1 week Ago By John Powers
Arthur Hughes plays the title character in Hulu's four-part series, Shardlake . Martin Mlaka/Hulu hide caption Arthur Hughes plays the title character in Hulu's four-part series, Shardlake . We live in discordant times, which may be why the turbulent reign of King Henry VIII has enjoyed a revival over the last few years.
We've had the gleefully trashy TV series The Tudors , the Tony-winning Broadway musical Six and – at the high end of achievement – Hilary Mantel 's trilogy about Henry's right-hand-man Thomas Cromwell. Now comes the new Hulu mystery series Shardlake, based on C.J.
Sansom's first novel in a series about a crime-solving lawyer in 16th-century England. As a rule, I hate historical mysteries and I feared that Shardlake would serve up the Tudor era's usual cavalcade of castles, codpieces, clopping horses and quasi-Shakespearean lingo – "Prithee, stop, sirrah!" But to my surprise this odd, beautifully acted show pulled me in. Arthur Hughes stars as Matthew Shardlake, a bitingly intense London barrister known for his brains and for the curved spine that leads the world to undervalue him.
One who sees his value is the king's minister Thomas Cromwell – played by a domineering Sean Bean – a dangerous man who's busy stripping the assets of the Catholic church and claiming them for the Crown. As the action begins, Cromwell has just had his envoy murdered in a coastal monastery. He sends Shardlake to find the killer and, in the process, to find evidence of monki.
