I blogged about Philip Sheppard’s soundtrack to Starkey’s “Henry VIII: Mind of a Tyrant” series previously (here and here), and now I’m pleased to announce that it will be released on a new label started by the composer. Check the link for more information.
Thanks to the multiple people who alerted to me to this!
I heard this earlier in the week, but I was waiting for the official press release to come out, which is now has. Richardson has a Tudor acting pedigree… her mother is Vanessa Redgrave, who has portrayed both Anne Boleyn and Mary Queen of Scots.
Press Release:
ACCLAIMED FILM AND TELEVISION ACTRESS JOELY RICHARDSON CAST FOR FINAL SEASON OF SHOWTIME’S “THE TUDORS”
LOS ANGELES, CA (July 22, 2009) Noted film and television actress Joely Richardson has joined the cast of the critically acclaimed drama series, THE TUDORS for its fourth and final season. Richardson will portray Catherine Parr, Henry VIII’s (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) sixth and last wife, in five episodes of the series, which is currently filming in Dublin, Ireland. THE TUDORS is scheduled to premiere on SHOWTIME in 2010.
Best known to American audiences for her celebrated work for five seasons on the popular cable series Nip/Tuck for which she was twice-nominated for Golden Globe Awards — Richardson is part of an English theatrical dynasty that includes her mother, Vanessa Redgrave, father, director Tony Richardson, and aunt Lynn Redgrave and sister, the late Natasha Richardson. Her film credits include The Patriot, I’ll Do Anything, and most recently, in the children’s fantasy film, The Last Mimzy.
Viewers and critics alike have been enthralled watching the storied exploits of the sexy, hard-bodied King Henry VIII as he weds, beds and beheads women and wives across 16th century England. Both Rhys Meyers and the series have been nominated for Golden Globe Awards, and the series has won two Emmys for its incredible costume designs and main title theme music. The new season will chronicle Henry’s dark, final days, his war against France and his final wives (Catherine Howard (played by Tamzin Merchant) and Catherine Parr). The series was nominated for five Emmys this year, including Costumes, Casting and Cinematography.
THE TUDORS is an Ireland-Canada co-production, executive produced by Morgan O’Sullivan for Octagon Films; Benjamin Silverman and Teri Weinberg for Reveille Productions; Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan for Working Title Films, and Sheila Hockin; and is created, written and executive produced by Michael Hirst. SHOWTIME presents the series in association with Peace Arch Entertainment.
Yeah, I know these were announced a few days ago, but I’m just now getting around to posting them.
Congrats to the crew of “The Tudors” for the following Emmy nominations:
* Outstanding Art Direction For A Single-Camera Series
* Outstanding Casting For A Drama Series
* Outstanding Cinematography For A One Hour Series
* Outstanding Costumes For A Series
* Outstanding Hairstyling For A Single-Camera Series
The winners will be announced in September, and the full list of nominees can be seen at Emmys.org
This was posted to my Yahoo group. Loved it!
And I *think* I recognized the website on the computer in the video… 🙂
Sorry for the slow posting on this blog for the last week or so. Things have been busy, as you might have guessed!
* The celebrations that I blogged about back in February took place this weekend. Here is an article with some photos and I’ve embedded a You Tube video of the pageant passing Blackfriars Pier:
* Just a reminder that the Royal Mint has some special commemorative coins out this year for the Henry 500 celebrations. I posted about them back in December, but here is the link to the page on the Royal Mint website. (I have several of their less-expensive collectible coins, including the one for Henry, so if you’re in to those kinds of things I’d recommend them.)
* BBC 4 is showing the program Henry VIII: Patron or Plunderer? with Jonathan Foyle about cultural artifacts from the reign of Henry VIII.
* And finally (thanks to Kathy for sending this one in!) The Forme of Cury, a medieval cookbook, has been digitized and put online by the John Rylands Library in Manchester. Here is the BBC article and here is a link to the Rylands Medieval Collection at the library.
Thanks to Stephan for telling me about this!
If you have the Smithsonian Channel, they have an episode of their program “Skyview” called “The Tudor Age” with some stunning aerial imagery. I unfortunately don’t have an HDTV (yet), so I haven’t been able to watch the program (my cable company only has the HD version), but there are some clips on their website. I’ve embedded one below, but you can head over to the page for that episode to see more. A DVD of the show will be available in July.
If you’re a castle junkie like me, be sure to check out some of the other related videos!
Sorry I have been a little quiet on this blog over the last week or so! I’m just going to do a quick round up of a few things that I wanted to post about this week but got behind on.
From the London Evening Standard, an article about one of the winners at the Chelsea Flower show, which grew plants used in a recipe to create perfume for Elizabeth I.
Here’s another article about Henry VIII’s annulment request document that I blogged about previously.
Sent to me through Twitter – News on Alison Weir’s upcoming book launch at the Tower of London for her new bio on Anne Boleyn and details for a tour of Tudor England she’ll be leading in 2010, as well as news on other upcoming books (including a sequel to “The Lady Elizabeth”).
And finally, from Pop Tudors (the blog for the Showtime series “The Tudors”) – Ask a Tudor!. Your chance to ask Mark Hildreth, the actor playing Cardinal Reginald Pole, a question. You can submit them in the comments on the page linked to above.
I’ve been seeing various short articles coming through my news alerts saying that Joss Stone will be back as Anne of Cleves during the 4th season of “The Tudors”. I haven’t seen any information on how many episodes she’ll be in though.
And you could win a
From a press release found via Google news:
The Historic Royal Palaces, the independent charity that cares for Hampton Court Palace and the Tower of London, will send its followers updates on the events in the run-up to Henry VIII’s coronation at Westminster Abbey on June 24 – exactly 500 years after they happened.
It is believed to be the first time the website has been able to engage users in historical events from the first person perspective, and in real time over the actual period they took place, a spokesman for the charity said.
And here is the Twitter profile page for Henry/HRP
And some of you may have already seen over in the sidebar that I’m on Twitter too, although I’ll warn people now that I mostly post about science, tech and everyday life stuff, not much Tudor history. But if you’re interested – here’s my profile.
Just in case there are folks here who haven’t been over the The Raucous Royals blog lately, I wanted to post something here about Carlyn’s great analysis of this season’s episodes of “The Tudors”.
Here’s a link to the write-up for Episode 3 and the entries for previous episodes can be found at the bottom of that post.
This popped up all at once through various news sources, so I’ll just pick one:
From Broadcasting & Cable:
Jonathan Rhys-Meyers reign as King Henry VIII will end in 2010. Showtime has picked up a fourth and final season of drama The Tudors.
The series will return to the network for its final bow in Spring 2010, with production slated to begin this June in Dublin, Ireland.
Showtime has created a fun, tongue-in-cheek blog for “The Tudors” – Pop Tudors – History, recapped. No spoilers.
I particularly like the flowchart for 16th century marital dispute resolution. 🙂
These are mostly updates to previous topics, so I’m just going to lump them all together:
* Henry, Mind of a Tyrant by David Starkey will be running on Channel 4 in the UK on Mondays in April. You can listen to a stream of the soundtrack by Philip Sheppard on the composer’s website
* A new painting of the Mary Rose that was reconstructed with new information of examination of the wreck and artifacts.
* Rediscovering Henry VIII – An article by David Starkey from the Times Online about the upcoming British Library exhibition Henry VIII: Man and Monarch that he is the guest curator of.
* Two articles about information that may have been lost during the restoration of the Cobbe portrait (that may or may not be of Shakespeare): Forsooth, restorers botched up bald bard William Shakespeare from The Guardian and Restorers ‘wiped away’ precious details from rare William Shakespeare portraits from The Telegraph
I received this through the submission form for the Q&A blog, but it really belongs here. I personally feel that they wrote themselves into a corner by changing everything about Henry VIII’s sisters, and therefore losing many of the dramatic story lines of Jane Grey, Katherine Grey, Mary Queen of Scots, etc. I don’t see how they could honestly work those people back into the story as potential heirs to the throne when they’ve eliminated the basis for their claims to the throne.
But, if you’re interested in asking Showtime to continue the series, please see the information below.
God Save “The Tudors”!!
According to Robert Greenblatt, entertainment president of the U.S. pay-TV channel Showtime, “The Tudors” final season “will be the final two wives”, season 4.
Please, help keep the Tudors alive. By signing the petition you are asking Showtime to extend The Tudors for 2-3 more seasons, following season 4. We are asking to see the reigns of the infamous and beloved Edward IV, Mary I, and Elizabeth I.
Come one, come all! Help save “The Tudors”, from getting the AXE! Please, click on the link provided and sign the petition.
Thank you.
[Updated – I’ve decided to close this thread to any additional comments. Nikki’s second comment came in while I was writing my own comment closing the thread, so I allowed it to be the final one. Please understand my reasoning for closing this thread – people have had their say and I don’t want it to continue on to a full-out argument on the issue.]
I found it through this page on E!Online, but I’m also pasting the direct video link below. I have no idea if people outside the US will be able to see this or not though.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid16752303001/bctid16739530001
This one actually gives more of an indication as to what events they are going to be taking on in Season 3 – namely the Pilgrimage of Grace and the fall of Cromwell (whom I guess will be the big “head chop” of this season).
Head on over to the Lady Jane Grey Reference Site Blog for more info:
http://ladyjanegreyref.livejournal.com/22469.html
I received an email from Philip Sheppard the composer for the music to David Starkey’s upcoming TV program on Henry VIII that included a short preview of one of the tracks. I think you all will enjoy it, it’s quite beautiful.
You can read more about the series and hear the preview of the music here:
Dr David Starkey series on Henry VIII announced with score devised by Philip Sheppard
I think the premiere date has been out for a while, but I just haven’t gotten around to posting about it.
Here’s the trailer for the new season:
