Wolf Hall, episode 4, review: 'ignore the backlash' 

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Wolf Hall, episode 4, review: \'ignore the backlash\'

The fourth episode of the BBC\'s Wolf Hall adaptation shows you should savour the series

Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell in episode 4 of the BBC Two adaptation of Wolf Hall Photo: BBC

There’s been something of a Wolf Hall (BBC Two) backlash lately, the rave reviews for the opening episode giving way to grumbles. Ratings have fallen off by a third, some viewers are finding the large cast of characters confusing and claim they can’t see anything through the Tudor candlelight.

Those expecting a sumptuous glorified soap like Downton Abbey seem to have forgotten that it’s airing on BBC Two, not BBC One – a sign that it’s pitched more as a weighty political drama than a mainstream blockbuster. You might as well get annoyed by The Fall because it’s less sunny than Death in Paradise or The Office for not being Mrs Brown’s Boys.

Hilary Mantel’s novels are hefty grown-up literature and have been faithfully adapted into hefty grown-up TV. Two big, fat Booker Prize winners faithfully translated into six hours of TV. Wolf Hall might not be a crowd-pleaser but it’s still subtly superior fare, graced by great performances and admirable authenticity. It’s demandingly dense but deeply rewarding. As far as I’m concerned, the naysayers should be slung in the Tower to rot.

Damien Lewis as Henry VIII and Claire Foy as Anne Boleyn

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We began with Henry (Damian Lewis) receiving bad news: he was father to one of those useless “daughter” thingies. “Call her Elizabeth and cancel the jousts,” he sighed. Anne Boleyn (Claire Foy) got to deploy her flashing eyes and defiant chin, determined to see off the vultures beginning to circle her vulnerable claim on the throne. It can’t have been terribly relaxing, trying to bear a male heir under such pressures.

Thomas Cromwell (Mark Rylance) was busy trying to quash religious rebellion. The “Holy Maid of Kent” was charged with treason but not before making some colourful prophesies – rivalled only by snarling, swearing Duke of Norfolk (Bernard Hill) for fruitiness of language. Cromwell had spies everywhere and, in a masterful sequence of intercut interviews, brought the Holy Maid’s acolytes back into line with quiet menace. Here he was truly the calculating consigliere to Henry’s mafia don. A much bigger challenge for “the King’s serpent” was his life-long adversary Thomas More (Anton Lesser). Heads soon rolled.

There’s now only two episodes left of this magnificent production. Ignore the backlash and savour them.

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