I am SO looking forward to this. I adored the novel and predicted it would win the Booker Prize (it did). Ditto the second (Bring Up The Dead). Longing for the third. The stage versions were OK, not great. I chatted to Hilary Mantel for 30 minutes queuing for our seats. Rylance is our greatest living actor. It promises to be GREAT.

Will be watching in the den (so whatever else is going on I won't be distracted).

Why do you think that is worth posting?

JK2006 wrote:
Rylance is our greatest living actor

Surely Day-Lewis?

The only actor to win three (best actor) Oscars.

I don't think Rylance has been nominated, yet....

Day-Lewis is one of those actors who leaves me cold - a personal preference thing; just does nothing for me. Rylance has predominantly been a stage actor - after both Twelfth Night and Richard III I reckon he's the best stage actor in the world at the moment. As for movies and TV... let us know what you think of him in Wolf Hall.

Many think that Anthony Hopkins is the best living/working actor - in the world.

It wasn't as good as I expected; not bad but not yet great. Mind you I loved the books so much I suppose I was bound to be disappointed.

JK2006 wrote:
It wasn't as good as I expected; not bad but not yet great. Mind you I loved the books so much I suppose I was bound to be disappointed.

Agree - but had to be slow to allow the characters to be explained / developed (incredibly, most viewers would not know who they were !)

Funnily enough it was the opposite - for example, his early years and his relationship with wife and daughters developed in far greater length and detail in the book, which made you really care, whereas it was over in seconds in this and you hardly noticed their deaths.

First class reviews, all-round....


www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/t...rst-look-review.html

Yes fabulous reviews but most seem not to have read the books. I adored the loyalty Cromwell had for Wolsey in the books - it came through in this but not as strongly or as convincingly. It took me ages to read Wolf Hall (that year I had to miss the 5 other Booker nominees because I loved Wolf Hall so much I refused to rush it). Of course that's not possible in a six hour (of both books) treatment but it does detract from the depth. It's still wonderful; just not yet as great as I hoped.

Excellent article on Rylance in Mail today by Quentin Letts.

www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-29...nows-agony-well.html

So I'm now geared up for Episode Two; can I love the TV series as much as I love the books? I'll be glued.

smuggled a new bottle of single malt into the den - all ready !

*already

Episode Two - getting better; I still prefer having longer to develop it as Mantel did in her brilliant books. But Rylance is absolutely superb, as predicted. I remember when Mistress Fry told me Mark had got the gig - I was over the moon. I knew he'd be magnificent. He is.

Yes, Rylance superb.

But nothing like Scofield...





(but for Wales?....)

Yes, quite brilliant.

Very atmospheric, I thought .... you could "feel" the tension.

Oh yes the scene in A Man for All Seasons between Wendy Hiller and Scofield remains, for me, the finest acting on screen of all time. One of the interesting aspects of Mantel's books is the totally different view of Thomas More.