Joely Richardson To Play Catherine Parr on Showtime’s The Tudors

Joely Richardson was recently cast as Henry VIII’s sixth wife, Catherine Parr, on the fourth and final season of Showtime’s The Tudors. The series, which is currently filming in Dublin, Ireland, has won two Emmys for main theme title music and for costume design. Season four airs next spring.

Review
The Tudors, on Showtime

This highly romanticized series follows a debonair Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Henry VIII, as he sets in motion the events of the Reformation in England. In season one, Henry solicits the help of his friend and Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Wolsey (Sam Neil), in his divorce proceedings against his wife, Katherine of Aragon (Maria Doyle Kennedy), as he falls hard for a manipulative, ambitious Anne Boleyn played by Natalie Dormer. Rome stalls on Henry’s petition for divorce from Katherine, who is a devout Catholic, causing a permanent rift between England and the Catholic Church. Wolsey’s failure to procure a divorce for Henry brings about his dramatic demise.

In season two, Henry declares himself Supreme Head of the Church in England. He marries Anne in secret and strips Katherine of her titles, banishing her from court. Anne soon gives birth to a daughter, Elizabeth. We see the destruction of their passionate marriage, as Anne suffers many miscarriages and cannot deliver the promised son and heir Henry so desperately desires. Sensing Anne’s vulnerability and fearing that she has gained too much influence over the king, Anne’s enemies plot her demise. The season ends with her execution and Henry’s subsequent proposal of marriage to Jane Seymour (Anita Briem in season 2, Annabelle Wallis in season 3).

Season three begins with a new Queen and new political power players about the court. Tragedy strikes as Henry loses his new bride to a fever shortly after she gives birth to Henry’s sought after heir. The incredible irony of this part of Henry VIII’s story has always struck me as frustratingly mordant. He finally finds a docile wife who stays out of his political affairs (believe me, I’m no fan of docile women myself, but they didn’t call her “Plain Jane” for nothing) and can bear him a son, yet she herself does not survive the child’s birth. Not missing a beat, the wily Cromwell (James Frain) quickly procures a new wife for Henry, the German Anne of Cleves (Joss Stone), to whom a marriage would secure political ties with the Protestant League. When Henry first meets Anne, he instantly feels manipulated by Cromwell, who had exaggerated Anne’s qualities and convinced Henry to proceed with marriage negotiations without meeting the proposed bride beforehand. Henry marries Anne anyway, not wanting to upset the delicate political balance, only to divorce her soon thereafter, declaring her his “beloved sister,” and providing her with an ample settlement. He beds a new mistress, Katherine Howard (Tamzin Merchant), who takes his mind off of England’s latest political turmoil. We are left at the end of season three with Cromwell’s arrest and execution on the grounds of high treason.

Photo: Jonathan Hession/Showtime

I’m giving The Tudors a rating of 3/6 Wives of Henry VIII for its sheer entertainment value; it is certainly amusing. But the show is in no short supply of historical ad-libbing. That being said, it remains a guilty pleasure of mine because the Tudor characters are just too fun to watch on television. I thought Sam Neil made a terrific Cardinal Wolsely (albeit, a Wolsey who commits suicide…you see what I mean about the historical ad-libbing). The costumes are incredible, though again, highly inaccurate (I see that the costume designer has taken inspiration from many different time periods, but come on – where are the ladies’ hoods?? Married women wouldn’t dream of running about the court with their hair down), and the cinematography is actually quite impressive. But I cannot overlook the outrageous amount of embellished, at times downright fabricated, history here. When the show first came out I wondered why they chose so dashing a lead as Johnathan Rhys Meyers to play Henry VIII, who was anything but dashing in his later years, but I quickly learned that the show lives and breathes the motto “sex sells”. There seem to be more sexual encounters taking place on this show than there are meetings of the Privy Counsel. I never understand why screenwriters always feel the need to so drastically alter an already fascinating true story. The complexities of Henry VIII and his wives are dynamic enough on their own without Hollywood’s added two cents.