The Tudors, the national past and the re-shaping of generic traditions in contemporary TV costume drama

The Tudors (2007-2010) is a series that straddles the past and the present both in reconstructing events from a distant period in a modern accessible manner and in presenting itself generically as an old-fashioned ‘lavish epic’ with an ‘all-star cast’ that appeals to a modern audience. Unlike traditional British costume and historical dramas, heritage and post-heritage cinema, The Tudors does not present to audiences the greatness of a specific national past through the location shooting of splendid manor houses, cathedrals and castles. Instead, the world its characters occupy is often computer generated suggesting less the past (the CGI period depicted) than now (the CGI technology used to depict it). In addition, rather than dealing in national concerns, it is a series that is hybridised in form and content to the extent that it is extremely difficult to discuss in relation to specific national characteristics and so, this paper argues, it should instead be considered in relation to broad international consensus notions of ‘masculinity’ and ‘nationhood.