Television series

The Tudors

Name: The Tudors
Genre: Drama, History
Released: 2007
Cast: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Henry Cavill, Sarah Bolger, James Frain, Max Brown

Showtime's sumptuous, gleefully horny retelling of Henry VIII's reign, with Jonathan Rhys Meyers playing the king as a preening, dangerous lothario rather than the portly tyrant of the paintings. Costume drama as pulp: adultery, executions, and doublets unlaced with real enthusiasm. For anyone who wants their Tudor history delivered via candlelit trysts and Natalie Dormer's steely, doomed Anne Boleyn.

TVMaze rating

8.0

If you liked this

Wolf Hall2015

Same court, same king, but told through Cromwell's watchful eyes — quieter, colder, and far more intelligent about how power actually moves. Mark Rylance is extraordinary.

But Glacially paced by candlelight; if you came for spectacle and skin, this will feel like penance.

The Crown2016

Same recipe — a monarchy, a marriage under strain, ambition dressed as duty — just four centuries later and with better cars. Peak prestige-soap.

But Cooler and more restrained; nobody loses their head, literally, which some may find a letdown.

Rome2005

HBO's other toga-and-dagger epic, just as unashamed about sex and slaughter shaping politics, with the same appetite for scheming wives and doomed men.

But Cancelled after two seasons, so the ending feels rushed and some threads never pay off.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Horrible Histories2009

Same wives, same beheadings, same king — just sung by a man in a fat suit for eight-year-olds, proving the real story was already ridiculous enough to be comedy.

A British kids' sketch show that turns Henry's marital body count into an actual pop song, and it's smarter and funnier than most adult costume dramas manage to be.

But It's aimed at children, so anyone expecting the show's sexual heat or gravity will find only gags and rhyming couplets.

Reign2013

Want The Tudors with the seriousness dialled down and the anachronistic pop soundtrack dialled up? This CW take on Mary Queen of Scots is unapologetic fun.

But Historical accuracy is basically abandoned; it plays more like Gossip Girl in corsets.

Versailles2015

France's answer to the same brief — a young king, a glittering court, endless bed-hopping and backstabbing, dressed in gold leaf instead of Tudor velvet.

But Subtitled or dubbed depending on version, and it leans even harder into the sex than The Tudors ever did.

The White Queen2013

Same production pedigree, same appetite for royal beds and battlefields, just one dynasty earlier — the Wars of the Roses that made the Tudors possible.

But Fewer recognizable faces and a denser web of claimants; takes a while to sort who's who.

Elizabeth1998

Watch what happens to Henry's daughter — Cate Blanchett turning from vulnerable princess to armoured queen is one of cinema's great transformations.

But A film, not a series — tighter, colder, and far less interested in bedroom antics than the throne room.

A Man for All Seasons1966

Henry VIII from the other side of the argument, watching Thomas More refuse to bend — a moral thriller dressed as costume drama, and it won Best Picture.

But Talky and stagey by design; principle over passion, so don't expect any heaving bodices.

Outlander2014

Scottish court intrigue wrapped around a full-throated romance, for anyone who came to The Tudors mostly for the yearning and the velvet.

But Time travel and romance-novel DNA pull it far from straight history — a very different genre wearing similar clothes.

Anne of the Thousand Days1969no page yet

The exact same seduction, marriage and execution at the centre of The Tudors, told four decades earlier as tragic drama instead of soap opera.

Richard Burton's Henry and Geneviève Bujold's Anne play out the identical courtship and downfall as grand tragedy rather than titillation, and it's genuinely devastating.

But Stately late-60s pacing and theatrical dialogue; nobody is going to accuse this one of being sexy.

House of Cards1990

Same engine as Henry's court — ambition dressed as charisma, betrayal as strategy — relocated to 1990s Westminster and narrated by a modern Machiavelli straight to camera.

Swap the doublets for suits and Henry's court for modern Westminster, and you get Francis Urquhart — a schemer who seduces, betrays and murders his way to the top with identical charm.

But No costumes, no beheadings, no romance — this is dry, cynical political theatre, closer to Shakespeare than to pageantry.