The Content Reader

Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell It is with great pleasure that I have started to watch the BBC adaption of Hilary Mantel's two books, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies . The first two parts of the six part series do not disappoint. They have managed to capture the calm undertone, in spite of all the things happening, that pervades through the books. Normally, BBC does not make you disappointed when they adapt historical drama. Neither this time. The cast contains some of the finest actors in England, and it is all very professionally done. Peter Kosminsky, the director of the series, said: This is a first for me. But it is an intensely political piece. It is about the politics of despotism, and how you function around an absolute ruler. I have a sense that Hilary Mantel wanted that immediacy. ... When I saw Peter Straughan's script, only a first draft, I couldn't believe what I was reading. It was the best draft I had ever seen. He had managed to distil 1,000 pag...

These two much acclaimed books and both winners of the Man Booker Prize in 2009 and 2012 respectively, do not disappoint you. They are masterly written in a very solemn, quiet sort of way. It is told from the part of Thomas Cromwell, the secretary to first cardinal Wolsey and then to Henry VIII. We follow Cromwell from his humble background, during his young years while travelling, fighting in wars and working in Europe before he returned to England to study law. He was acknowledged at the time as an 'administrative genius' and his able work took him to the top of the society. The books are a work of fiction and one can only know as much as there are written evidence. Although based on historical events, Hilary Mantel herself says that for some events there are vague evidence of what really happened. For a skilled writer as Hilary Mantel this is maybe a fantastic situation. She creates out of known facts additions that are now known, but could be, and makes them believable. ...