The Tudors is a Canadian produced historical fiction television series filmed in Ireland, created by
Michael HirstMichael Hirst is an English screenwriter, best known for his films Elizabeth and Elizabeth: The Golden Age ....
and produced for the American premium cable television channel Showtime. The series, named after the
Tudor dynastyThe Tudor dynasty or House of Tudor was a European royal house of Welsh origin that ruled the Kingdom of England and its realms, including the Lordship of Ireland, later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1485 until 1603. Its first monarch was Henry Tudor, a descendant through his mother of a legitimised...
, is loosely based upon the reign of King
Henry VIII of EnglandHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
.
Production
The series has been produced by
Peace Arch EntertainmentPeace Arch Entertainment is a Canadian motion picture and television production company based in Toronto, Canada with offices in Los Angeles and Vancouver...
for Showtime in association with
Reveille ProductionsReveille Productions is an independently-owned television and motion picture studio and production company based in Los Angeles. The studio was founded by Ben Silverman in March 2002....
,
Working Title TelevisionWorking Title Films is a British film production company, based in London, UK. The company was founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe in 1983. It produces feature films and several television productions, including films starring comic actor Rowan Atkinson...
, and the
Canadian Broadcasting CorporationThe Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
, and was filmed in
IrelandIreland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
. The first two episodes debuted on
DirecTVDirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
,
Time Warner Cable OnDemandTime Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
,
NetflixNetflix, Inc., is an American provider of on-demand internet streaming media in the United States, Canada, and Latin America and flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California...
,
Verizon FiOSVerizon FiOS is a bundled Internet access, telephone, and television service which operates over a fiber-optic communications network. It is offered in some areas of the United States by Verizon Communications. Verizon was one of the first major U.S...
On Demand,
Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
and on the series' website before the official series premiere on Showtime. The Tudors premiere on 1 April 2007 was the highest rated Showtime series in three years. In April 2007, the show was renewed for a second season, and in that month the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
announced it had acquired exclusive
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
broadcast rights for the series, which it started to broadcast on 5 October 2007.
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
's CBC had begun broadcasting the show on 2 October 2007.
Season Two debuted on Showtime on 30 March 2008, and on BBC 2 on 1 August 2008. Production on Season Three began on 16 June 2008 in
BrayBray is a town in north County Wicklow, Ireland. It is a busy urban centre and seaside resort, with a population of 31,901 making it the fourth largest in Ireland as of the 2006 census...
,
County WicklowCounty Wicklow is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Wicklow, which derives from the Old Norse name Víkingalág or Wykynlo. Wicklow County Council is the local authority for the county...
Ireland, and that season premiered on Showtime on 5 April 2009 and debuted in Canada on CBC on 30 September 2009. The day after broadcast, downloadable episodes debuted in Canada on
MoboVivoMobovivo is a Canadian software company that enables broadcasters and other video content publishers to distribute television shows on various devices. The company was the first company in Canada to licence and distribute television programming online....
.
Showtime announced on 13 April 2009 that it had renewed the show for a fourth and final season. The network ordered 10 episodes that began airing on 11 April 2010. The
series finaleA series finale refers to the last installment of a series with a narrative presented through mediums such as television, film and literature. In many Commonwealth countries, the term final episode is commonly used in regards to a television series...
was broadcast on 20 June 2010. The final season was shown in Canada on CBC starting 22 September 2010 and ending on 23 November 2010.
International distribution rights are owned by Sony Pictures Television International.
Synopsis
Season One: of The Tudors chronicles the period of Henry VIII's reign in which his effectiveness as King is tested by international conflicts as well as political intrigue in his own court, while the pressure of fathering a male heir compels him to reject his wife
Katherine of AragonCatherine of Aragon , also known as Katherine or Katharine, was Queen consort of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England and Princess of Wales as the wife to Arthur, Prince of Wales...
in favour of
Anne BoleynAnne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
. He also has a string of affairs, and fathers an illegitimate son with his mistress
Elizabeth "Bessie" BlountElizabeth Blount , who was better known by her nickname of "Bessie", was a mistress of Henry VIII of England.-Early life:She was the daughter of Sir John Blount and Catherine Pershall, of Kinlet, Bridgnorth, Shropshire...
,
Henry FitzRoyHenry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset was the son of King Henry VIII of England and his teenage mistress, Elizabeth Blount, the only illegitimate offspring whom Henry acknowledged.-Childhood:...
, who later dies.
Season Two: finds Henry as the head of the
Church of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, the result of his break with the Catholic Church over its refusal to grant him a divorce from Katherine. During his battle with Rome, he secretly marries a pregnant Anne who later gives birth to his second daughter Elizabeth I. Later on Anne's own failure to produce a son dooms her as Henry's attention shifts toward
Jane SeymourJane Seymour was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII. She succeeded Anne Boleyn as queen consort following the latter's execution for trumped up charges of high treason, incest and adultery in May 1536. She died of postnatal complications less than two weeks after the birth of...
.
Season Three: focuses on Henry's marriages to Jane Seymour and
Anne of ClevesAnne of Cleves was a German noblewoman and the fourth wife of Henry VIII of England and as such she was Queen of England from 6 January 1540 to 9 July 1540. The marriage was never consummated, and she was not crowned queen consort...
, the birth of his son
Edward VIEdward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...
, his ruthless suppression of the
Pilgrimage of GraceThe Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular rising in York, Yorkshire during 1536, in protest against Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic Church and the Dissolution of the Monasteries, as well as other specific political, social and economic grievances. It was done in action against Thomas Cromwell...
, the downfall of Thomas Cromwell, and the beginnings of Henry's relationship with the "dangerous"
Katherine HowardCatherine Howard , also spelled Katherine, Katheryn or Kathryn, was the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, and sometimes known by his reference to her as his "rose without a thorn"....
. Henry reconciles with his daughters
Mary IMary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
and
Elizabeth IElizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
.
Season Four: focuses on Henry's ill-fated marriage to Katherine Howard, his uncommonly successful final marriage with
Katherine ParrCatherine Parr ; 1512 – 5 September 1548) was Queen consort of England and Ireland and the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII of England. She married Henry VIII on 12 July 1543. She was the fourth commoner Henry had taken as his consort, and outlived him...
, an attempted invasion of France and the question of the kingdom's leadership after Henry's death. His son Edward VI becomes king but dies a few years later, his oldest daughter Mary becomes queen and later his younger daughter Elizabeth, who reigns for 45 years.
Cast
| Role |
Actor |
Seasons |
| The King |
Henry VIII of EnglandHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
|
Jonathan Rhys Meyers |
1–4 |
| The King's Wives |
Catherine of AragonCatherine of Aragon , also known as Katherine or Katharine, was Queen consort of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England and Princess of Wales as the wife to Arthur, Prince of Wales...
|
Maria Doyle Kennedy Maria Doyle Kennedy is an award-winning Irish actress and singer. She is possibly best known for her roles as Natalie, in cult film The Commitments, Queen Katherine of Aragon in the award winning The Tudors and as the title character's wife Frances in The General.-Early life:She is an honours...
|
1–2, 4 (Dream sequence) |
| Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
|
Natalie Dormer Natalie Dormer is an English actress. She is best known for her roles as Victoria in Casanova and as the ill-fated queen Anne Boleyn in the Showtime series The Tudors.-Early life and current lifestyle:...
|
1–2, 4 (Dream sequence) |
Jane SeymourJane Seymour was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII. She succeeded Anne Boleyn as queen consort following the latter's execution for trumped up charges of high treason, incest and adultery in May 1536. She died of postnatal complications less than two weeks after the birth of...
|
Anita Briem Anita Briem is an Icelandic actress. She is known for her role as Jane Seymour on The Tudors and her role as Hanna in Journey to the Center of the Earth.-Personal life:...
|
2 |
| Annabelle Wallis |
3, 4 (Dream sequence) |
Anne of ClevesAnne of Cleves was a German noblewoman and the fourth wife of Henry VIII of England and as such she was Queen of England from 6 January 1540 to 9 July 1540. The marriage was never consummated, and she was not crowned queen consort...
|
Joss StoneJocelyn Eve Stoker , better known by her stage name Joss Stone, is an English soul singer-songwriter and actress. Stone rose to fame in late 2003 with her multi-platinum debut album, The Soul Sessions, which made the 2004 Mercury Prize shortlist...
|
3–4 |
Katherine HowardCatherine Howard , also spelled Katherine, Katheryn or Kathryn, was the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, and sometimes known by his reference to her as his "rose without a thorn"....
|
Tamzin Merchant Tamzin Merchant is an English actress. She is known for her role as Georgiana Darcy in Pride & Prejudice and for her role as the ill-fated Queen Catherine Howard in The Tudors.-Career:...
|
3–4 |
Katherine ParrCatherine Parr ; 1512 – 5 September 1548) was Queen consort of England and Ireland and the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII of England. She married Henry VIII on 12 July 1543. She was the fourth commoner Henry had taken as his consort, and outlived him...
|
Joely Richardson Joely Kim Richardson is an English actress, most known recently for her role as Queen Catherine Parr in the Showtime television show The Tudors and Julia McNamara in the television drama Nip/Tuck...
|
4 |
| The King's Children |
Princess MaryMary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
, daughter by Catherine of Aragon |
| Bláthnaid McKeown |
1 |
| Sarah Bolger Sarah Lee Bolger is an Irish actress. She is known for her role as Princess / Lady Mary Tudor on The Tudors and for her role as Mallory Grace in The Spiderwick Chronicles.-Early life:...
|
1–4 |
Princess ElizabethElizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
, daughter by Anne Boleyn |
Kate Duggan |
2 |
| Claire MacCauley |
3 |
| Laoise Murray Laoise Murray is an Irish actress. She portrayed Princess Elizabeth Tudor on the Showtime television series The Tudors in 2010....
|
4 |
Prince EdwardEdward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...
, son by Jane Seymour |
Eoin Murtagh |
4 |
| Jake Hathaway |
4 |
| The King's Court |
Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of SuffolkCharles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, 1st Viscount Lisle, KG was the son of Sir William Brandon and Elizabeth Bruyn. Through his third wife Mary Tudor he was brother-in-law to Henry VIII. His father was the standard-bearer of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond and was slain by Richard III in person at...
|
Henry CavillHenry William Dalgliesh Cavill is a British actor. He has appeared in the films The Count of Monte Cristo and Stardust, and played the role of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, on the Showtime series The Tudors, from 2007 until 2010...
|
1–4 |
Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of EssexThomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, , was an English statesman who served as chief minister of King Henry VIII of England from 1532 to 1540....
|
James Frain James Dominic Frain is an English stage and screen actor. He is possibly best known for his role in the Showtime series The Tudors in which he appeared as Thomas Cromwell from 2007 to 2009, and for his role as vampire Franklin Mott in season three of the HBO drama True Blood, as well as his role...
|
1–3 |
| Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York |
Sam NeillNigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill, DCNZM, OBE is a New Zealand actor. He is well known for his starring role as paleontologist Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III....
|
1 |
Thomas MoreSir Thomas More , also known by Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. He was an important councillor to Henry VIII of England and, for three years toward the end of his life, Lord Chancellor...
|
Jeremy Northam Jeremy Philip Northam is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Ivor Novello in the 2001 film Gosford Park, as Dean Martin in the 2002 television movie Martin and Lewis, and as Thomas More on the Showtime series The Tudors...
|
1–2 |
| Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, KG , known as The Lord Wriothesley between 1544 and 1547, was a politician of the Tudor period born in London to William Wrythe and Agnes Drayton....
|
Frank McCusker |
4 |
| John Fisher Saint John Fisher was an English Roman Catholic scholastic, bishop, cardinal and martyr. He shares his feast day with Saint Thomas More on 22 June in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints and 6 July on the Church of England calendar of saints...
, Bishop of Rochester |
Bosco Hogan Bosco Hogan is an Irish actor of stage, screen and television.He is best known as Dr. Michael Ryan on Ballykissangel. He appeared in a minor role as convicted felon George Saden in John Boorman's film Zardoz , but his first major film role was as Stephen Dedalus in the 1977 Joseph Strick film...
|
1–2 |
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of NorfolkThomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was a prominent Tudor politician. He was uncle to Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, two of the wives of King Henry VIII, and played a major role in the machinations behind these marriages...
|
Henry Czerny - Career :Czerny received formal training at the National Theatre School in Montreal. After graduating in 1982, he went on to perform onstage across Canada, from Ottawa's National Arts Centre to Edmonton's Citadel Theatre and the Stratford Festival. By the late 1980s, he had established himself as...
|
1 |
| Elizabeth Blount Elizabeth Blount , who was better known by her nickname of "Bessie", was a mistress of Henry VIII of England.-Early life:She was the daughter of Sir John Blount and Catherine Pershall, of Kinlet, Bridgnorth, Shropshire...
|
Ruta Gedmintas Ruta Gedmintas is an English actress known for her work on British television, primarily in Spooks: Code 9, The Tudors and Lip Service.-Biography:...
|
1 |
| Jane Popincourt Jane Popincourt was a French maid-of-honour at the royal court of Louis XII and later of Francis I. For around twelve years, she had a position at the English court, first in the reign of Henry VII, as a distinguished tutor engaged to teach French to the princesses Margaret and Mary; and later in...
|
Slaine KellySlaine Kelly is an Irish television and film actress. Her first role was on the Irish short film Ouch directed by Ken Wardrop. She then went on to play a small part in George directed by Rory Bresnihan & John Butler the short stars Amy Huberman and Hugh O'Conor...
|
1 |
| Sir Anthony Knivert Sir Thomas Knyvett , of Buckenham, Norfolk was a young English nobleman who was a close associate of King Henry VIII shortly after that monarch came to the throne...
|
Callum BlueDaniel James Callum Blue , better known as Callum Blue, is an English film and television actor, best known for his roles on the Showtime series The Tudors and Dead Like Me as well as for his role as Zod in the American television series Smallville and British...
|
1 |
| Thomas Wyatt Sir Thomas Wyatt was a 16th-century English lyrical poet credited with introducing the sonnet into English. He was born at Allington Castle, near Maidstone in Kent – though his family was originally from Yorkshire...
|
Jamie Thomas King Jamie Thomas King is a British actor.-Personal life:King is the son of director Christopher King and writer Laura Lamson...
|
1–2 |
| Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, KG was an English diplomat and politician in the Tudor era. He was born at the family home, Hever Castle, Kent, which had been purchased by his grandfather Geoffrey Boleyn, who was a wealthy mercer. He was buried at St. Peter's parish church in the village of...
|
Nick Dunning Nick Dunning is an Anglo-Irish actor born in the county of Wexford in 1959.Dunning is a well known theatre actor who attended RADA where he won the Ronson Prize for Most Promising Young Actor. He has appeared on stage in the West End in London and at the Gate Theatre in Dublin. He has won two...
|
1–2 |
Thomas CranmerThomas Cranmer was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build a favourable case for Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon which resulted in the separation of the English Church from...
, Archbishop of CanterburyThe Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
|
Hans Matheson Hans Matheson is a British actor.-Life and career:Matheson was born in Stornoway, Scotland, the son of Sheena, a therapist, and Iain , a folk musician and painter. He made his feature film debut as Johnny Silver in Jez Butterworth's critically acclaimed directorial debut, Mojo...
|
2 |
| Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford |
Joanne King Joanne King is an Irish actress. She is best known for her roles as Cyd on the BBC1s Casualty and as Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford in the Showtime 2007 - 2010 series The Tudors.-Private life:...
|
2–4 |
| Madge Sheldon |
Laura Jane Laughlin |
2 |
Edward SeymourEdward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Viscount Beauchamp of Hache, KG, Earl Marshal was Lord Protector of England in the period between the death of Henry VIII in 1547 and his own indictment in 1549....
|
Max Brown Max Brown is an English actor. Max was born in Ilkley, Yorkshire, England, but spent most of his childhood in the town of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, which he refers to as his home....
|
2–4 |
| Anne Stanhope Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset was the second wife of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, who held the office of Lord Protector during the first part of the reign of his nephew King Edward VI, through whom Anne was briefly the most powerful woman in England...
|
Emma Hamilton Emma Hamilton is an Australian-born British actress, and appears as a regular in the third and fourth season of Showtime's drama The Tudors, portraying the sharp-tongued character Anne Stanhope...
|
3–4 |
Bishop Stephen GardinerStephen Gardiner was an English Roman Catholic bishop and politician during the English Reformation period who served as Lord Chancellor during the reign of Queen Mary I of England.-Early life:...
|
Simon Ward Simon Ward is an English stage and film actor.-Early life:Simon Ward was born in Beckenham, Kent, near London, the son of a car dealer. From an early age he wanted to be an actor. He was educated at Alleyn's School, London, the home of the National Youth Theatre, which he joined at age 13 and...
|
3–4 |
| Sir Francis Bryan Sir Francis Bryan was an English courtier and diplomat during the reign of Henry VIII. He was Chief Gentleman of the Privy chamber and Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Bryan always retained Henry's favour, achieving this by altering his opinions to conform to the...
|
Alan van Sprang Alan van Sprang is Canadian actor best known for playing Sir Francis Bryan in the series The Tudors and for appearing in the Living Dead films of George A. Romero. He has many other television and film credits.-Filmography:...
|
3 |
| Earl of Shrewsbury Earl of Shrewsbury is a hereditary title of nobility created twice in the peerage of England.-First creation, 1074:The first creation occurred in 1074 for Roger de Montgomerie, one of William the Conqueror's principal counselors...
|
Gavin O'Connor Gavin O'Connor is an Irish actor, known for his roles in Gavin O'Connor is an Irish actor, known for his roles in Gavin O'Connor is an Irish actor, known for his roles in [[TV series] such as [[The Tudors]] and films including Dorothy Mills , Eden , [[The Front Line |The...
|
3 |
| Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey Henry Howard, KG, , known as The Earl of Surrey although he never was a peer, was an English aristocrat, and one of the founders of English Renaissance poetry.-Life:...
|
David O'Hara David O'Hara is a Scottish actor.-Life and career:O'Hara was born in Glasgow, Scotland, the son of Martha and Patrick O'Hara, a construction worker....
|
4 |
| Joan Bulmer Joan Bulmer was an English gentlewoman during the reign of Henry VIII. She grew up in the household of Agnes Howard, Dowager Duchess of Norfolk and there became a close friend of the Dowager Duchess' step-granddaughter, Catherine Howard, who went on to become Henry VIII's fifth wife.She was the...
|
Catherine Steadman Catherine Steadman is an English actress, best known for playing Joan Bulmer, best friend and betrayer of Catherine Howard in the fourth and final season of The Tudors.-Career:...
|
4 |
| Sir Thomas Culpeper Sir Thomas Culpeper was a courtier of Henry VIII and the lover of Henry's fifth queen, Catherine Howard. He was born to Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebury, to the south of Maidstone in Kent, and his second wife, Constance Harper. He was the middle child and his older brother, also named Thomas, was a...
|
Torrance Coombs Torrance Coombs is a Canadian film, theatre and television actor.-Early life, education and early acting work:He was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada....
|
4 |
| Eustace Chapuys Eustace Chapuys was a Savoyard diplomat who served as the Imperial ambassador to England from 1529 until 1545 and is best known for his extensive and detailed correspondence.-Life:...
, ambassador of Charles V |
Anthony Brophy |
1–4 |
| Ambassador Charles de Marillac Charles de Marillac was a French prelate and diplomat.-Career:De Marillac was, by the age of twenty-two, an advocate in parliament in Paris...
|
Lothaire Bluteau Lothaire Bluteau is a French-Canadian actor. He was born in Montreal, Quebec and performs in both French and English. He had a recurring role in the third season of the television series 24 as the character Marcus Alvers.-Biography:...
|
4 |
| Other |
Margaret TudorMargaret Tudor was the elder of the two surviving daughters of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and the elder sister of Henry VIII. In 1503, she married James IV, King of Scots. James died in 1513, and their son became King James V. She married secondly Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of...
, Queen of Portugal, Princess of England, Duchess of Suffolk |
Gabrielle Anwar Gabrielle Anwar is an English actress. She is known for her role as Margaret Tudor on The Tudors, for dancing the tango with Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman and for her current role as Fiona Glenanne on USA's Burn Notice.- Early life :...
|
1 |
Francis I of FranceFrancis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
|
Emmanuel LeconteEmmanuel Leconte is a French actor best known for his role as King Francis I in the television hit series The Tudors. He has also has starred in: Monsieur Max , La Ravisseuse , and À tout de suite...
|
1-2 |
| Margaret Pole |
Kate O'Toole Kate E. O'Toole is an Irish actress. She is the daughter of actors Peter O'Toole and Siân Phillips and was named after Katharine Hepburn....
|
1,3 |
Pope Paul IIIPope Paul III , born Alessandro Farnese, was Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1534 to his death in 1549. He came to the papal throne in an era following the sack of Rome in 1527 and rife with uncertainties in the Catholic Church following the Protestant Reformation...
|
Peter O'ToolePeter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
|
2 |
| Margaret, Lady Bryan |
Jane Brennan |
2-4 |
| Otto Truchsess von Waldburg Otto Truchsess von Waldburg was Prince-Bishop of Augsburg from 1543 until his death and a Cardinal of the Catholic Church.-Childhood and Education:...
|
Max von SydowMax von Sydow is a Swedish actor. He has also held French citizenship since 2002. He has starred in many films and had supporting roles in dozens more...
|
3 |
| Philip, Duke of Bavaria Philip the Contentious , a member of the Wittelsbach dynasty, was a titular Count Palatine of the Rhine and ruling Duke of Palatinate-Neuburg from 1505 to 1541.-Life:...
|
Colin O'Donoghue -Early life:O'Donoghue was born and raised in Drogheda, County Louth, in a Roman Catholic family. He initally attended Dundalk Grammar School, and then the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin. When he was 16, O'Donoghue went to Paris for a month to learn French....
|
3 |
| Robert Aske Robert Aske was an English lawyer who became the leader of rebellion in York. He led the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536 and was executed by Henry VIII for treason in 1537.-Biography:...
|
Gerard McSorley Gerard McSorley is a theatre, television and an Irish film actor.-Early life:He was born in Omagh, County Tyrone, and after attending a Christian Brothers school in his hometown he attended St. Columb's College in Derry. He then attended Queen's University, Belfast, where he was taught by among...
|
3 |
| Cardinal Reginald Pole |
Mark Hildreth Mark Hildreth is a Canadian actor and musician, based in the U.S. He has appeared in many movie and television roles. A graduate of The National Theater School of Canada, Mark Hildreth's theater credits include Hamlet , Bertram in All's well that Ends well , Richard of Gloucester in Richard III and...
|
3 |
| Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy de Darcy Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy de Darcy , was an English statesman and rebel leader, who was executed for his part in an English rebellion known as the Pilgrimage of Grace.-Origins:...
|
Colm Wilkinson Colm Wilkinson is an Irish tenor, best known for originating the role of Jean Valjean in Les Misérables and for playing the title role in The Phantom of the Opera .Due to his association with these musicals, he reprised the role of...
|
3–4 |
Episodes
| Season |
# of episodes |
Season premiere |
Season finale |
| Season 1 |
10 |
1 April 2007 |
10 June 2007 |
| Season 2 |
10 |
30 March 2008 |
1 June 2008 |
| Season 3 |
8 |
5 April 2009 |
24 May 2009 |
| Season 4 |
10 |
11 April 2010 |
20 June 2010 |
Departures from history
Many events in the series differ from events as they actually happened in history.
Liberties are takenArtistic licence is a colloquial term, sometimes euphemism, used to denote the distortion of fact, alteration of the conventions of grammar or language, or rewording of pre-existing text made by an artist to improve a piece of...
with character names, relationships, physical appearance and the timing of events. As creator Hirst noted, "Showtime commissioned me to write an entertainment, a soap opera, and not history ... And we wanted people to watch it." He added that some changes were made for production considerations and some to avoid viewer confusion, and that "any confusion created by the changes is outweighed by the interest the series may inspire in the period and its figures."
Time is compressed in the series, giving the impression that things happened closer together than they actually did or along a different timeline. By the time of most of the events in this series, King Henry VIII was already in his mid-to-late 30s and at least a decade older than
Anne BoleynAnne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
; they were not married until he was in his early 40s. In The Tudors, the two are cast younger (and seemingly closer in age) and the courtship lasts about ten episodes. Historically, Cardinal Wolsey died in
LeicesterLeicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
en route to
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to answer charges of
treasonIn law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
, while in the series he is imprisoned and commits suicide. Wolsey's death came in 1530, three years before the death of Henry's sister; in the series, the two events are juxtaposed. The assassination attempt on Anne during her coronation procession was also invented by Hirst "to illustrate how much the English people hated her."
The character of Henry's sister, called "Princess Margaret" in the series, is actually a
compositeA composite character is a character composed of two or more individuals, appearing in a fictional or non-fictional work. Two fictional characters are often combined into one upon adaptation of a work from one medium to another, as in the film adaptation of a novel...
of his two sisters: the life events of his younger sister, Princess Mary Tudor, coupled with the name of his elder sister,
Margaret TudorMargaret Tudor was the elder of the two surviving daughters of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and the elder sister of Henry VIII. In 1503, she married James IV, King of Scots. James died in 1513, and their son became King James V. She married secondly Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of...
, to avoid confusion with Henry's daughter,
Mary I of EnglandMary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
. Historically, Henry's sister Princess Mary first married the French King
Louis XIILouis proved to be a popular king. At the end of his reign the crown deficit was no greater than it had been when he succeeded Charles VIII in 1498, despite several expensive military campaigns in Italy. His fiscal reforms of 1504 and 1508 tightened and improved procedures for the collection of taxes...
. The union lasted approximately three months, until his death; Louis was succeeded by his cousin
Francis IFrancis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
, who was married to Louis' daughter
Claude of FranceClaude of France was a princess and queen consort of France and ruling Duchess of Brittany. She was the eldest daughter of Louis XII of France and Anne, Duchess of Brittany....
. Mary subsequently married
Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of SuffolkCharles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, 1st Viscount Lisle, KG was the son of Sir William Brandon and Elizabeth Bruyn. Through his third wife Mary Tudor he was brother-in-law to Henry VIII. His father was the standard-bearer of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond and was slain by Richard III in person at...
. As The Tudors begins, Henry is already negotiating a peace treaty with Francis; the series' Princess Margaret thus marries a fictional very elderly Portuguese king, who lives only a few days until she smothers him in his sleep. By the time of the events of this series, the historical Brandon (who was already in his early 40s) and Princess Mary were long married with three children. Henry's eldest sister, Margaret Tudor, was in fact married to
King James IV of ScotlandJames IV was King of Scots from 11 June 1488 to his death. He is generally regarded as the most successful of the Stewart monarchs of Scotland, but his reign ended with the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Flodden Field, where he became the last monarch from not only Scotland, but also from all...
and was grandmother of Mary, Queen of Scots.
The king's natural son
Henry FitzroyHenry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset was the son of King Henry VIII of England and his teenage mistress, Elizabeth Blount, the only illegitimate offspring whom Henry acknowledged.-Childhood:...
was shown dying at a very young age, when in fact he lived long enough to be a witness to Anne Boleyn's execution.
Charles V, King of the RomansCharles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
, whose parents were rulers of Castille, is given a Spanish accent when dealing with the king of England (S1E3), when in fact he was Flemish born and French educated; indeed, it seems he never mastered Castilian, let alone spoke with a strong Spanish accent.
Thomas More is seen ordering the death of Simon Fish by burning at the stake, however, Simon Fish while arrested for heresy died in prison of bubonic plague. His widow married James Bainham another outspoken religious reformer who was ultimately burned at the stake by Thomas More. It appears that the writers have confabulated Simon Fish with Jame Bainham.
Neither of Henry VIII's sisters, Margaret or Mary, was betrothed to the King of Portugal. Margaret died of a stroke as the Queen Dowager of Scotland, Mother of James V. Mary returned after her French husband King Louis XII (Valois), who was 30 years her senior, died only two months after their marriage.
Reception
The premiere of The Tudors on 1 April 2007 was the highest rated Showtime series debut in three years, and on 23 March 2008
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
called The Tudors a "steamy period drama ... which critics could take or leave but many viewers are eating up." A 28 March 2008 review also by the New York Times said that the series "fails to live up to the great long-form dramas cable television has produced" largely because "it radically reduces the era's thematic conflicts to simplistic struggles over personal and erotic power." Overall, the show has had generally good reviews with 64% favourable reviews for the first season, 68% for the second season and 72% for the third season according to the ratings site
MetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
.
Ratings
In the United States, season 1: The series premiere at 10 p.m. drew almost 870,000 viewers, according to
Nielsen Media ResearchNielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
. Coupled with the 404,000 viewers that tuned in the hour immediately following, Showtime averaged 1.3 million viewers for the show's debut night, the most since
Fat ActressFat Actress is an American sitcom television series starring Kirstie Alley. It aired on Showtime in the United States in the spring of 2005, on Movie Central in Western Canada, The Movie Network in Eastern Canada, FX in the UK, Network Ten in Australia and VOX and Das Vierte in Germany...
in March 2005. The 10 p.m. bow outperformed the inaugural linear screenings for
WeedsWeeds is an American television comedy created by Jenji Kohan and produced by Tilted Productions in association with Lionsgate Television. The central character is Nancy Botwin , a widowed mother of two boys who begins selling marijuana to support her family after her husband dies suddenly of a...
and
DexterDexter is an American television drama series, which debuted on Showtime on October 1, 2006. The sixth season premiered on October 2, 2011. The series centers on Dexter Morgan , a bloodstain pattern analyst for the Miami Metro Police Department who moonlights as a serial killer...
, the network's leading comedy and drama, by 78% in August 2005 and 44% in October 2006, respectively.
The series also proved its mettle opener in the digital realm, earning a combined 1 million views online and on-demand via cable affiliates and through Sho.com, and such partners as Yahoo,
MSNMSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...
,
NetflixNetflix, Inc., is an American provider of on-demand internet streaming media in the United States, Canada, and Latin America and flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California...
and IMDB. the numbers exclude contributions from
AOLAOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
,
DirecTVDirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
and
Dish NetworkDish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...
.
Season 2: Showtime's June 3, 2008 second-season climax of The Tudors ended with a ratings bang. The episode drew 852,000 viewers for its season two finale, 83% above the 465,000 viewers that tuned into the show's season-one finale, Showtime officials said. The 9 p.m. telecast is also the second-highest for the series, trailing only the 964,000 viewers for the show's April 1, 2007 debut. The season-two finale, along with an 11 p.m. replay, drew a combined 1 million viewers, 59% above the previous year's 668,000 combined audience for the finale (10 p.m. and 11 p.m.).
Media releases
| DVD Name | |# of Ep | Region 1DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
| Region 2DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
| Region 4DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
|
| Canada | United States |
| Season One |
8 January 2008 |
10 December 2007 |
19 March 2008 |
10 |
The four-disc box set includes all 10 episodes. Bonus features include commentary tracks On disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video...
on selected episodes. There is a special edition in United Kingdom, with a headless picture for the cover, exclusive of Amazon.co.uk. This season was released on Blu-ray in Europe and Canada. |
| Season Two |
11 November 2008 |
6 January 2009 |
13 October 2008 |
7 July 2009 |
10 |
The four-disc box set includes all 10 episodes. Bonus features include commentary tracks On disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video...
on selected episodes, as well as other featurettes. This season has also been released on Blu-ray in Europe and Canada. |
| Season Three |
10 November 2009 |
15 December 2009 |
7 December 2009 |
23 November 2009 |
8 |
The three disc box set includes all 8 episodes. Bonus features include audio commentary on certain episodes, an exclusive tour of Hampton Court and an interview with Joss Stone. |
| Season Four |
9 November 2010 |
12 October 2010 |
21 March 2011 |
24 November 2010 |
10 |
The three-disc box set includes all 10 episodes. |
An original soundtrack for each season, composed by Trevor Morris, has been released by
Varèse SarabandeVarèse Sarabande is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums as well as newer releases by artists no longer under a contract...
.
| Season | Release Date | Catalog Number |
| Season One |
12/11/07 |
302 066 867 2 |
| Season Two |
04/14/09 |
302 066 959 2 |
| Season Three |
08/24/10 |
302 067 039 2 |
| Season Four |
10/12/10 |
302 067 049 2 |
Awards and nominations
The Tudors was nominated for the
Golden GlobeThe Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
for Best Drama Series in
2007The 65th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television of 2007, were scheduled to be presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association on January 13, 2008...
. Jonathan Rhys Meyers was also nominated for the Best Actor in a Television Drama Golden Globe for his role.
The series was nominated for eight
Irish Film and Television AwardsThe Irish Film and Television Awards were first awarded in 2003. Its sole aim is to celebrate Ireland's notably talented film and television community...
in 2008 and won seven, including Best Drama Series, acting awards for Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Lead Actor), Nick Dunning (Supporting Actor) and Maria Doyle Kennedy (Supporting Actress), and craft awards for
Costume DesignCostume design is the fabrication of apparel for the overall appearance of a character or performer. This usually involves researching, designing and building the actual items from conception. Costumes may be for a theater or cinema performance but may not be limited to such...
, Production Design and Hair/Makeup.
Brian KirkBrian Kirk is an Irish television director who has most recently directed episodes of Game of Thrones, FX's The Riches and Showtime's Brotherhood and The Tudors...
was also nominated for Directing, but lost to Lenny Abrahamson of
ProsperityProsperity is a series of four one-hour dramas for television from director Lenny Abrahamson and writer Mark O'Halloran. Prosperity features "four powerful, moving and funny stories set on the same day, with each episode examining the life of a single character." The series first aired on 3...
. The series won the 2008
Emmy AwardAn Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for Best Costume Design, and later six awards at the Irish Film and Television Awards in 2009. In 2010 it was nominated for seven
Irish Film and Television AwardsThe Irish Film and Television Awards were first awarded in 2003. Its sole aim is to celebrate Ireland's notably talented film and television community...
, winning one in the category Best Supporting Actress in Television (
Sarah BolgerSarah Lee Bolger is an Irish actress. She is known for her role as Princess / Lady Mary Tudor on The Tudors and for her role as Mallory Grace in The Spiderwick Chronicles.-Early life:...
).
See also
External links