The Shakespeare Collection |The Famous History of the Life of King Henry VIII (S01E06 - BBC 1979)

Directed by Kevin Billington
Produced by Cedric Messina
Taping dates: 27 November 1978 – 7 January 1979
First transmitted in UK: 25 February 1979
First transmitted in the US: 25 April 1979
English subtitles: Optional (click on CC)

Cast & Characters:
Tony Church as Prologue
John Stride as Henry VIII
Julian Glover as Duke of Buckingham
Jeremy Kemp as Duke of Norfolk
David Rintoul as Lord Abergavenny
Timothy West as Cardinal Wolsey
John Rowe as Cromwell
Lewis Fiander as Duke of Suffolk
Alan Leith as Sergeant-at-Arms
Claire Bloom as Katharine of Aragon
John Bailey as Griffith, Gentleman-Usher
David Troughton as A Surveyor
John Nettleton as Lord Chamberlain
Charles Lloyd-Pack as Lord Sandys
Nigel Lambert as Sir Thomas Lovell
Barbara Kellerman as Anne Bullen
Adam Bareham as Sir Henry Guildford
Jeffrey Daunton as A Servant
John Cater as 1st Gentleman
Roger Lloyd-Pack as 2nd Gentleman
Jack McKenzie as Sir Nicholas Vaux
Michael Poole as Cardinal Campeius
Peter Vaughan as Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester
Sylvia Coleridge as Old Lady, Anne Bullen's friend
Michael Gaunt as A Crier
Ronald Pickup as Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury
David Dodimead as Bishop of Lincoln
Emma Kirkby as Singer
Sally Home as Patience
Oliver Cotton as Earl of Surrey
Michael Walker as A Messenger
John Rhys-Davies as Capucius, Ambassador from Emperor Charles V
Timothy Barker as Page to Gardiner
Brian Osborne as Door-keeper of the Council Chamber
John Rogan as Dr. Butts
Jack May as Lord Chancellor

The second of only two episodes shot on location, after As You Like It. Whereas the location shooting in that episode was heavily criticised as taking away from the play, here, the location work was celebrated. The episode was shot at Leeds Castle, Penshurst Place and Hever Castle, in the actual rooms in which some of the real events took place.

Shooting on location had several benefits; the camera could be set up in such a way as to show ceilings, which cannot be done when shooting in a TV studio, as rooms are ceilingless to facilitate lighting. The episode was shot in winter, and on occasions, characters' breath can be seen, which was also impossible to achieve in studio. However, because of the cost, logistics and planning required for shooting on location, Messina decided that all subsequent productions would be done in-studio, a decision which did not go down well with several of the directors lined up for work on the second season.

This episode was not originally supposed to be part of the first season, but was moved forward in the schedule to replace the abandoned production of Much Ado About Nothing.