Being a period movie fan that I am, I have finally watched the Tudors! I have heard about this TV series from some time ago. It is about the highly fictional life of King Henry VIII during his reign in the Tudor dynasty. The series stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers and is produced by Michael Hirst. Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays the lead character King Henry VIII, so it shouldn’t be hard for girls to resist watching the sexy Irish actor as the powerful King of England.
Each episode always starts with this line: you think you know a story, but you only know how it ends. To get to the heart of a story, you have to go back to the beginning. And thus, we are taken on a wild ride through the roller coaster life of King Henry VIII.
As we know, King Henry VIII is known as a womanizer and has 6 wives in history. So, naturally this series would involve a lot of umm, steamy scenes ;) I am surprised by the boldness of this series coz they actually show umm, bare tops of the female characters. Usually for a long running tv series, they’d take the liberty of covering up the actresses. I wonder how people who watch the Tudors on tv watch those scenes coz the censoring department must have done quite a lot of cutting, I guess. Eh hem, moving on, I really liked the fact that each episode has a lot of small stories going on. Each royalty, lord, or duke in court has their own secret agendas going on. Most of them are for their own benefit of gaining power or overthrowing another authority, very very scandalous indeed! Each episode goes on for about 55 minutes, so there is A LOT to watch in 1 episode.
And you cant dismiss the fancy costumes and polite mannerisms back then. The way each person of a different rank bows to another and how they use eloquent words when speaking to each other is very charming to me. So for those who cant get enough of period English films, this tv series should flood you with your interest. ;) other than the very sexy Jonathan Rhys Meyers acting as he King himself, there are several other good looking actors like Henry Cavill (as 1st Duke of Suffolk) and the Chris Martin look-a-like, Kris Holden-Reid (as Sir William Compton)
I’ve only watched the 1st season which is mostly about King Henry VIII’s fateful meeting with Anne Boleyn. The last episode ends with Henry seeking out Theologist scholars on his annulment with Queen Katherine. So it’s on the brink of Henry’s eventual break from the Church. I have seen the movie “The Other Boleyn Girl” (starring Eric Bana, Scarlet Johansson & Natalie Portman) and obviously there is a big difference in the portrayal of Anne Boleyn’s character between these 2 shows. In The Other Boleyn Girl, Anne is seen as ambitious and is willing to go all out to gain power and be the Queen of England. While in the Tudors, Anne Boleyn (played by Natalie Dormer) seems to be simply following her father and uncle’s instructions to seduce the King for their own benefits. I personally prefer the aforementioned portrayal of Anne however it shouldn’t affect much to the quality of the series. Many people feel that the series don’t show accurate accounts in history and that King Henry is actually older and has grown fatter when he met Anne. But come on, the series must have some fictional factors and sex appeal in it to attract viewers. Let’s leave the actual storytelling to text books and documentaries. So Lords and Ladies, enjoy the series! *bows*
Check out the Tudors website if you wanna know more:
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