Wolf Hall, BBC Two, 9pm
Part three of the BBC's daring adaptation of Hilary Mantel's literary blockbuster brings us to 1531. Cardinal Wolsey is dead so his former protégé Thomas Cromwell (Mark Rylance, on superb form) is now trying to help Henry VIII (Damian Lewis) manoeuvre himself into the position of supreme head of the Church of England.
Henry thinks it's the only way he can divorce Katherine of Aragon and marry scheming Anne Boleyn (Clare Foy). Plus he has an eye on the vast wealth of the country's monasteries, money which could flow to him if he could supplant the Pope. As any student of the Reformation knows, Henry's is to be an historic and epoch-making action. But it's just another day's work for low-born lawyer Cromwell.
As the bill comes before the House of Commons there's a dramatic scene in which, with Henry glaring down from the throne, the house divides for the first time along yes and no lines - Cromwell's innovation, of course. In the end, the "ayes" carry the day.
"You won't find it so easy passing your bill through the House of Lords," hisses Cromwell's rival Stephen Gardiner (Mark Gatiss) after the vote. "Thomas More and the old aristocracy are for the Pope and not afraid to say so."
And Sir Thomas More, as Cromwell already knows, is a formidable opponent. Played with relish by Anton Lesser, we see him in the opening scene reading aloud from a Latin bible as a lackey tortures a heretic with what looks like an apple press.
Meanwhile, the king continues to woo Anne, who is playing hard to get. Or expensive to get, at least. "She's selling herself by the inch," her sister Mary tells Cromwell as they watch an archery contest. "She wants a cash present for every advance above the knee". "She's got long legs," quips Cromwell. "By the time he reaches her secret part, the nation will be bankrupt."
Writer Peter Straughan has said he based his adaptation in part on The Godfather II, and it's hard not to conclude that in its use of shadowy, candlelit interiors, Peter Kosminsky's direction takes its inspiration from the same source. The only difference? These gangsters are lords and ladies and they wear floppy hats instead of fedoras.
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