The course of English history is often mapped out against its Kings and Queens. The Normans, bringing European modernity to a savage isle; the Plantagenets, turning the nation into an international superpower; the Victorians, industrialising our country into a formidable, globe-spanning empire. It is an easy taxonomy, but one that elides the fact that eras are shaped as much by the power behind the throne as by the royals themselves. That’s where Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, the second and final chapter in the BBC’s adaptation of the late Hilary Mantel’s historical novels, comes in.
Anne Boleyn is dead. After an affair – then marriage – that changed the country, Henry VIII (Damian Lewis) is now wed to Jane Seymour (Kate Phillips) and feverishly anticipating the birth of a male heir. Slinking about behind the king, working as a fixer for the personal, political and religious matters of the day, is Thomas Cromwell (Mark Rylance), Henry’s “dog”. From his origins as a blacksmith’s son in Putney, Cromwell is now Lord Privy Seal – one of England’s richest men and most eligible bachelors. But his power – once staked to Cardinal Wolsey (Jonathan Pryce), now heavily invested in both Jane and the King’s fraught relationship with Princess Mary (Lilit Lesser) – is a precious commodity. So hard to gain, so easy to lose.
