A besotted King Henry VIII marries his third wife, Jane Seymour, in this exclusive image from the BBC’s highly anticipated new series of Wolf Hall.
It is a rare moment of peace and tranquillity from the series which launches next Sunday, and promises to be darker and bloodier than the original which was screened in 2015.
Kate Phillips, 35, who plays Jane Seymour, is best known for her role as Linda Shelby in the BBC gangster drama Peaky Blinders.
Based on Dame Hilary Mantel’s novel of the same name Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light picks up where the last series ended in the aftermath of the execution of Queen Anne Boleyn. While the death of the Queen has left the King free to marry again, the politics at court are deadlier than ever before.
An isolated and increasingly desperate Thomas Cromwell, played again by Sir Mark Rylance, will stop at nothing to cling on to power, while an increasingly paranoid King Henry, again played by Homeland star Damian Lewis, is proving more difficult to please.
A besotted King Henry VIII marries his third wife, Jane Seymour, in this exclusive image
Kate Phillips, 35, who plays Jane Seymour, is best known for her role as Linda Shelby in the BBC gangster drama Peaky Blinders
An isolated and increasingly desperate Thomas Cromwell, played again by Sir Mark Rylance
King Henry, again played by Homeland star Damian Lewis , is proving more difficult to please
This bleaker tone is evident in the new trailer which features the King telling Tudor powerbroker Cromwell: ‘You have very few friends Cromwell’ and ‘always you with the bad news’. Cromwell tells one of his supporters: ‘When negotiations and compromise fail and your only course is to destroy your enemies… have the axe in your hand.’
This darker tone will reflect the reality of the period. But the show is not all blood and guts. Fans who were hooked on the sumptuous costumes, settings and locations in the first series will not be disappointed this time around.
Joanna Eatwell, the show’s costume designer, said: ‘It’s a wonderful period for the men. They look beautiful and the women are quite simple by comparison.’
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light airs on iPlayer and BBC One at 9pm on Sunday 10 November.
