Wolf Hall (TV series)

On 23 August 2012, BBC Two announced several new commissions, one of which was Wolf Hall.[9] According to The Guardian £7 million was to be spent on the adaptation.[10] BBC Two controller Janice Hadlow said it was "very fortunate to have the rights" to the two novels and called Wolf Hall "a great contemporary novel".[11][12]

Peter Kosminsky, the director of the series, said:

This is a first for me. But it is an intensely political piece. It is about the politics of despotism, and how you function around an absolute ruler. I have a sense that Hilary Mantel wanted that immediacy. ... When I saw Peter Straughan's script, only a first draft, I couldn't believe what I was reading. It was the best draft I had ever seen. He had managed to distil 1,000 pages of the novels into six hours, using prose so sensitively. He's a theatre writer by trade.[10]

The drama series features 102 characters and Kosminsky began casting the other parts in October 2013. Although originally set to film in Belgium,[13] most of the filming took place on location at some of the finest British medieval and Tudor houses and buildings: Berkeley Castle, Gloucester Cathedral and Horton Court in Gloucestershire, Penshurst Place in Kent, Broughton Castle and Chastleton House in Oxfordshire, Barrington Court, Cothay Manor and Montacute House in Somerset, St Donat's Castle in the Vale of Glamorgan, and Great Chalfield Manor and Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire.[14][15] The series was filmed from May to July 2014. The series, which was made in association with Masterpiece Entertainment and Playground Entertainment,[16] consists of six episodes and was broadcast on BBC Two in the UK from 21 January 2015.

The Guardian speculated that the BBC's hiring of Kosminsky with Straughan showed they wanted "a darker and grittier take on British history" than more fanciful programmes such as The Tudors or The White Queen.[10] Mantel called Straughan's scripts a "miracle of elegant compression and I believe with such a strong team the original material can only be enhanced."[10]

Kosminsky's decision to film many of the interior scenes by candlelight led to the actors bumping into things, and fearing they might catch fire.[17]

Wolf Hall was filmed in two locations in Kent: Dover Castle doubled for the Tower of London, and the Long Gallery, Tapestry Room, and Queen Elizabeth Room at Penshurst Place were used as specific rooms in Whitehall (York Place), which was Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII's residence. The Long Gallery doubled as Anne Boleyn's chamber.[18] Some scenes were filmed at Stanway House in Gloucestershire.[19]

The series' executive producer, Colin Callender, stated in February 2015 that he hoped that the BBC would commission an extension of the series based on the final novel in Mantel's trilogy, The Mirror and the Light, which was published in 2020.[20] Callender said that lead performers Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis were "eager" to return.[20]

A second series of Wolf Hall was confirmed on 27 May 2019.[21]

Critics have been "almost unanimous" in their praise of the series, with particular reference to the attention to period detail, the faithful adaptation of the source novels, Kosminsky's direction, and the performances of the leading cast members, particularly Rylance as Cromwell and Foy as Boleyn.[24] Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the show a 98% rating based on 41 reviews with an average rating of 8.45/10, the critical consensus being that the series is "beautifully filmed and brilliantly acted."[25] Sam Wollaston in The Guardian called it "sumptuous, intelligent, event television."[26] Will Dean in The Independent felt that it did not compare favourably with the stage adaptation of the book, yet he predicted that it would "secure a devoted following."[27] James Walton in The Daily Telegraph gave the first episode five stars out of five, commenting: "it’s hard to see how this one could have been done much better."[28] Mick Adam Noya from the television review show Channel Crossing called Wolf Hall "the best show of 2015".[29]

A few dissenting voices found some flaws. The Daily Telegraph alleged that there was a substantial drop in ratings between the first and second episode, despite all the following episodes holding high and consistent ratings.[30] Simon Schama stated concerns about how the series depicted historical figures.[31] Emily Nussbaum of The New Yorker cited "small weaknesses", but wrote "the show’s deliberately paced six hours turn out to be riveting, precisely because they are committed, without apology or, often, much explanation, to the esotericism of their subject matter."[32]

The lighting design, which utilized historically accurate natural light sources (such as candlelight for evening scenes) prompted criticism from viewers who felt parts of the series were presented too dark.[33]

• Australia: BBC First premiered the series on 11 April 2015[34] and it was watched by 46,000 viewers.[35]
• United States: PBS broadcast the series on Masterpiece from 5 April 2015 to 10 May 2015.[36] The series was subsequently licensed to Amazon Prime.[37]
• Germany / France: Arte broadcast the series on 21 and 28 January 2016.[38][39]

For the 5th Critics' Choice Television Awards, the series received four nominations: Best Limited Series, Mark Rylance for Best Actor, Jonathan Pryce for Best Supporting Actor, and Claire Foy for Best Supporting Actress.[40]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Wolf Hall (TV series)

• Wolf Hall at BBC Programmes
• Wolf Hall at IMDb & Episode list at IMDb.
• Hilary Mantel's website
• Hilary Mantel's Facebook fan page