Wolf Hall is yet another historical drama set at the time of king Henry viii, of which there have been so many that a cat could easily write an article entitled 'The Six Historical Dramas of Henry viii' if one were so inclined. What sets this one apart from the others is that it takes as its Point-of-View character not the king, which is more usual, nor even any of his wives, but rather Thomas Cromwell.
Cromwell, played by Mark Rylance, is very much the protagonist, and as such is present in virtually every scene. His main antagonist is Anne Boleyn (Claire Foy), who he spends most of the series seeking revenge against for her causing the political downfall of his father-figure Cardinal Wolsey (Johnny P) in episode one.
This is a total reversal of how Boleyn and Cromwell are normally positioned in historical dramas, such as in 1970s The Six Wives of Henry viii, the second episode of which covers a lot of the same historical ground as Wolf Hall. There Anne Boleyn is the focus (as the series name suggests) and Thomas Cromwell is played by Wolfe "Padmasambhava" Morris as the antagonist.
With so many prior Henry viii-era dramas to compare Wolf Hall to, 'Six Wives' stands out because of Keith Michell's arguably definitive version of the tyrant-king, against which subsequent portrayals are measured in the way Sherlock Holmes are compared to Basil Rathbone's. A typical example of such might be Ray Winstone's Henry viii in a 2003 ITV series, although probably the most extreme reaction against Michell was Jonathan Rhys Meyers in The Tudors (2007-2010). Wolf Hall's Henry (Damian "Jeffrey Archer" Lewis) is unlike all these earlier versions in that, while the king casts a long shadow over the plot, he is never allowed to overshadow Rylance's Cromwell at its centre.
What we get from Lewis when he is on screen is a sense of the king being somewhat detached from the struggles and squabbles of his subjects - perhaps because as king he is on another level above them, or perhaps because he has mannys like Cromwell to get their paws dirty on his behalf. We see this most clearly when, just after Anne has been beheaded (spoilers! of an event from 1536!) in a scene that carries on long enough to make everyone watching uncomfortable, Henry is the only one still laughing and smiling. Common to both Michell and Lewis's characterisations is the unavoidable historical fact that this was someone happy to have innocent mannys convicted on trumped up charges and sent to bloody executions for his own benefit.
The influence of The Godfather on the plot structure of Wolf Hall is very clear - Thomas Cromwell's path to power by doing what needs to be done, and then the simultaneous takedown of his enemies at the story's climax, echoes that of Michael Corleone. This is hardly the first historical drama to emulate that film, the 2011-13 series The Borgias also used it as a sort of template for its first season.
The six parts of Wolf Hall are paced much slower than I was expecting of a modern drama series, being more akin to something like the BBC's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, with long, unhurried scenes that build the atmosphere and allow viewers to absorb the complex plot as it unfolds. The amount of times we witness the period detail of Cromwell and other courtiers removing their hats and bowing to their social superiors reminded me of the many, many instances in Mahabharat where characters exchanged formal dialogue of "May you live long," and "My respects." Well, 94 episodes aren't just going to fill themselves, you know, mew.
As a modern, big budget filmed series, obviously Wolf Hall looks fantastic, with all the resources the BBC can bring to bear upon a drama when it wants to... and which were beyond the wildest dreams of television producers in the 1970s. Even a prestige series of its era such as Six Wives was mostly studio based, and had to rely upon the quality of its scripting and the actors to make it what it was. And the cast was impressive - in addition to Michell and Morris it also had Bernard "Toby Esterhase" Hepton as Archbishop Cranmer, and Patrick Troughton appearing as the Duke of Norfolk only a year after he left Doctor Who.
But even for that, Wolf Hall easily boasts a cast list to match it - in addition to those I already mentioned earlier, I would single out Anton Lesser, David "Germanicus" Robb, and Bernard Hill, who as the new Norfolk we must compare to the mighty Troughton at the height of his powers. Hill is not to be found wanting - hardly surprising considering his experience, not the least of which was playing Richard of York, giving battle in vain in the BBC Shakespeare Henry vi trilogy (1983).
Even Mark Gatiss, not exactly the actor with the greatest range, is well-suited to his oily role as Stephen Gardiner - a very different interpretation of that part from Six Wives's Basil Dignam, but both were equally fitting and equally despicable. Gatiss more-or-less disappeared from the series towards the end, but given the prominence of Dignam as an older Gardiner in Six Wives, plus its sequel Elizabeth R (1971), I expect he would return if they ever made a Wolf Hall 2: Wolf Haller.
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