A gangster king thing

By JAMES RAMPTON

The Duke of Buckingham has been foiled in his attempt to lead a Plantagenet rebellion against the reigning Tudor monarch, Henry VIII.

As the king interrogates the captured duke, he taunts him by holding out his hand and showing him his regal ring. "Take it," Henry mocks, before saying with a threatening snarl, "but you'll have to kill me first." You half expect the king to add: "Come and have a go, if you think you're hard enough!"

For in Henry VIII (TV One, 8.30pm, Sunday) the title role is played by Ray Winstone, a seminal screen hard nut. He is an actor who, since he made his debut as "the Daddy" in Scum 25 years ago, has fashioned a career from dishing out mayhem.

Remember the havoc he wreaked in, Nil By Mouth or Sexy Beast or The War Zone or Face? He's one scary guy.

The quintessential East End actor is delighted to portray Henry VIII. In a break between shooting scenes at Pinewood, where the film-makers have recreated the Great Hall, the Queen's bedchambers and castle corridors, Winstone beams, "It's flattering for me to be asked to play a king. I mean, I'm a kid out of Plaistow, and I'm playing one of the most famous kings of England. It's fantastic!"

Certainly, with Winstone in the role, there is no danger of this Henry being some sort of effete, namby-pamby monarch who minces around smelling roses.

As the writer Peter Morgan puts it, "If Ray Winstone is in it, you know this drama is not going to be too stuffy and up its own arse." And, according to the lead actor, "When my Henry comes into the room and says, 'I am the King of England', I want to make sure that people hear the sound of a warrior ready for war - not some poncey bloke with a bunch of jewels on his head."

Helena Bonham Carter, who plays the seductive Anne Boleyn says Winstone is "a dynamic choice. He puts a different slant on it because he is so unpredictable, and that brings a raw brutality to it."

She adds that "me being 'Mrs Period Cliche' is balanced in this project by the fact that Ray is definitely not one."

Winstone undoubtedly invests the role with a simmering air of menace. One scene that looks set to grab headlines is a case in point. '

In the middle of a blazing row about her failure to produce a son, the enraged Henry grabs Anne and brutally rapes her.

As Bonham Carter says, "That was a pretty unpleasant scene, as it brought home just what a monster Henry could be."

Winstone chips in by acknowledging the King's fatal flaw. "Powerful men usually have a weakness, and that always seems to be sex."

It is a portrayal that diverges from the "authorised version" of Henry' s life, and Morgan is bracing himself for attacks from purists. The writer admits that "plenty of historians will find what we have done scandalous.

"But I'm aiming to stimulate greater interest in history, rather than to score points with a particular version of events".

Andy Harries, the controller of drama at Granada, is also far more concerned with Henry VIII as drama than as historical record, and for him it is a "walk-in story". "I thought, 'Henry VIII and his six wives - can it get much better for ITV? Never mind Bad Girls - I've got a mad, testosterone-fuelled king who rampages about the place beheading his wives'.

"Once I had Ray Winstone in mind for the lead, everything fell into place. Casting him made the whole project feel very contemporary. When I said, 'Ray Winstone is Henry VIII', the ITV executives immediately understood what I was pitching. Ray has this tremendous physical intensity. Henry was a very angry and irrational man, prone to terrible mood swings and violence."

"Irrational" scarcely does Henry VIII justice. When a friend beat him at bowls once, the King had him beheaded.

"He was obviously a few marbles short of the complete box," Harries smiles. "Ray depicts that brilliantly."

Henry had to do a lot of wheeler-dealing to hold on to his throne. How did he maintain power? By bunging nobles. Cardinal Wolsey ( played by David Suchet] was wealthy because he diverted a large amount of Treasury funds into his own pockets."

Emphasising the modern-day feel, the producers steered clear of period stereotypes. "So," explains Harries, "we shot it in a modern way, without any cod Tudor language. There are no thees or thous or my lieges. And there is no ludicrous dancing in pantaloons!"

Francis Hopkinson, the producer of Henry VIII: "We didn't want to prettify the era, which was raw and tough. This is certainly not chocolate-box drama."

To underline the gritty authenticity of the production, behind the scenes, I'm told wardrobe assistants drenched Henry's underpants in cold tea to give them that credible "lived-in" look for a love scene with Anne.

Morgan takes up the theme. "Before I wrote Henry VIII, there were just two rules: no chicken drumsticks being hurled over the shoulder, and no lute music."

Instead, the writer has focused on the fact that Henry is - to use that ghastly term of psychotherapists - "conflicted". "He was a neglected second son, and much of his loudness and attention-seeking was down to trying to get his father's approval. That meant that he was both a brute and a victim at the same time."

Winstone explains why he believes the King was such a contradictory character. "My idea of Henry is mixed. I think he was a troubled man - paranoid and psychotic at times, while charming and funny at others. This is a man who allowed two of his wives - women he loved passionately - to be murdered. At the same time, he wrote beautiful love letters, understood science and, to a certain extent, was a great ambassador. He was an intelligent, gentle, romantic man who lost his way when it came to love. He sold his soul for his country and for the duty he inherited, and from then on it became easier and easier for him to discard the women he loved."

- INDEPENDENT