The Shadow of the Tower is a historical drama that was broadcast on BBC2 in 1972. It was a prequel to the earlier serials The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Elizabeth R. Consisting of thirteen episodes, it focused on the reign of Henry VII of England and the creation of the Tudor dynasty.
Crown In Jeopardy
Jan 6, 1972
Henry Tudor emerges victorious over Richard III at the battle of Bosworth Field and seeks to form a coalition from which he hopes to establish a Tudor dynasty.
Power in the Land
Jan 13, 1972
Henry consolidates his power when Elizabeth gives birth to Prince Arthur legitimizing Henry's claim of descent from the legendary monarch.
The Schooling Of Apes
Jan 20, 1972
Henrys enemies represent commoner Lambert Simmel as the Earl of Warwick, the York pretender. The Earl of Lincoln leaves for Ireland to head the army that is forming against Henry,
The Crowning Of Apes
Jan 27, 1972
Henry forms an army to defend himself against the Irish-German army coming against him from Ireland.
The Serpent And The Comforter
Feb 3, 1972
King Henry is intrigued by a preacher who is arrested for heresy and speaks with him to persuade him to give up his dissension against the practices of the Catholic Church. The preacher emphasizes to him the simplicity of the Gospel, and his suffering and convictions impress a young Tower guard.
The White Hart
Feb 10, 1972
The year is 1494 and King Henry is alarmed that the powerful and arrogant Sir William Stanley may be implicated in a plot against his crown .
A Fly In The Ointment
Feb 17, 1972
Addle-brained Sir John Kendall and his dim-witted nephew devise a ludicrous plan to kill the King with a harmless ointment from phony astrologer.
The Princely Gift
Feb 24, 1972
Visionary Italian navigator John Cabot has a difficult time convincing Bristol businessmen and the King that his Western voyage to China is practical and profitable.
Do The Sheep Sin?
Mar 2, 1972
Heavy-handed tax policies lead the peasants of Cornwall to march peacefully in protest on London, but an ambitions nobleman wants to use the pilgrimage to his own advantage.
The Man Who Never Was
Mar 9, 1972
Commoner Perkin Warbeck, pretender to Henry's throne, finds he's losing support throughout Europe.
The Strange Shapes Of Reality
Mar 16, 1972
Although Perkin Warbeck enjoys only house arrest for his treason through Henry's mercy, he continues to plot against the King.
The Fledgling
Mar 23, 1972
In order to give his dynasty more credibility, Henry tries to arrange a marriage between his son and the Spanish princess, but their are preconditions.
The King Without A Face
Mar 30, 1972
The year is now 1501 and Henry is now finally secure on the throne with his promising son Arthur about to marry Catherine of Aragon, however in the shadows tragic events are lying in wait for the King.
CinemaSerf
@Geronimo1967
James Maxwell was probably far more accomplished as a theatre director than an actor, and his casting here as the first English Tudor monarch, King Henry VII, is probably the source of this drama's struggles. That king had a reputation for deviousness and ruthlessness that this performance seems to overly sanitise; indeed the whole thing lacks the potency and vibrancy of it's chronological successor "Henry VIII and his Six Wives" (1970). It is spread across 13 fifty minute episodes - some based on fact: his defeat of Richard III; accession; marriage to Edward IV's daughter - Elizabeth of York; Perkin Warbeck and his rebellions etc. and some based on potential scenarios that he may have faced during his reign - the best probably being an encounter with Peter Jeffrey as "The Prisoner", a man accused of heretical behaviour because he happens to believe that Jesus is not best represented to the people by a corrupt and venal Church. There is a decent cast drawn from English theatre circles with Norma West appearing, sparingly, as his wife, but the dialogue is overly verbose; the studio scenery implies some of the dinginess of their actual existence but at the same time leaves us looking at something over staged and really pretty unrealistic (and poorly lit) most of the time. The fact that many of the episodes were directed by different people also doesn't help the continuing, pretty tame, narrative of this fascinatingly shrewd individual from history. Maybe had it just condensed the reign into six episodes under the hand of one director then it would have improved significantly? Rarely available nowadays - probably far too expensive to repeat, but it is still very much worth watching despite it's flaws.
