Henry VIII was a two part 2003 ITV drama based on the life of Henry VIII of England. It chronicled the monarch's life from the disintegration of his first marriage to an aging Spanish princess until his death following a stroke in 1547, by which time he had married for the sixth time. It starred veteran British actor Ray Winstone in his first role in a costume drama; his co-star was Helena Bonham Carter who played Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn, whose character dominated the first episode and whose dramatic death brought the first part of the story to its conclusion. Character actor David Suchet also made an appearance as Henry's first chief minister, Cardinal Wolsey. The second episode, which followed the last eleven years of Henry's life, saw Winstone act opposite Emilia Fox as his docile third wife, Jane Seymour, Sean Bean as a Catholic rebel and Emily Blunt (in her first major appearance) as Catherine Howard, the promiscuous teenager who was coerced into becoming Henry's fifth queen.
