I absolutely agree with every single word here. The King's bloody Great matter, again, again, the reduction of history to soap opera, when the sixteenth century was in fact so bloody crucial in creating social and political legacies that are still with us today. And yes. Beyond Black is stunning. Wolf Hall is just dreary.

I'd like to see a drama about the abolition of the monasteries that looks at that extraordinary social upheaval from the pov of your actual monk or nun. The human and cultural cost was enormous (and I suppose there were gains as well)- but every fiction I know about the Tudors treats it as noises off.

Yes! Exactly. And the pov of your actual village that was dependent on the monastery to provide social welfare. And the pov of your actual Northerner who was harried. Hugely interesting, far more important than tired dramas asking whether Anne B was a vamp or a feminist icon yawn.

I suspect- and I think I'm being serious here- that there must a fear of opening old wounds. Better not to remind the common people of the enormous crimes that have been committed against them by the ever so interesting elite.

Oh I couldn't agree more. It is depressing but true. Just look at all the nonsense taking up oxygen in the press now about Prince Charles, as though he mattered.

Indeed. Why should his views matter more than those of any other silly, self-pitying old hippie?

Yes, the bloody Tudors again - but this is an exercise in Machiavellian politics and an amazing study of how a good man becomes a pawn in a power game. I find it fascinating.

I enjoyed the books- and I'll almost certainly read the third in the trilogy when it comes out.

I have the first book to read so i think i should just read that and forget about the TV series.