The television event presents an intimate and provocative portrait of Thomas Cromwell, the brilliant and enigmatic consigliere to King Henry VIII, as he maneuvers the corridors of power at the Tudor court.
Mark Rylance is Thomas Cromwell, the son of a brutal blacksmith who rises from the ashes of personal disaster, and deftly picks his way through a court where ‘man is wolf to man.’ Damian Lewis is King Henry VIII, haunted by his brother’s premature death and obsessed with protecting the Tudor dynasty by securing his succession with a male heir to the throne.
Told from Cromwell’s perspective, Wolf Hall follows the complex machinations and back room dealings of this pragmatic and accomplished power broker – from humble beginnings and with an enigmatic past – who must serve king and country while dealing with deadly political intrigue, Henry VIII’s tempestuous relationship with Anne Boleyn and the religious upheavals of the Protestant reformation.
Shown on BBC2 and PBS Wolf Hall is a Playground Entertainment and Company Pictures production for BBC and MASTERPIECE in association with BBC Worldwide, Altus Media and Prescience.
Executive producers are John Yorke for Company Pictures, Polly Hill, BBC Head of Independent Drama, for BBC TWO, Rebecca Eaton for MASTERPIECE, Martin Rakusen and Ben Donald for BBC Worldwide and Tim Smith for Prescience. Associate producer is Sonia Friedman for Sonia Friedman Productions. Executive Producer is Colin Callender. Producer is Mark Pybus. The writer is Peter Straughan. The director is Peter Kosminsky. MASTERPIECE is presented on PBS by WGBH Boston. Rebecca Eaton is Executive Producer. Viking River Cruises is the exclusive corporate funder of Wolf Hall on MASTERPIECE on PBS, with additional funding provided by The MASTERPIECE Trust.