S1.E6

The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight

Episode aired Feb 25, 1979
PG
2h 46m

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Claire Bloom in The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight (1979)

Henry VIII is a proud and wilful monarch who defies Rome's ban on divorce to marry his mistress Anne Boleyn. Cardinal Wolsey, the Powerful Lord Chancellor of England, attempts to bend Rome t... Read allHenry VIII is a proud and wilful monarch who defies Rome's ban on divorce to marry his mistress Anne Boleyn. Cardinal Wolsey, the Powerful Lord Chancellor of England, attempts to bend Rome to the king's wishes in the matter of the divorce of Catherine of Aragon so he can marry An... Read allHenry VIII is a proud and wilful monarch who defies Rome's ban on divorce to marry his mistress Anne Boleyn. Cardinal Wolsey, the Powerful Lord Chancellor of England, attempts to bend Rome to the king's wishes in the matter of the divorce of Catherine of Aragon so he can marry Anne Boleyn. Later, near death, he repents his unpriestly activity. After Henry divorces her... Read all

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.1/10

148

YOUR RATING

10User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
- 1 nomination total

User reviews10

Featured review

5/10

Less Innovative Than Others in the Series, But Poorer Source Material

The acting is surprisingly quite good, and it is refreshing to see one of the BBC adaptations filmed on location instead of a sound stage, but those few positives do not save this mess of a production. Some who are not familiar with Shakespeare are wrongly lead to believe that he has never written a "bad" play, but there are several, and HENRY VIII is certainly one of them. It is utterly thin in drama and plot, and the stakes are never high. It could have been ever so slightly improved by a good cutting, but instead the producers opted to keep it intact, causing most scenes to have a severely slow pace. On top of that, the low budget was obvious and the cinematography suffered as a result. Everything was in shadow. The BBC has certainly done better adaptations.

d5454
Apr 26, 2023
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Trivia
The entire film was shot on-location at Leeds Castle, Penshurst Place, and Hever Castle; each of which bears associations to some of the historical figures in the play.