Starkey to profile Henry VIII for C4
- Published: 10 September 2008 18:03
- Author: Katherine Rushton
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- Last Updated: 11 September 2008 11:34
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David Starkey is to produce a four-part "psychological profile" of Henry VIII for Channel 4.
The as-yet-untitled series will go beyond the facts of Henry's six wives and his split with the Catholic church to piece together a sense of his character and motivations.
The first 60-minute episode will show Henry as a highly intelligent child, while subsequent episodes will paint him as a brilliant "A-list celebrity" character with an over-developed ego and "solipsistic sense of self".
David Sington, who will direct the series for Red House Dox Productions, said: "[David Starkey] will ask which events changed Henry, and in changing him, changed the British character. He was convinced of his own destiny and shaped us as an island nation, cut off from the continent.
"He's not a Bluebeard character, however. He emerges as a sympathetic character even though he does terrible things."
The documentary will also show Starkey as a working historian for the first time, drawing on letters scattered across Europe's capitals, from Henry and the foreign diplomats in his court.
C4 head of specialist factual Ralph Lee ordered the show. Duncan Copp is series producer and Heather Walsh is associate producer. The series will be broadcast in April, to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII's accession to the throne and a major British Library exhibition on the monarch.
