Network: CBC Television Network
Broadcast Run: 2007 to 2010
Broadcast Medium: Television
Considered an “epic” by the CBC, this dramatic series was inspired by HBO’s “Rome”. It was a melodrama set in the Tudor period of Henry VIII featuring the lives and loves of the rich aristocracy. CBC described it as an “epic soap filled with sex, romance, murder, war and rolling heads, reviving the sensational life of Henry VIII.” While t he series was based on historical fact, creator Michael Hirst took many liberties with both character names and the chronology of Henry’s reign.
The Tudors qualified as Canadian content as it was in part a co-production between the CBC and Ireland’s Reveille Eire. Working Title Films (UK) were also co-producers, in association with Peace Arch Entertainment, who produced the series for Showtime in the U.S. The series debuted on Showtime in April 2007. The CBC began broadcasting Series One in October 2007; it was followed by Series Two in the fall of 2008, and Series Three premiered on the network on September 30th 2009. Series Four went into production in June 2009.
The large cast included Canadians Henry Czerny, Kris Holden Reid, David Alpay, Krystin Pellerin, Mark Hildreth and Alan Sprang . There were guest appearances by Peter O’Toole, Colm Wilkinson and Max Von Sydow.
The Tudors’ fourth and final season of ten episodes began on the network on September 22nd 2010, and concluded on November 23rd.
Principal cast:
Jonathan Rhys Meyers … King Henry VIII
Henry Cavill … Charles Brandon
James Frain … Thomas Cromwell
Natalie Dormer … Anne Boleyn
Nick Dunning … Thomas Boleyn
Maria Doyle Kennedy … Queen Catherine of Aragon
Padraic Delaney … George Boleyn
Jeremy Northam … Sir Thomas More
Jamie Thomas King … Thomas Wyatt
Anthony Brophy … Chapuys
Guy Carleton … Chamberlain
Sarah Bolger … Mary Tudor
Henry Czerny … Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk
Directors included:
Ciaran Donnelly, Steve Shill, Brian Kirk, Alison Maclean ,Charles McDougall,
Jon Amiel, Colm McCarthy, Jeremy Podeswa, Dearbhla Walsh
Written by Pip Wedge – September, 2009