Damien Lewis and Mark Rylance Wolf Hall drama gets approval of BBC's top boss... and Hilary Mantel

Author of Bring up the Bodies and Wolf Hall is said to be delighted with the BBC2 show which will air next year

by Ben Dowell

Thursday 4 December 2014

RadioTimes

Damian Lewis as Henry VIII

BBC2’s six-part adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Tudor novels Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies has been filmed and the BBC is privately convinced that the drama is going to be a hit. In fact, such is their expectation that the production - which stars Damian Lewis as Henry VIII and Mark Rylance as his wily chief minister Thomas Cromwell - even got a set visit from BBC director-general Lord Hall no less. “I didn’t want to get in the way and I hope I didn’t,” Lord Hall told RadioTimes.com. We also gather that Mantel herself won’t be wanting to cut off anyone’s head about the adaptation, either. Producer Colin Callender says that she has seen it all and that she “loves it”. It airs next year.