The Mirror and the Light; Gunpowder Siege; The Palace

“Peter Kosminsky again delivers sumptuous television, authenticity in every turn of a courtier’s velvet cuff or a lady’s gable hood, the looks and glances between characters as telling as the dialogue in this political snake pit.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“Peter Kosminsky’s production looks and feels as if it was filmed back-to-back with the original six Bafta-winning episodes. The only telltale signs that the real world has intruded on this living, breathing Holbein tableau is the sparse inclusion of some previously trailed diverse casting (of little note, unless you’re determined to be irked by it) and the recasting of several roles, some more successfully and seamlessly than others.”
Chris Bennion, The Telegraph

“The brilliance of Wolf Hall is that it depicts the king and his courtiers from 500 years ago both as historical figures and as human beings whose vanity, greed and duplicity would not be out of place in our own time. We almost forget we’re watching the events of centuries long past, for their motives seem so modern.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Without the benefit of Mantel’s prose or access to the fragmented Cromwell psyche, it is as much as the show can do to elevate itself beyond The Tudors, The White Queen, or The Spanish Princess. And even if the eventual product is inferior to its source, the story is still riveting and the telling still mature and dynamic.”
Nick Hilton, The Independent

“I wish the production team displayed the same conviction as the conspirators by digging deeper into the way minds from four centuries ago actually operated. Did they feel that their pious zealotry would be off-putting to modern audiences? As a result, they get the fevered, youthful intemperance right, but not the deep and solemn spirituality that underpinned it. They’re just like us, this screams. But were they?”
Ben Dowell, The Times

“There is certain valour in martyrdom, granted, but too much talk and too little action didn’t serve this drama well enough. Ironically, what it really needed was a few more fireworks.”
Nick Duerden, The i

“While there are some intriguing elements, and the period costumes and set design are handsomely realised, with some truly exquisite wallpaper on display, The Palace is too staid to generate much interest in the sisters’ dual plights. There’s a veneer of quality throughout but the weak character arcs are hard to invest in.”
Leila Latif, The Guardian