The Six Wives of Henry VIII

The best TV miniseries I've ever seen by far. Originally a BBC presentation, it became something of a pop culture phenomenon here in the summer of 1971, when, edited and with a more elegant introduction, it was presented on six Sunday nights. What's best in it is what's most important- the characterization by the six different playwrights of that monstrous old charmer, Henry VIII, and the performance(s) of Keith Michell in the role. I'll give my comments wife by wife. (The title of each episode is the name of the wife.)

CATHERINE OF ARAGON (A) The proximate cause of the English Reformation, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain who had been briefly married to Henry's older brother, whom he married with the necessary papal dispensation, and later wanted to dump because she didn't produce a male heir, which led to all the trouble with Rome. The series gets off to a rocky start. It was a daring ploy of the author to be deliberately tedious in the depiction of the unnoteworthy trials of the young "princess dowager" so as to draw a sharp ironic parallel to the world-shaking trials of the OLD "princess dowager." The satisfaction you feel in getting the point makes up for your initial impatience. All of the wives give fine performances; Annette Crosbie's is one of two which are as great as Michell's. She does full justice to a very great lady. Complaints: her old-age make-up is way overdone (she looks 60-70 instead of 40-50)and this is the only episode compromised by a gratingly poor performance (you'll know whom I mean).

ANNE BOLEYN (A-) Interestingly, the one part of Henry's life which is well-known, his romance with Anne Boleyn, is dispatched here in a minute-long opening interlude. There are some serious weaknesses in the script. The phraseology is "off" a lot- too modern, too soap operatic. ("Love is a most Complete Experience...") It puts its emotional climax (Anne's trial for adultery) at the mid point and then has to trump up unlikely, pointless scenes between the doomed Queen and the Henry's weak yes-man Archbishop Cranmer which come off as actors stalling on a stage because the hands are having trouble wheeling out the block. Henry is reduced to a supporting role in this one and is purely the villain of the piece. The previous Catherine and this Anne are the only wives whose personalities and words have come through in the pages of history; what's most admirable here (and least soap operatic) is that neither the playwright nor the actress (the late Dorothy Tutin)try to gloss over the cruelty and arrogance of the legendary Hussy, and even seem to want to convey the idea that in a sense getting thrown in the Tower and having her head chopped off were the best things that ever happened to her, almost a blessed relief. The supporting players are generally superb in all episodes. Here Anne's brother George and the gentle coward Cranmer are stand-outs.

JANE SEYMOUR (A+) Television at its finest. All but sheer perfection in every way. By far the richest in drama and historical analysis. The playwright ingeniously parlays the little that is known about the sweet country girl (the original Plain Jane)who gave Henry his all-important prince and then quietly crept into her tomb, into an unforgettably touching look at Innocence and Goodness defiled and destroyed even as it's healing and helping (to some degree) Guilt and Badness. The psychological and moral depth matches the emotional- a rare triumph. The portrait it draws of Henry is the most balanced, and Anne Stallybrass is the other actress who attains magnificence. Okay, one tiny flaw: the merry-making scenes are too long.

ANNE OF CLEVES (A-) In the series as in life, a little comedy relief in Henry's ghastly marital career. Elvi Hale is a delight as the supposedly ungainly German princess whom the now grotesque and dilapidated Henry married to deal an alliance with the European Protestants. All that's known of the real Anne is that she was considered ugly and gauche but loved even by Henry (after dumping her in short order) for her simple good nature. Here the "joke" is that behind the scenes Anne is a brilliant political chess player who only plays dumb when expedient. But the good nature is still there, along with a rather anachronistic conviction that "comforting a hurt child is more important than squabbles between Churches", making her probably the only one of the six wives most modern people could like and identify with. Biggest problem: the "informational dialogue" is poured on too thick. The fact that Miss Hale is not just not ugly but actually the only wife who comes close to being beautiful, may be part of the "joke": we have portraits of all six real life wives and she, the "ugly" one, is generally thought to be the only pretty one. The simple sadness of the last shot is unforgettable.

CATHERINE HOWARD (A-) Michell shines as the wreck of his dashing and heroic former self trying to drum up a second wind in his blubbery old hulk when he falls head over heels for a pretty lass whom he makes Queen of England without checking her references... The real Catherine was just a vain and frivolous little ninny who led a sordid life and came to a bad end: to tease a Legend out of this pitiful footnote here Catherine has all the cunning and craft and steely will of Cleopatra and Scarlett O'Hara, and all the rhetorical grandeur of Antigone. The artifice doesn't quite jibe with the facts even as shown. Angela Pleasance is excellent as the witchy little wanton; appropriately, she's attractively nubile but on closer look really not even that pretty. It's a detail which nicely highlights the Die Young/Stay Young Eternally theme. Compelling, but a little too nasty for its own good. The scene in which Catherine banishes the court jester is a nice touch (the clown as sinister symbol of Fate).

CATHERINE PARR (A)The most plodding of the scripts, the least thematically engaging and most history bookish and episodic, so it's a good thing that the dialogue is especially witty and incisive. Another great lady among the six wives in real life, and Rosalie Crutchley does a fine job of projecting her intelligence, humor, kindliness, and honesty, as well as her mortal terror when despite all her golden virtues she almost goes the way of the first Anne and the next-to-last Catherine because of her one fault: she doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut on the subject of Religion in earshot of a husband who made up his own religion up as he went along and had a habit of killing those who wouldn't or couldn't keep up with the developments. Scene of King and Kate's first meeting one of best in the series.

I have seen this series many times and enjoy it immensely every time I see it. I have read a number of biographies of Henry VII and this series is the most accurate portrayal of Henry VIII I have seen, making him a sympathetic character in spite of the way he treated some of his wives (in contrast, "The Private Life of Henry VIII," with Charles Laughton as Henry, is absolutely ludicrous in its portrayal of Henry and his wives). Watching this series gives one a good understanding of how a king could go through six wives, having two of them executed and one driven to an early death through mistreatment. Yet he is never exactly hero or villain, he is portrayed as a human being, who only once went into a marriage that was not for love, and quickly got out of it (through annulment). Anyone who is interested in the history of England's monarchy should enjoy this series. And a good follow up series is "Elizabeth R", with Glenda Jackson playing the title role (quite excellently).

Impeccable in casting, sets, dialogue, and period feel. All of the principals are magnificent; but the actors who play Stephen Gardiner and Robert Barnes are simply extraordinary. The much-maligned Keith Michell is still the best Henry this century, easily brushing aside Robert Shaw, Richard Burton, and Charles Laughton. Michell's combination of vanity, insecurity, overweening machismo, and determination to stay top dog at all costs is painful but fascinating to watch. This TV series does full justice to all facets of the Tudor period; best of all, it reveals extra magical touches with each re-viewing. Which means, in short, that this is a video which you should buy, rather than rent.

This is a set I'd love to own. The costumes are great, and acting is even greater, especially Keith Michel. He brings real depth to Henry and we see him as the interesting, complex man that he was, not just the selfish, bloated glutton of his later years. The court intrigue and politics, and also the costumes are expertly presented and you get a real feel for the times. The only flaw was that the actresses were generally too old for the parts they played, but there aren't many young actresses of this caliber, so one has to suspend disbelief and just enjoy the show. If I had to choose the best performance of the wives, I'd choose Annette Crosbie as Catherine of Aragon.

This is one of the most popular and best-remembered BBC drama productions of all time. As well as drawing record audiences in the early seventies, it spawned the equally impressive follow-up - Elizabeth R. The Six Wives of Henry VIII is not held in such high regard without good reason. It is perhaps the most historically accurate dramatic account of this period in history we will ever see.

As well as its accuracy, the series is remembered for the performances of the actors. Keith Michell shines throughout as King Henry aging from an athletic young prince to a monstrously obese tyrant. All of the actresses deliver sterling performances as the wives. Standouts from the supporting cast include Sheila Burrell as the conniving Lady Rochford, Wolfe Morris as manipulative Thomas Cromwell, Patrick Troughton as the Duke of Norfolk and Bernard Hepton as Archbishop Cranmer, a role he was to reprise in Elizabeth R and the 1973 cinema remake of this series.

The costumes and makeup for this series cannot go unmentioned. They are little short of outstanding. One would almost believe Keith Michell was swapped for an older, fatter actor for the latter three episodes and the costumes change throughout, depicting shifts in courtly fashions.

CATHERINE OF ARAGON Perhaps the least lavish play in terms of production values, but among the better ones for scripting and acting. It begins, rather ploddingly, by covering Catherine's time in England before her marriage to Henry. When they do wed, the story skips abruptly to Henry's courtship with Anne Boleyn and the divorce of Catherine. Midway through this episode Anne Boleyn is Queen and Catherine is left dying away from court. It closes with her death in 1536.

ANNE BOLEYN A somewhat disappointing installment, despite wonderful acting and a sharp script. Anne is without a doubt the most famous wife of Henry VIII and the one who has provoked the most interest from historians, yet much of her life goes untold in this series. The earlier events in her story were rushed through in a handful of scenes in the second half of the Catherine of Aragon episode, and this episode focuses entirely on her downfall. Half of this play is dedicated to the last eighteen days of Anne's life, in the tower. Dorothy Tutin's fine performance brings this play back on par with the better ones in the series though.

JANE SEYMOUR Something of an anomaly within this series. It breaks with the continuity of the other five plays by covering events that had already been dealt with in Anne Boleyn's episode. The result is that Anne's execution is depicted twice during the course of the series. It also stands out from the rest in terms of production. The other five episodes are filmed as theatrical pieces whilst Jane Seymour is visibly an example of television drama. It's a shame that perhaps the dullest of Henry's wives gets by far the best treatment in the series. The real mystery of this episode is why the format suddenly changes before reverting back to the old style for the final three installments.

ANNE OF CLEVES It was never going to be easy to write a ninety-minute play about a largely unimportant, six-month-long mistake, but everybody involved seems to have made their best efforts here. Anne of Cleves is interpreted as being far more intelligent and witty than she cared to show in the English court and Elvi Hale plays her well. It's very absorbingly written too.

CATHERINE HOWARD It's difficult to decide what to make of this episode. The script has Catherine as a match for her ill-fated cousin, Anne Boleyn, with cunning intelligence, when she was, in fact, a frivolous girl who was thrust too high for her own good. It is, nonetheless, a good adaptation of her story and Sheila Burrell is fantastic as Lady Rochford. As with all the other episodes, there is a reluctance to paint Henry in a bad light here and Catherine almost comes out as the villain of the piece.

CATHERINE PARR Perhaps the most neglected wife in public interest, Catherine Parr's story is actually full of intrigue. This episode deals with her strong religious views and her enforcement of them which nearly sent her to a grizzly fate. Unlike the others in the series, this play relies heavily on dialogue rather than action and it closes the story well.

So the only real failing of the series is not that it is shown in six episodes, but that one episode is dedicated to each wife. The story could have been told more comprehensively if parts 1-3 dealt with Catherine of Aragon's time as Queen, her fall from grace in favour of Anne Boleyn, the divorce, the religious reforms brought about by the King's desire to marry Anne Boleyn and have her children as heirs to the throne, Anne's marriage to the King and her eventual downfall. Jane Seymour would be best dealt with in part 4, Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard merged together in the fifth part, whilst Catherine Parr and the King's death could be covered in the sixth.

This criticism aside, the series has earned every word of praise ever spoken for it. It is one of the best nine hours you can spend watching a television drama, so go out and watch it.