Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: Mark Rylance, Damian Lewis, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Timothy Spall, Lilit lesser, Harry melling, Kate Philips, Jonathan Pryce, Richard Dillane, Karim Kadjar, Charlie Rowe, Joss Porter, Will Keen, Will Tudor, Lydia Leonard, Harriet Walker, Tom Mothersdale, Alex Jennings, Lucy Russell, James Larkin, Robert Wilfort, Thomas Arnold, Hannah Steele, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Corentin Fila, Viola Prettejohn, Jordan Kouamé, Agnes O’ Casey, Cecilia Appiah, Ellie de Lange, Hubert Burton, Pip Carter, Josef Altin, Sarah Priddy, Hannah Khalique-Brown, Amir El-Masry, German Segal, Tim Scragg, Summer Richards, Dana Herfurth, Claire Foy.
We in the modern age do not have the monopoly on professional or civil jealousy, we just have a finer tuned machine in the media in all its forms in which to destroy a person, and one that is quicker to judge and turn a nation against the soul in question, than any other period in history.
However, despite our self-imposed belief that with a snap of a finger and the press on the enter button we can send those with a better grasp on life into a digital hell, we arguably have nothing on those who inhabited the most intriguing and certainly bloodiest of periods in British history, the conniving machinations of the Tudor period, where suspicion, resentment, hatred and the turn of easily taken of offence were deadly games carried out in the name of advancement and securing the favour of one of the most egotistical and paranoid men of the age, Henry VIII.
Nine years between series is an absolute age to wait; almost ridiculously too long, and yet, and thanks to some of the most sublime writing and performances seen on television, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light sees a dramatic, almost Shakespearean epic bring to conclusion a tale that has had repercussions down through history, and one that sheds enormous being in the nature of being a noble, and clever human being in a world ruled by accidents of birth in positions of power.
The six-part series witness’s the downfall of Thomas Cromwell, his own part in the game as he refused to bow down to the likes of the Duke of Norfolk, played with sheer brutality of whim by the superb Timothy Spall, whilst continuing to support a king whose precarious nature, his foibles, outweighed his grandeur.
From earthy, humble beginnings, the rise of one of history’s most impressive minds, shows the pathos to come, that by immersing yourself into a position of power that others feel you do not deserve, your ruin is eventual; and as the ever glorious Mark Rylance portrays with consummate ease the softly spoken voice of the son of a blacksmith turned one of the most important people in the kingdom who is in the end accused of the heinous act of treachery, so we must continue to learn the lesson of reaching beyond, not our ability, but other people’s tolerance.
With exceptional performances from Damien Lewis as Henry VIII, Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Rafe Sadler, Harry Melling as Thomas Wriothesley, and Alex Jennings as Stephen Gardiner, as well as the aforementioned Mark Rylance and Timothy Spall, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light is compelling television at its finest.
Ian D. Hall