Bishops criticise Wolf Hall depiction of Thomas More

TWO BISHOPS have criticised the depiction of St Thomas More in the BBC dramatisation of Hilary Mantel’s novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, writes Liz Dodd.

“It is an extraordinary and perverse achievement of Hilary Mantel and BBC Drama to make of Thomas Cromwell a flawed hero and of St Thomas More, one of the greatest Englishmen, a scheming villain,” the Bishop of Shrewsbury, Mark Davies, told the Catholic Herald. More was executed for refusing to accept the supremacy of King Henry VIII over the Church.

For his part, the Bishop of Plymouth, Mark O’Toole, said that a “strong anti-Catholic thread” ran through the series. “No doubt about it. Wolf Hall is not neutral.”