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Series creator defends The Tudors - Radio Times, October 2007 |
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Michael Hirst justifies his portrayal of Henry VIII's life.
"When asked how much of The Tudors
is historically accurate, I rather plucked
a figure out of the air when I said 85
per cent [quoted in the American TV
Guide]. But I pretty much stand by that.
I'm not writing a documentary, I'm writing a soap
opera, and sometimes a thriller, based on historical
material.
"Of course I've bent certain facts for the
sake of the story. When the painter Veronese was
asked why he had put all sorts of characters in his
painting of the
Last Supper,
he replied, 'We
painters, like poets
and fools, claim
licence.' It's the
same with writers.
I mean, life itself
is shapeless, but
drama needs shape.
"So there's no
evidence that
Cardinal Wolsey
committed suicide,
rather than dying of
natural causes. But
I ask you, from a writer's
point of view, what works
better? Someone who's
been summoned back to
London to face a show trial and a horrible death,
who chooses to take his own life and address one
final dramatic speech to God? Or someone who
slips quietly away in his sleep?
"And yes, I did conflate Henry's two sisters [Mary
and Margaret] into one character [Princess
Margaret]. But we already had another Princess
Mary [Henry's daughter], and who needs two
Princess Marys on a film set, with all the confusion
that would bring?
"This series was commissioned by an American
channel and in the States there's no immediate
audience for a historical period drama. They dismiss
these kinds of shows as 'men in tights'. The only way
this was going to work was if we made it resonate
with contemporary issues.
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"And a good starting
point was having a central character, Henry, who
had an older wife, Catherine, but had fallen in love
with a younger woman, Anne. That's the kind of
human story people identify with and you go from
there. The second series is about the Reformation.
How do you sell that to a US audience without
getting them hooked on the characters first?
"This series is not all rumpy-pumpy. In our first
series, we have Henry sleeping with just six women,
two of whom he's married to [Catherine of Aragon
and Anne Boleyn]. We show how he abjures the
attentions of serving maids out of love for Anne.
How could he have hated her enough to have her
beheaded? Well, it's a mirror of how much he once
loved her.
"Also, I don't think we understand how
usual violence was in those days. There were heads
on spikes all over London, and there were constant
plagues. In fact, Henry lived his life in fear of what
they called 'the sweats'. The Tudors may have been
closer to God than us, but I tell you, they were closer
to death as well."
**
Now take a look at our full guide to The Tudors.
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