Wolf Hall

[mikey4444]

"Wolf Hall" is on BBC One tonight at 21:00. I found the books to be all but unreadable, but I am looking forward to this dramatisation. Anybody else planning to watch ?

[vetuste_ennemi]

Liked it for the story (which didn't need inventing by Ms. Mantel). Like other posters I can't resist anything to do with the monstrous Tudors. But the script was replete with linguistic and other anachronisms, wasn't it? Sticking pins in wax dolls? "Not an overwhelming success"? I was waiting to hear that Wolseley had "gifted" Hampton Court Palace to the king. I can see many reasons for updating the language, but the sloppy use of current vernacular set this viewer's teeth on edge. It reminded me (by the total contrast) of the great film "A Man for All Seasons" and its glittering script written by the great Robert Bolt

[craft1948]

I managed to drag my way through Wolf Hall but gave up half way through Bring Up The Bodies. Watched the whole programme but through sheer determination rather than enjoyment, and I love Tudor history...

[jourdain2]

Barsel - I haven't checked, but I'm fairly sure that the F-word originated from German which migrated into English in the 15th or, more likely, 16th, Century. So it would have been available for use.

[Ken4155]

Apparently the first episode attracted almost 4m viewers, making it the most successful new drama series for a decade (since the drama series Rome). Given the almost 50-50 split on this thread, it will be interesting to see just how many tune in for the second episode.

[Svejk]

Oh dear, vetuste. I take it you wont be happy when they 'shoe-horn' Lenny Henry or Idris Elba into it.

[vetuste_ennemi]

"I take it you wont be happy when they 'shoe-horn' Lenny Henry or Idris Elba into it.".
What a marvellous image! Lenny as pantomime dame playing, whom? - Anne of Cleves? At the small cost of the sacrifice of historical accuracy what a marvellous opportunity to challenge racial and gender stereotypes.

[naomi24]

V_E, //Sticking pins in wax dolls//

I seem to recall it was around that juncture that I gave up. ‘A Man for All Seasons’ – now you’re talking.

[BlackadderV]

nd watched till the end last night. It got a bit better, but I was strcuk by how much younger Mary Boleyn looked than her younger sister Anne.

[BlackadderV]

Don't know what happened to the first part of my post. I commented that Henry would have found Lenny Henry as funny as he did Anne of Cleves.

[zebo]

Had it been written in the true vernacular of the day, then it would have been incomprehensible, language moves on. The use of the f-word surprised me but I've found it was in use far earlier than we tend to imagine. A bit like sex, we didn't invent bad language either!

[vetuste_ennemi]

Don't disagree with you at all about modernising the language, Zebo. My complaint was not that it was done, but that it was done badly. Is this the kind of stuff which wins Booker prizes?

[humbersloop]

right, after last night, I'm definitely in