I've always been interested in The Tudors since learning about them in school. I found the Tudors a very interesting topic to study about and one of the reigns that stood out the most was Henry VIII who ruled England for nearly thirty-eight years and during that time made a name for himself for having six wives, various mistresses and responsible for countless pregnancies which only 3 or 5 survived infancy. One day, he could be your friend and the next he would want your head off. He had a reputation for being a ruthless king, once full of passion and nowadays we acknowledge him nowadays as an obese pig who enjoyed cutting executions.

There have been plenty of historical dramas and documentaries on Henry VIII and his six wives but what made this 2007 version stand out for me how it didn't just focus on the wives, but the wars and tension Henry's issues have caused to all those around him. A lot of the ones I've seen just mainly focused into the wifes in a lot of detail, participially Anne Boleyn.

This is the first of four series to The Tudors by Michael Hurt, who works in many historical dramas such as two films about Elizabeth I. The series is based very loosely on the Tudors during Henry's lifetime where his marriage to Catherine Of Aragon is reaching it's solemn hour to his marriage to Catherine Parr.

My copy of Series one of The Tudors was one third of a 9 disc box-set of series 1-3. Inside the cover of series One is three discs, and a well designed leaflet with a short summary of each episode with writing credits to Michael Hurst and directing credits to Charles Mcdougall, Steve Hill, Brian Kirk, Alison MacLean and Ciaran Donnelly. The first series last for ten episodes, as do the rest of the seasons apart from season Three which only lasts for Eight. The series was aired on the BBC from April to June 2007.

The film is rightly given the age rating certificate fifteen for it's spicy but tasteful sex scenes and strong nudity that can really stand out when watching the series. There are some special features involved such as interviews, audio commentary and subtitles but not as interesting as the actual main feature itself.

To the many who know quite a bit about the Tudors we all know it's a tragedy waiting to happen. The episode titles themselves give huge spoilers of what's to come to those who haven't studied or remembered the The writers did a good job with Catherine Of Aragon played emotionally by Maria Doyle Kennedy. My favourite scene with her was the tension between her and one of the King's mistress' who gave birth to Henry's son which leads to Catherine going to the church and walk there on bare feet on a rainy day to beg God for a son. I found it really refreshing that it showed some scenes with Henry showing some affection with Catherine. Even though it was not passionate or as sexual as some of the others, I still appreciated it as I felt bad for Catherine when I learned it at school and I still feel bad for her now.

It comes even more of a blow because we know things won't go well for Catherine as Henry moves his passion onto Anne Boleyn, the sister to one of his mistresses, Mary. In my opinion, Anne is portrayed quite cheeky and witty by Natalie Dormer.

Young Henry is played by the very attractive Jonathan Rhys Meyers who portrays the desperate king who is in great pressure to produce a healthy son and heir to the throne. Catherine's many pregnancies have only left her with one daughter named Mary and she isn't enough for Henry. His passion flies from mistress to mistress but it's Anne he finally decides to stick to and he goes through changing the church just to divorce Catherine.

I think young little Mary is very adorable and sweet, much more than I imagined after what I learned about her in school.

Visually, it's also excellent. I love the costumes and settings. Overall it's a very powerful series, in both acting, emotion and design. Only downside is that is can quite historically accurate, which may annoy some who like their historical dramas accurate. Some of the romantic scenes might be too vibrant for some. I think I've got value for money in this, the boxset was twenty quid at Sainsbury's and is £18.06 on Amazon. For just the series on it's own it's currently £8.49.

I would recommend this because it has a lot of elements that can appeal to a lot of people such as romance, action and drama that are possibly some of the most trendiest genres of TV.