Showtime had a hit on its hands in April 2007. The Tudors, created and written by Michael Hirst, premiered on 1 April 2007 and became the network’s highest-rated series in three years. The show ran four seasons and 38 episodes, closing on 20 June 2010. It is a history-based drama, but the history is not really the point.
Trailer, via experiencebluray.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers and the Young King
The series is named for the Tudor dynasty, yet it is based specifically on the reign of King Henry VIII. Hirst’s Henry is young, vibrant, competitive and lustful, a monarch who works the intrigues of the English court and the human heart with equal vigor and justifiable suspicion. Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays him.
Around him sits a deep bench. Henry Cavill is Charles Brandon. Sarah Bolger is Mary Tudor. Max Brown plays Edward Seymour, David O’Hara is Henry Howard, and Lothaire Bluteau is Ambassador Charles de Marillac. Tamzin Merchant plays Catherine Howard, with Torrance Coombs as Thomas Culpepper. Anthony Brophy is Ambassador Eustace Chapuys. Three young actors rotate through the royal children: Laoise Murray as Princess Elizabeth Tudor, and Eoin Murtagh and Jake Hathaway as Prince Edward Tudor.
The production was a collaboration among American, British and Canadian producers, shot mostly in Ireland. Peace Arch Entertainment produced for Showtime in association with Reveille Eire, Working Title Television and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
A Release Plan Ahead of Its Time
Before the official Showtime premiere, the first two episodes debuted on DirecTV, Time Warner Cable OnDemand, Netflix, Verizon FiOS On Demand, IMDb and the series’ own website. That is a streaming-era rollout delivered in 2007.
The show was renewed for a second season in April 2007. The BBC acquired exclusive UK broadcast rights the same month and began airing on 5 October 2007; the CBC started on 2 October 2007.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 April 2007 | Series premiere on Showtime |
| April 2007 | Renewed for season two; BBC acquires UK rights |
| 2 October 2007 | CBC begins broadcasting |
| 5 October 2007 | BBC begins broadcasting |
| 30 March 2008 | Season two debuts on Showtime |
| 1 August 2008 | Season two debuts on BBC Two |
| 16 June 2008 | Season three production begins in Bray, County Wicklow |
| 5 April 2009 | Season three premieres on Showtime |
| 30 September 2009 | Season three debuts on CBC |
| 20 June 2010 | Series finale |
Key facts
– Score: 7.8/10 (TMDB audience score, 860 votes)
– Network: Showtime
– Run: 4 seasons, 38 episodes
– First aired: 1 April 2007
– Last aired: 20 June 2010
– Genres: Drama, Romance
What the Court Drama Gets Right
The casting is the argument. Rhys Meyers carries the title role, and the show surrounds him with players who fill out the court. Filming in Ireland kept the production in one place.
Four seasons and 38 episodes is a lot of court to fill, and the romance tag sits awkwardly on a story whose engine is suspicion. The Tudors is strongest when it treats the heart as another arena for intrigue, which is exactly what the synopsis promises.
The rollout remains the most interesting thing about it. Putting episodes on Netflix and IMDb before the cable premiere was a bet that the audience would find the show wherever it lived. The source records the renewal and the BBC and CBC deals; it does not tie them to that bet, so the cause stays unproven.
This is not the definitive Henry VIII. It is a confident, well-cast portrait of a monarch who trusted no one and was usually right not to.
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