(rhythmic drumming) - Wolf Hall is about power, it's about politics, it's about loyalty and betrayal, and it's about a man caught between his desire to do the right thing, and his desire to survive.
- Wolf Hall is about the rise of Thomas Cromwell, and his dealings with Henry VIII, and Henry's desire to be divorced from Catherine, and to marry Anne Boleyn.
- And whether this is true or no, I put to your conscience.
- To me, the thing which is always fascinating about politics is that it's essentially the same story.
It's always the struggle for the crown.
- You see the cogs working in her relationship with Cromwell.
There he is.
And now he resigns.
- They're both very pragmatic people.
- Who should replace him?
- Put it in the King's mind to appoint Bodley.
He's a good man.
- [Claire] He uses her, and she uses him to get to the top.
- Call her Elizabeth.
Cancel the joust.
When it becomes clear that the king wants rid of her because she has given him a daughter, then Cromwell goes to work in the name of the king.
- Cromwell is painted sympathetically, and that's one of the great triumphs, is to show him as this family man who's had a terribly damaged upbringing, and he does it all through sheer willpower.
- This isn't the story of the king.
This isn't the story of royalty.
This is the story of a working class man who rises to the heights of the Tudor court, and has to navigate that complex world.
And he has to do things sometimes that he doesn't really want to do.
And so, it's a much more morally complex piece of storytelling than I think some previous historical dramas have actually ventured to.
(drumming)
