusting he would use beheading as his favorite means of dealing with out-of-favor wives and allies accused of treason. Some disturbing images in this 200 plus minute dramatization. Photographed beautifully. Winestone is very impressive; but I personally believe Miss Bonam Carter steals the show. The very strong cast also features: David Suchet, Sean Bean, Emilia Fox, Charles Dance, Emily Blunt, Michael Maloney, Joseph Morgan and Lara Belmont.

Benoît A. Racine (benoit-3) The facts are XVIth Century but the style is clearly XXIst Century. It can be argued that everything in this miniseries really happened (except for a few fictional subplots) but it is unarguable that the end result is extremely vulgar, from the Cockney accent and body language of the king to the soap-opera techniques of the editing style. In this universe, a birth cannot happen without the camera projecting between the legs of the mother and blood spurting everywhere, courtesans cannot be disgraced without a Nazi style arrest followed by the cries of the tortured. History is a series of excuses for showing body fluids and not mentioning any important or relevant social issues other than sex and violence. It is entertainment for the readers of Rupert Murdoch's tabloids (Mr. Murdoch also owns Granada Television). It follows in the euro-trash tradition of revisionist history as spectacular blood-sport of such recent period films as "Elizabeth", "Le Roi Danse", "Vatel", "La Reine Margot", "L'Affaire du Collier", etc., etc., etc. Ad nauseam... It also made possible a piece of egregious dung like "Gunpowder, Treason & Plot" (2004).

ejj1955 I second most of the comments already made about the historical inaccuracy of this program, but want to add yet another quibble: the scenes that purport to show the dissolution of the monasteries. What a bunch of hooey! I thought I was watching a scene from some movie of the Vikings raiding and pillaging the English coast. What actually happened was that inspectors were sent around and anything of value was methodically stripped and either taken for the royal treasury or sold; the monasteries were then pulled down, bells were melted, etc.; the monks and nuns were given pensions. It's true that servants were turned off without work, causing hardship; it's also true that those who were especially obdurate were tried and executed, but the slashing swords and burning monks fleeing from buildings were complete inventions of the filmmakers. I just don't see the point--fiction is the name for this (not even historical fiction--just fiction).