Power, corruption and lies — Damian Lewis and Claire Foy reveal what makes Wolf Hall‘s Tudor England different and darker.

“I’m not playing Henry as the womanising, syphilitic, genocidal, bloated Elvis character that people probably expect.” — Damian Lewis

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“For example, I’d read stuff about Anne Boleyn having warts and six fingers,” laughs Foy. “Fortunately I wasn’t asked to play her that way”.

As well as that, she was also said to be promiscuous. “Her critics, and there were lots of them, called her ‘The Great Whore’, and claimed she had special tricks in the bedroom that she’d learned in the French court, which was why Henry fell in love with her. But, actually, it’s far more likely that she was a virgin, who kept Henry waiting for five long years.

“She was smart and knew exactly how to play him, although in the end, of course, it didn’t stop him from having her executed,” continues Foy.