Ignore everything you know about Henry VIII, this show hardly ever sticks to the truth. However the show itself is amazing! Johnathan Rhys Meyers isnt fantastic, but the whole thing is pulled together by Sam Neil and Natalie Dormer. Not forgetting the amazing handsom Henry Cavil as Henry's best friend Charles Brandon.

This was potentially a fantastic series even with massive historical inaccuracies. Sam Neil, Jeremy Northam and Natalie Dormer are all excellent but this series is let down by a terrible performance from Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Henry. I managed to get all the way through this series but haven't felt compelled to go back for season 2.

This is a great series, OK may not be 100% accurate, but close enough to history to not make it a farce. This shows the rise to power of one of the most well known monarchs is British history, and his war against the Catholic church..... The whole cast is superb, with the 3 main factions (the Boleyn's, the Catholics and the Kings supporters) well portrayed. The first series is quite heavy on the sex, however as Henry was supposed to be a very virile king, I suppose that can be justified. My one small criticism is that sometimes it feels like they put so much in for shock value. Although I watched it when it was shown on the BBC, bought it as it is definitely one I will watch again.