Damian Lewis

First look images of Timothy Spall, Damian Lewis and Kate Phillips in BBC’s Wolf Hall

Wolf Hall follows Hilary Mantel’s series of historical novels of the same name, focusing on the rise of Thomas Cromwell through the court of Henry VIII (Damian Lewis, Homeland). The close of series one saw Cromwell rise to a place of political power, followed by the execution of Anne Boleyn (Claire Foy, The Crown), which means series two, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light, will see Kate Phillips’ (Peaky Blinders) Jane Seymour take her place as the third queen

Second series of Wolf Hall to begin filming

Mark Rylance playing Thomas Cromwell in Tudor dress stands in front of ornate wooden panels

The first series adapted the Hilary Mantel novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, which semi-fictionalised the rise to power of Thomas Cromwell. Coming from nothing, Cromwell rapidly found a political foothold in the court of King Henry VIII, as well as a score of enemies.

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light is named after the third novel in Mantel’s trilogy, covering the last four years of Cromwell’s life. With Anne Boleyn (Claire Foy) executed, Henry finds happiness in his third marriage, this time tying the knot with Jane Seymour (Kate Phillips).

Homeland's Damian Lewis looks at real life spies in HISTORY'S new docu-drama

The actor was initially reluctant when his brother, Gareth ­­– one of the executive producers of Damian Lewis: Spy Wars – asked him to present. “I hadn’t done factual [before] and I don’t consider myself a presenter.

“But I enjoy the [spy] genre and I thought it was an opportunity to look behind these popular stories and see if we could unearth something a bit more intimate about the people themselves, and the ramifications on global politics of very personal decisions taken by individuals.”

Damian Lewis: Spy Wars screening and Q&A

Damian Lewis will be attending the screening along with the production team and key A+E Networks UK programme makers.

The new UK series focuses on many of the most critical and remarkable espionage operations which defined intelligence warfare and reveals remarkable true stories.

Following the screening of the episode, there will be a Q&A with key creatives behind the series, including Dan Korn, VP Programming, A+E Networks UK, Damian Lewis, Gareth Lewis, Executive Producer, Rookery Productions and Johanna Woolford Gibbon, Series Producer with chair, Caroline Frost.

This week's top TV: 9 - 15 May

Monday

Upstart Crow

BBC2

10pm

David Mitchell appears as Britain's foremost playwright, William Shakespeare, in this new comedy depicting the life of the Bard as he juggles family life with a career in the theatre.

In episode one, William is having troubles with his latest play Romeo and Juliet as England's leading 'female' actor is apparently too old to play the teenaged Juliet and his nemesis plots to close down the whole production.  

Sky 'not worried' about competition from Netflix and Amazon says Gary Davey

Sky, Sky Arts, television, Europe, Damian Lewis, Gary Davey, Pat Younge, Sugar Films, The Hospital Club,

Speaking at an RTS Early Evening Event Davey said that despite the proliferation of ways of watching content linear channels would continue to survive. 

“Channels will always be around. | cannot see a future where they don’t exist,” said Davey, a pay TV veteran who was part of the team that helped establish the pioneering satellite broadcaster in the early 1990s.  

“There is a revolution going on but it’s happening a lot slower than people think…