Channel 5’s Anne Boleyn is corny and forgettable This historical drama is full of inert dialogue, cheesy props and stapled-on proto-feminism. Most people would say that Hilary Mantel has rewritten the Tudor playbook to the degree that there’s little point in revisiting the story of Henry VIII and his disposable wives unless your approach is unimpeachably radical; Jean Plaidy (her soapy historical novels were much loved when I was a teenager) and
The Tudors (the dire 2007-10 Showtime series starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers) are a long way behind us now, thank God. But at Channel 5, they seem to disagree. In its universe – not to mention that of Eve Hedderwick Turner, the writer of its new drama,
Jodie Turner-Smith shared a tender onscreen kiss with love rival Jane Seymour, played by Lola Petticrew, during the first episode of her new drama Anne Boleyn on Tuesday night.
The opening instalment also involved racy sex scenes between Anne, played by Jodie, 34, and Henry VIII, played by Mark Stanley, with one moment seeing the doomed queen strangle her husband before putting on a passionate display.
During the first episode, it sees a pregnant Anne blindsided by the realisation that Henry has an eye on one of her ladies, Jane Seymour, who eventually goes on to succeed her as the Queen of England.