Even when he is with his beloved (for the moment) Ann Boleyn, you get the sense that he might tire of her on a moment’s notice as he had with Katherine of Aragon. Rhys-Meyers voraciously overacts, in my opinion, in contrast to pretty much everybody else - all rage and excess. It could be the character, presenting all of his cards, wearing his heart and emotions on his sleeve in contrast to the manipulative chess playing of the Boleyns, particularly Thomas, Ann’s Machiavellian father.

Last season, Sam Neill played the devious and corrupt Cardinal Woolsey, chancellor to the King. Woolsey died in prison (whether he committed suicide as implied by the show is a matter of controversy). This season, Peter O’Toole has joined the cast as the Pope, threatening to excommunicate Henry for divorcing Katherine, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella (yes, that Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain.)

None of the characters in The Tudors are particularly heroic, nor particularly likeable. Sir Thomas More is beautifully underplayed by Jeremy Northam (who is seen far too infrequently these days in film). More was a man of scruples; a devout Catholic, and the man who wrote the Utopia, and was friend to Renaissance philosopher Erasmus. He was a lawyer and both teacher and friend to Henry - as well as his chancellor (after Woolsey’s demise).

When Henry breaks with the Church, More resigns rather than serve his self-interest, pledging his allegiance to the Church, and at great risk. He warns of a king who feels himself answerable to no one but God, who is above morality and can set his own rules. But More, for all of his ethical ideals, fought the reformers, burning heretics at the stake. So not even the heroic More is, well, heroic.

It sounds as if I don’t like it. And by all accounts, I shouldn’t. I like my heroes flawed, but essentially decent (even if that decency is well suppressed). But I do. Like it, that is. I don’t necessarily pour over every scene, TiVo it and re-watch it 11 times to get the minutest nuance. (As I am known to do with House). But like I said, maybe it’s the display; the pretty costumes, the gorgeous musical score, or the soap opera-ish way in which it’s all packaged. Sort of like Dallas goes to the Renaissance Faire. It just clicks for me. I only wonder how (if the series goes on another year or two) how they’re going to make Rhys-Meyers look portly!

John Adams, on the other hand, is full of heroes. Patriots, even. But it all moves along at an almost too leisurely pace, especially in contrast to the Tudors. Eschewing some of the more iconic and clichéd scenes of our nation’s birth, it tells the story of Adams, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin through back rooms, and back yards; meeting halls and private conversation.