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- Sex & Nudity (99)
- Violence & Gore (53)
- Profanity (4)
- Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking (1)
- Frightening & Intense Scenes (3)
- Spoilers (1)
Certification
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Sex & Nudity
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- Season 01, Episode 06 - Thomas Boleyn walks into his chambers to find two bare-breasted twin girls.
- There is at least one sex and/or nude scene in almost every episode. They may be either strong or mild.
- Season One
- Episode One: "In Cold Blood"
- Explicit sex scene with King Henry and his mistress Elizabeth Blount early in the episode; bare breasts and buttocks are visible and there are loud lovemaking noises. They then lie on the bed together whilst talking; her breasts are visible for a length of time.
- Henry visits the bedchamber of his wife, Queen Catherine, as she asked him to. As she is not there at the time, he instead summons one of her ladies-in-waiting to sleep with him. When the lady arrives in his room, they passionately kiss and he unties her robe, showing one of her breasts.
- Charles Brandon makes a bet with Henry that he will get the Duke of Buckingham's daughter to sleep with him. Brandon is later shown having sex with the girl, taking her from behind on top of the bed; breasts and buttocks can be seen in some shots. There is another sensual scene of them later in the episode, in which they are fully clothed.
- Episode Two: "Simply Henry"
- Mary Boleyn is presented to Henry in France, and he asks what "French graces" she has learned. She unties his pants and orally services him, though this is not graphic. They are later seen lying in bed together; Mary kisses and attempts to arouse him, but he has tired of her and asks her to leave.
- King Francis says to Henry about Mary Boleyn; "I call her my 'English mare' because I ride her so often".
- Episode Three: "Wolsey, Wolsey, Wolsey!"
- Henry summons one of the women of the court to his room. She presents herself to him and removes her robe; buttocks and breasts are shown.
- There is a bed scene of Cardinal Wolsey and his mistress, in which she is topless; her breasts can be seen.
- In a dreamlike sequence, Henry imagines he is running after Anne Boleyn, trying to catch her. She asks him to seduce her. He opens a door and she is standing there naked in a Venus pose; one of her breasts can be seen.
- Episode Four: "His Majesty, The King"
- This episode contains no nudity.
- Charles Brandon and his men talk crudely about prostitutes.
- Henry sleeps with with Princess Margueritte; this is not shown, but there is a scene of embarrassed attendants standing outside Henry's chamber while very loud, obvious lovemaking sounds can be heard from within.
- Brandon and Henry's sister, Margaret, have sex whilst playing chess on a boat on the way to Portugal. They are fully clothed in this scene; no nudity, but some thrusting.
- Margaret is made to marry the elderly, decrepit King of Portugal against her will. The couple are expected to consummate the marriage, with attendants present to ensure consummation takes place. The sex scene is shown from outside the closed curtains of the bed (no nudity); Margaret sounds as though she's in pain and not at all aroused. She is shown to be very unhappy and traumatised at having to perform sexual intercourse with him; doing it only out of obligation. This scene is somewhat disturbing.
- Henry and Anne Boleyn kiss passionately for the first time, but are interrupted.
- Episode Five: "Arise, My Lord"
- Henry asks Anne to become his official mistress, but she is offended and refuses, saying she is saving her virginity for her future husband, and that her sister Mary has gained a reputation as "The Great Prostitute" for becoming Henry's mistress, before he cast her aside.
- Brandon meets Sir William Compton in a brothel; partially dressed /nude prostitutes may be seen in the background of some shots.
- Anne agrees to be Henry's official mistress. Henry visits Anne in her bed, laying claim to her maidenhead, but does not have sex with her; he vows to honour her maidenhead.
- Brandon and Margaret, who have secretly married, have a fight which turns into sex (no nudity).
- William Compton becomes enamoured of court musician Thomas Tallis, who agrees to become his lover.
- Episode Six: "True Love"
- Anne receives a love letter from Henry which she reads aloud to her father; in the letter Henry writes "your pretty breasts I hope soon to kiss".
- Episode Ten: "The Death of Wolsey"
- Henry and Anne have sex in a forest whilst out riding; this is a fairly passionate/explicit sex scene, with nudity.
- Season Two
- Episode Five:
- Henry has sex with a peasant woman he meets; which is shown (no nudity).
- A woman flashes her full frontal nudity to joke (briefly)
- George Boleyn rapes his wife Lady Rochford on their wedding night, while holding her bent over a table; she is fully clothed, and his bare buttocks can be seen. Jane is clearly in pain; she struggles and pleads for him to stop, but is overpowered by him. Very disturbing scene.
- The French admiral's niece seduces Charles Brandon; she approaches him while he's in his stable and they passionately kiss. Sex is implied, but not shown. Brandon's wife Catherine is upset when she learns he's been unfaithful.
- William Brereton is shown kneeling naked in his room, praying, when he is arrested. His bare buttocks can be seen.
- Season Three
- Episode One:
- Sir Francis Bryan asks Lady Misseldon to become his mistress. Later there are a couple of shots of her lying naked in his room; her breasts can be seen.
- Episode Two:
- It is implied that King Henry takes Lady Misseldon as his mistress; there is a bedside scene of them, but no sex shown.
- Episode Three:
- Mr Holbein is commissioned by Henry to paint Lady Misseldon naked; she is positioned for the portrait lying down. There is a rear shot of her posing, where her buttocks can be seen. One of her breasts can also be seen reflected in a mirror intentionally placed in front of her for the portrait. Her fiancé walks in while she is posing, and is angry.
- Francis Bryan and Edward Seymour's wife, Anne, begin an affair. There is an explicit sex scene of them in which nudity is shown.
- King Henry unveils the finished painting of naked Lady Misseldon, and admires it.
- Episode Four:
- Sir Francis has sex with Anne Seymour behind a curtain during a feast; no nudity, they are fully clothed. She asks him what she should do, should she fall pregnant to him.
- Sir Francis and Thomas Seymour are seen flirting with two women (possibly prostitutes) in their room at an inn whilst in Caserta (no nudity).
- Henry asks to spend one more night with Lady Misseldon before she returns home. There is later a fairly explicit, passionate sex scene of them intercut with Henry and his bishops signing the Six Articles of Faith. Nudity is shown.
- Henry and the French ambassador discuss prospects for Henry's new marriage. There is some sexual dialogue/innuendo.
- Sir Francis and Anne Seymour lie naked on a bed together, talking. No sex, but nudity is shown.
- Sir Francis and Thomas Seymour go into a brothel, where they are told Cardinal Pole is. Moaning/sex noises can be heard in the background. They interrupt another bishop engaged in sex with a prostitute - nudity briefly shown. Francis afterwards solicits the brothel madam to have sex with (which is implied, but not shown).
- Henry marries Anne of Cleves, which is purely a political marriage. They are expected to consummate the marriage, and there is a bed scene of them where Henry feels inside her nightdress but gives up without having sex with her - no nudity shown; it is a very loveless, frigid scene. There is dialogue throughout the rest of the episode, discussing how the marriage is unconsummated and she remains a maid.
- In a later bed scene of them, Henry again attempts to have sex with her (no nudity), but remains unaroused. She is left looking distressed, and it is implied Henry attempts to masturbate underneath the bedclothes, but gives up.
- Young Catherine Howard is selected to 'amuse' Henry. When he sees her in court and requests a private meeting, she blatantly flirts with him by kissing a ring he shows her, then lifting her skirt and rubbing the ring on her bare thighs.
- Henry goes to Catherine secretly at night. She undresses while he watches (breasts and buttocks shown), then lies on a bed naked and waits for him. No sex shown.
- They are seen lying naked together on a bed in another scene, whilst reading a letter; her buttocks can be seen.
- In the very last scene, Henry watches Catherine swinging naked in a swing; nudity shown.
- Season Four
- Henry looks upon Catherine Howard lying naked on a bed; her breasts can be seen, her lower parts are covered with rose petals. She then invites him to come into bed with her (sex not shown).
- Catherine performs a shadow puppet show for Henry in which a female puppet performs oral sex on a male puppet, and the puppets have sex. Catherine then performs a seductive dance for Henry (she is clothed), and they end in having sex (no nudity shown).
- Henry, fully clothed, caresses Catherine who is lying naked on a bed; her breasts can be seen when she rolls over. She wants to have sex with him, but he tells her he is too tired and leaves. Joan Bulmer then comes into Catherine's bed and talks about their past lovers.
- Thomas Culpepper talks of imagining Catherine naked to the king's other attendants.
- Culpepper, accompanied by four other men, finds a peasant woman working at her home alone. They taunt and terrorise her, chasing her around as she screams. Two men hold her by the arms, and it is strongly implied that rape is to follow; this is a somewhat distressing scene. The woman's husband later confronts the men for raping his wife, and Culpepper kills him.
- Henry Howard, Catherine's uncle, wants to begin an affair with Anne Seymour. On one private visit to her room, he puts his hand up her skirt, implying that he is touching her vagina.
- Henry and Catherine passionately kiss in bed; she then abruptly gets up and goes outside into the rain, and dances around in her nightgown. Her breasts can be seen through the wet white fabric, and Culpepper watches her from a window.
- Henry and Catherine loudly and passionately have sex on a bed; there is a curtain between them and the camera, with no nudity being shown. Catherine repeatedly cries "f**k me!" Joan Bulmer and Lady Rochford have a conversation outside the room, where the loud lovemaking noises can still be heard in the background, and Joan tells Jane of Catherine's sexual relationship with a former lover. Jane later describes this relationship to Culpepper.
- Some prostitutes are shown trying to solicit men.
- Thomas Seymour visits Anne Seymour in her bedchamber and propositions her for sex. She resists him at first, but he wins her over and she invites him into her bed "to enjoy what his brother enjoys" (no sex is shown).
- Culpepper and Lady Rochford are shown in bed together after having sex; her breasts can be seen. Culpepper tells her he is still obsessed with Catherine, and Jane says she can arrange for him to secretly meet Catherine. They then have sex again.
- Culpepper is taken to meet Catherine in a secret chamber at night, implying they will have sex (not shown).
- Lady Rochford watches Catherine and Culpepper during one of their secret meetings through the keyhole in the door. They are shown kissing and Catherine is heard moaning; no sex is shown.
- Lady Rochford takes off her robe, showing her breasts and buttocks, and goes to lie in bed with Culpepper who is asleep.
- Henry Howard asks a serving wench in a pub, "How would you like to suck the c*ck of a man who's a member of the Order of the Garter?"
- Lady Rochford and Culpepper read a letter Catherine has written to him whilst they lie in bed together. She is naked and wrapped in a sheet; no nudity shown. She kisses and tries to arouse him, but he is preoccupied with the letter and shows no interest in having sex.
- Henry asks Anne of Cleves if he may visit her bed, and they are later shown lying in bed together fully clothed; no sex is shown.
- Culpepper and Catherine are shown having sex during one of their secret meetings; he removes her corset, showing her breasts, and kisses her chest. They proceed to have sex.
- Catherine has Culpepper summoned to her room again in a later scene, and there is another sex scene which is more explicit. Nudity is shown.
- Henry carries Catherine to his bed and they have sex. They are both fully clothed in this scene; no nudity.
- Catherine and Culpepper sexually engage and kiss heavily. He removes her dress, showing her breasts, and they go over to the bed to continue.
- Francis Dereham, Catherine's former lover, demands Catherine to employ him as one of her attendants under threat he will otherwise expose her past. There are several scenes in which he loudly and obnoxiously talks of their past sexual encounters in the presence of other attendants. In one scene he says, "I've had her by the c**t".
- Culpepper asks Catherine to perform oral sex on him, which she does. She unties his trousers, and oral sex is implied (no nudity shown).
- Catherine and Culpepper are shown in the act of intercourse in another scene, in which they are both naked and he is taking her from behind; her buttocks can be seen. The scene is fairly explicit, but brief.
- Catherine's sexual encounters with her formers lovers and her affair with Culpepper are described and discussed at length throughout the episode by many characters.
- Edward Seymour discusses Catherine's sexual encounters with Anne Seymour, who is shown to be heavily pregnant, and Thomas Seymour. When Edward leaves the room, Anne asks Thomas "What shall we call your child?" implying that she is pregnant to him, not her husband Edward.
- Henry flirts and cavorts with many women at a private party (no sex/nudity shown).
- Catherine practices placing her head on the execution block in her prison cell; she is naked in this scene, her breasts and buttocks are shown.
- Episode Six:
- No sex scenes or nudity.
- Episode Seven:
- No nudity.
- A young soldier on the battlefield tells his friend that he'd like to look for a French woman to have sex with, and says he has a wife and son at home. He is then shown soliciting a prostitute who approaches him; however, she is killed before anything happens.
- Episode Eight:
- Charles Brandon has sex with a French girl, Brigitte, whom he has captured. They kiss passionately and undress each other; one of her breasts is shown.
- In a later scene, he asks to 'look at her', and she removes her dress, briefly showing her breasts and buttocks; however, she is shy and quickly covers herself again.
- Episode Nine:
- Charles Brandon tells his son that he has made Brigitte his official mistress and introduces her to him.
Violence & Gore
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- There are a number of execution and torture scenes throughout the series, some of which are gory, that may be disturbing for some viewers.
- Season One
- The English Ambassador is assassinated by the French; he is brutally stabbed and shown lying dead.
- There is a jousting tournament, in which there is some violence.
- Lord Buckingham threatens Charles Brandon with a sword after catching him having sex with his daughter. Afterwards he roughly slaps his daughter across the face, splitting her lip.
- Henry, angry at having to sign the Treaty of Universal and Perpetual Peace in France, is shown having a violent fit of passion in his room, throwing and smashing items.
- Lord Buckingham is executed by beheading; delivery of blow not shown.
- Episode Four:
- In a jousting match, Henry forgets to put on his visor and is hit in the face by his opponent's lance. His face is shown with some blood (the injury turns out not to be serious). In the next match, his opponent is badly injured and falls to the ground bleeding.
- Princess Margaret kills her elderly husband, the King of Portugal, by suffocating him with a pillow while he sleeps.
- Season Two
- Episode One:
- Henry's cook is boiled alive in oil for poisoning the clergy (which he was forced into doing under threat his family would be harmed if he refused). He is shown being lowered into the boiling pot with a winch, feet-first, screaming with terror and pain. Very intense/disturbing scene.
- Episode Five:
- Thomas More is sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered; a detailed description of how he will be tortured to death is read aloud to him at his sentencing, while More looks horrified. (Henry later commutes his sentence to a more humane beheading.)
- Thomas More and Bishop Fisher are executed by beheading; delivery of blows not shown for either. Fisher's severed neck with blood coming out of it is seen from a distance. More is dragged on a hurdle to the scaffold. No blood/gore is shown for his death.
- Episode Six:
- George Boleyn rapes his wife, Jane Parker, on their wedding night while holding her bent over a table. Jane is clearly in pain; she struggles and pleads for him to stop, but is overpowered by him. Very disturbing scene.
- William Brereton imagines how he will assassinate Anne Boleyn; he stabs her in the stomach with a knife and she collapses, bleeding (it does not actually happen).
- Episode Nine:
- Anne Boleyn's ladies-in-waiting are interrogated until they give false testimonies about Anne having extramarital love affairs with four men. Fairly intense/disturbing scene.
- Mark Smeaton is tortured into admitting he has had sexual relations with Anne. One of his eyes is crushed with a knotted cord, blood is seen running down his face; he is later shown being tortured on the rack.
- Anne Boleyn's four alleged lovers are executed by beheading in front of a jeering crowd; some of the beheadings are gory and bloody (but shown at some distance, not close-up). Blood splatters on some of the closest spectators, and covers the scaffold; people are shown wiping it up between beheadings. Blood pours out of a severed neck, and another newly-decapitated torso is seen twitching and convulsing.
- Episode Ten:
- Anne Boleyn awaits her execution in the Tower of London; the executioner keeps being delayed and increases her anxiety. A sword is used for her beheading, which is performed by a very skilled Spanish executioner; it is not portrayed as gory in any way. After she is beheaded, her body and severed head are shown at a distance lying on the scaffold.
- Season Three
- Episode Three:
- 74 men involved in leading the Northern uprising are captured and all hanged together from a tree; their distraught wives look on and struggle with the guards to get to their men. Upsetting scene.
- One of the rebels' camps is attacked, and several men shot with arrows. While the rebels are being disarmed and rounded up, blood is seen in puddles on the ground; a man falls, or is pushed, into a bloody puddle.
- The leaders of the rebellion are interrogated and tortured. John Constable is shown being tortured; a hot iron rod is forced up his rear end. Very intense/disturbing scene, though fairly brief.
- The decapitated heads of Darcy, Constable, and a youth who assisted them in the uprising are shown impaled on spikes.
- Mr Aske is sentenced to be hanged in chains for leading the Northern uprising. There are a couple of scenes of him in chains in his prison cell, where he is bleeding and in huge discomfort. In one of these scenes, his wife and children come to see him in his cell, and are very upset; this is a disturbing scene. When he is led to the scaffold for his execution, he is in huge pain from the chains; this is also a somewhat disturbing scene.
- Brandon is ordered to carry out a mass execution of thousands of people supposedly involved in the rebellion; many of whom are probably innocent, as well as women and children. Brandon does not want to do it, and is very troubled. A mass execution field is shown, with hundreds of dead people; hanged on scaffolds.
- Cardinal Pole's innocent family - mother, brother and very young nephew - are arrested and executed (none of the executions are shown). Lady Pole is very distressed and panicky when she is taken to be beheaded.
- Henry suffers hugely from his old jousting wound, which is seen bleeding.
- John Lambert is burned alive at the stake as a heretic, which is shown. Intense/distressing scene.
- Episode Eight:
- Season Four
- An intense/distressing scene where a peasant woman is chased and tormented by Thomas Culpepper and his attendants, then held down by two of them, strongly implying that rape is to follow. The woman's husband later confronts the men for raping his wife and Culpepper kills him by running him through with his sword, which is shown.
- Episode Two:
- Some heads impaled on spikes are briefly seen.
- Henry Howard slaps a prostitute who is following him and his men, and throws her to the ground.
- Henry suffers from his jousting wound, which is shown to be infected and very painful. In one scene, the wound is cut open to drain pus and blood, while Henry is in agony.
- Francis Dereham is shown the torture chamber during his interrogation and told that this is what is done to people who don't tell the truth (he is not tortured in this scene).
- Dereham is taken, struggling, to the torture chamber; his hands are held down and the torturer pulls out one of his fingernails, which is shown. In another scene he is thrown back in his cell with bleeding fingers, implying that all his fingernails have been pulled out.
- In a later scene, he is shown restrained and struggling during interrogation, while the torturer is about to pull his teeth out with an instrument. The torturer is told to stop just before tooth extraction begins.
- Culpepper and Dereham are executed; the execution scene is intense, gory and quite disturbing. Culpepper is beheaded; the blow is shown being delivered at some distance and his decapitated head is picked up and put in a basket. Dereham is hanged, drawn and quartered. He is shown being hanged by his neck. He is then tied down on a table and a hot iron rod is shown being lifted out of a fire, implying it will be used to open his abdomen for him to be disemboweled. His upper torso is shown with large quantities of blood pouring over it when the disemboweling takes place.
- On the way to her cell, Catherine is made to walk past the heads of Culpepper and Dereham; she is very upset when she sees them. The impaled heads are shown.
- Catherine and Lady Rochford are executed by beheading; delivery of blows not shown for either. Jane's decapitated head is picked up after, and a large quantity of her blood covers the block and scaffold. Catherine lays her head in the blood on the block when it is her turn, and the blood-covered axe hovers above her neck before the scene ends.
- Episode Seven:
- Some battle violence.
- Anne Askew is tortured on the rack, despite laws that stated women could not be racked. She is shown being racked, while screaming in pain. In a following scene, her wrists and ankles are shown to be bleeding from the racking while still bound.
- Anne Askew is burned at the stake as a heretic; she has to be carried, as she is in extreme pain from being tortured. She is shown burning, while screaming in pain; she has a pouch of gunpowder placed around her neck which explodes soon after the fire is lit, causing instant death and ending her suffering.
Profanity
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- A few uses of the 'F' word, 'sh*t', and degrading words.
- S1Ep3: One use of 'c**t'.
- S2Ep9: Henry refers to Anne Boleyn as a 'f***ing bitch' when Cromwell tells him she has been found guilty of infidelity at her trial.
- S4Ep4: Francis Dereham says "I've had her by the c**t", in reference to Catherine Howard.
Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking
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- Characters are seen to be drinking wine in some scenes throughout the series, and a few characters turn up drunk.
Frightening & Intense Scenes
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- There is one episode where the ghost of a woman is shown. She looks pale and may be frightening for some viewers.
- S1Ep7 deals with an outburst of the "sweating disease". Many people, including main characters, fall ill and die. The king sees a ghoul-like apparition, at one time a sick and twisted image of himself. Some of these are meant to make the audience jump.
- The episodes featuring execution scenes may be too intense for some viewers; some are gory and very disturbing. There are also several torture scenes throughout the series, which are intense and disturbing. In S2Ep1, a man is boiled alive. This is rather brief and not very graphic, but still very upsetting.
Spoilers
Violence & Gore
- The execution of Thomas Cromwell is gory and disturbing. As an act of revenge and humiliation, his enemies get the headsman drunk the night before the beheading, resulting in the man being hungover and unable to swing the axe straight. The headsman makes several attempts to behead him; blood is seen splattering, and horrified onlookers, before a guard steps in to complete the beheading. Fairly intense and distressing scene.
