Shardlake - General Discussion

[CM-BlueButterfly]

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Set in 16th century England during the dissolution of the monasteries, Shardlake is a four-part drama based on the first novel in C.J. Sansom’s internationally popular Tudor murder mystery series. The eerie whodunnit adventure follows lawyer Matthew Shardlake (Arthur Hughes) and Jack Barack (Anthony Boyle) as they work to uncover the truth behind a horrific murder. The two men are sent out on a mission by the dangerous and all-powerful right-hand man to Henry VIII: Thomas Cromwell (Sean Bean) — and failure is not an option.

May 1, 2024

 

[blackwing]

I've read all seven books.  I love most historical dramas but especially those set during Tudor times.  I'm stupidly excited for this show.  I really really really hope the showrunners don't screw it up.

[AnimeMania]

Shardlake is a 4 episode Tudor murder mystery TV Series streaming on May 1, 2024 on Hulu, based on a seven novel series by C.J. Sansom. The first book, Dissolution (2003), introduces readers to Matthew Shardlake, a hunchback (“crookback”, scoliosis) lawyer-turned-detective with an acute sense of honsety and justice in 16th century, Tudor England. Shardlake is sent by Thomas Cromwell, the right-hand man to Henry VIII, the ultimate Tudor powerbroker, to investigate the beheading of Robin Singleton in the remote town of Scarnsea, Singleton is the commissioner responsible for disbanding monasteries after Henry VIII declared himself supreme head of the Church of England. Jack Barak is ordered to accompany Shardlake in his task, but is he an assistant, or Cromwell's spy.  

Arthur Hughes as Matthew Shardlake

Anthony Boyle as Jack Barak 

Sean Bean as Thomas Cromwell

Damian Lewis as Henry VIII

Babou Ceesay as Abbot Fabian

Paul Kaye as Brother Jerome

Ruby Ashbourne Serkis as Alice

Peter Firth as Norfolk

Matthew Steer as Goodhap

Brian Vernel as Brother Mortimus

Irfan Shamji as Brother Guy

David Pearse as Brother Edwig

Miles Barrow as Brother Gabriel

Mike Noble as Bugge 

Kimberley Nixon as Joan

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19 hours ago, blackwing said:

I've read all seven books.  I love most historical dramas but especially those set during Tudor times.  I'm stupidly excited for this show.  I really really really hope the showrunners don't screw it up.

🤞

[blackwing]

Sad news.  CJ Sansom died this past Saturday from his bone marrow cancer, aged 71.  We knew that he was having major health issues but it's especially sad that he died just days before the premiere of the TV show.  I'm hoping he at least got to see advance footage of the show and know that his creation which brought joy to so many in his books also made it to the silver screen.  All of the advance press I have read suggests the show is fantastic.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/29/cj-sansom-author-of-the-shardlake-novels-dies-aged-71

I'm sad that we will not get to read "Ratcliff".  Here is a synopsis of what was supposed to happen.  So much had been written in the books about how Shardlake never found anyone to marry, and it looked like it was going to finally happen in this book.  I was also looking forward to how the reign of Mary I would be depicted in a potential Book 9.  RIP Mr. Sansom.

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Autumn, 1552. England is, uneasily, at peace. King Edward VI, now fifteen and mature beyond his years, is already beginning to play an active part in politics. His sister, the Lady Elizabeth, now nineteen, is a prominent figure at court. Edward’s heir, however, is his elder sister Mary. Having refused to renounce her Catholicism in Edward’s increasingly strident Protestant England, she lives in Essex, an unseen but worrying presence.
Matthew Shardlake has returned to practising law, including matters involving the properties of Elizabeth. A shadow hangs over him, however; he has fallen deeply in love with Liz Partlett, nurse to his adopted daughter Mousey—a love that is reciprocated although Liz, haunted by grim events, feels she can never marry him.
As colonization and the slave trade dominate world affairs, a group of English merchants, desperate to find new trading opportunities, sets up a Company of Merchant Adventurers to seek a north-east passage to the Far East. The destination of the projected voyage is kept strictly secret lest Spanish spies should learn of it. After the secretary of the Company suddenly dies, Shardlake is recruited to the post as a competent man who can be trusted to keep matters secret.
Meanwhile a crumbling house by the Thames suddenly collapses, killing several tenants. Shardlake discovers that responsibility for the disaster devolves on the ultimate owner of the land, the Lady Elizabeth. At the site, Shardlake makes a gruesome discovery in the intact remains of the cellar: a torture chamber, and the hideously disfigured body of a Portuguese man.
Shardlake finds himself caught up in a world of spies and double-agents, and discovers that his predecessor as Secretary of the Merchant Adventurers was murdered. He must investigate, and quickly, for the date when the ships must set sail to catch the Arctic spring of 1553 is fast approaching. Rumours begin to circulate that King Edward has fallen sick, and may be dying...

 

Edited April 29 by blackwing