Catholic bishops in America have denounced Wolf Hall as a ‘prejudice-laden presentation of the past’ as the acclaimed BBC drama was broadcast in the U.S. for the first time.
The review attacked the six-part series as ‘a work of fiction that adopts a narrow, revisionist and anti-Catholic point of view toward the religious turmoil of the Tudor period in which it’s set’.
The latest remarks echo criticisms voiced by clergy in the UK, who tore into the series for its 'perverse' depictions of the historical characters when it first aired.
Bishops in the USA have slammed Wolf Hall, starring Damian Lewis, after it was broadcast for the first time
The audience is encouraged to support 'monster' Thomas Cromwell, played by Mark Rylance in the hit series, a damning review by the Catholic News Service in America said after the first episode was aired in the USA
The review also slates the depiction of Catholic martyr Sir Thomas More, played by Anton Lesser in the show as an 'evidence-flouting caricature' that is 'sleazy, mean-spirited and just plain rude'
A review for Catholic News Service, an agency of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference said that the show encourages the audience to ‘root for the self-made commoner Thomas Cromwell’ when in fact he was a ‘monster’ who engineered a reign of terror and murdered anyone who stood in his way.
In contrast, the drama’s depiction of Sir Thomas More, a Catholic martyr, is ‘not a pretty sight’, said author Joseph McAleer.
‘The future saint is barely recognisable: sleazy, mean-spirited and just plain rude,’ he writes. ‘This evidence-flouting caricature is light-years away from the man of principle.’
A Washington Post reviewer warned the distortion of historical facts in Wolf Hall pointed to 'ideological bias'
US media were generally looking forward to the historical drama being shows on Masterpiece PBS as a 'great British import', with Homeland star Damian Lewis as King Henry VIII and Claire Foy playing Anne Boleyn
Gregory Wolfe said that the adaptation of Hilary Mantel's book 'could obscure important lessons'
The criticism from the U.S. Catholic Church follows that of Mark Davies and Mark O’Toole, the Catholic Bishops of Shrewsbury and Plymouth, who said Wolf Hall was guilty of ‘anti-Catholic’ depictions of More, played by Anton Lesser, and for its whitewashing of Cromwell, the hero of the drama, played by Mark Rylance.
Most U.S. media looked forward, however, to the opening episode of the series, broadcast on Masterpiece PBS last night, as a great British import co-starring Damien Lewis, the anti-hero Brody in the U.S. series Homeland, playing King Henry VIII.
One of the few critical reviews of the adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s historical novel appeared in the highly-influential Washington Post, however, which warned viewers that the distortion of the facts pointed to a ‘clear ideological bias’.
‘What makes for great drama may not make for good history,’ said the review by Gregory Wolfe.
‘Mantel’s version could obscure important lessons from that dark period that have continuing relevance for the present moment,’ he added.
Wolf Hall was BBC2’s most popular drama since 2002 , gaining an average of 4.4million viewers during its six-week run.
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