The Tudors is a 2007 historical drama television series created by Michael Hirst, including a large cast including Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Sam Neill, Callum Blue, Henry Cavill, Natalie Dormer, Maria Doyle Kennedy, James Frain, and Annabelle Wallis.  The series follows the near 40 year reign of King Henry VIII as he navigates the intrigues of English’s 16th-century court.

Plot: The Tudors follows the reign of King Henry VIII but primarily focuses on his relationships with his six wives. If you like soaps with plenty of romance, nudity, and sex this will definitely appeal to you. There’s a lot of complexity to the plot especially as we see how Henry’s relationships with his wives that help shape his decisions. Of course, there are a ton of subplots that helps to keep the series deep. The story is what you’d think it’d be with a lot of focus on the characters and their relationships, motivations, and development. But by the end of the series it does come to a pretty satisfying conclusion. (3 out of 5)

Characters: I can honesty say that despite the troupes we’ve seen in many soaps before the series actually has some great characters. The characters have interesting backstories as well as motivations, whether they’re good, bad, or indifferent. The main protagonist is Henry who’s the King of England and one of the biggest dicks in the show. He has his moments where we feel for and identify with him. However, he does a lot of bad stuff in the series. Henry’s not alone and his court is filled with many people that love and support him, hate him and scheme against him, while some fear him. There are people you love and people you hate and people you don’t care about. One of my favorite characters is Henry’s right hand Charles Brandon. (4 out of 5)

Cast: Great cast with great performances make this series worth the watch. Johnathan Rhys Meyers’ performance is convincing as King Henry, especially with intense presence and bad boy personality. We have Henry Cavill as Charles Brandon. The two have great chemistry together and it builds as the series progresses. But these two aren’t the only ones front and center. The cast also includes Maria Doyle Kennedy, Natalie Dormer, Anita Briem, Annabell Wallis, Joss Stone, Tamzin Merchant, Joely Richardson, James Frain, Joanne King, Max Brown, Sam Neill, and Rebekah Wainwright. These are just a few of the large cast. (5 out of 5)

Visuals: The series just looks beautiful in nearly all its aspects. The makeup and costume design is rich in depth and detail. I love the extravagant clothing which looks like art. The wonderful set pieces look amazing. The wide-shots of the countryside are beautiful. The on location just makes the scenes more realistic. (5 out of 5)

Score: I’ve really enjoyed listening to classical music which has its place in the series, but has something more. It’s beautiful on all fronts. Whether we’re watching people riding on horseback, sharing intimate conversations, enjoying action sequences, or witnessing an intense situations, the music is there to provide depth and resonance. (4 out of 5)

Writing: The writing isn’t bad and it helps to keep the series intriguing on many levels. Michael Hirst has done his share of historical dramas and he shows his talent with passion. The characters are deep with great writing and attention to their stories make for compelling subplots. I’ve always enjoyed Victorian era dialogue and it works really well here. Conversations are deep but symbolic. And like any decent soap, there’s plenty of violence, romance, drama, sex and nudity. For those who want to see more scenes on history the romance can be a bit of an eyesore. But like many historical dramas, there are a lot of historical inaccuracies, so it can be a pain in the ass for history nuts. (3 out of 5)

The Verdict: In the end, The Tudors is an exceptionally well done and entertaining television series that manages to capture the look and feel of the Tudor dynasty. Really the only issues the series has surround the soap aspects and the historical inaccuracies. Michael Hirst has done it again with a great series with a complex story, great characters, great performances by a great cast, good writing, and some of the best in terms of the production value. The Tudors gets 4 out of 5.