‘UK should introduce levy to protect UK-made film and TV’, says Wolf Hall director

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: All the turmoil at the top of the Church of England might make you think of Tudor times, the intrigue, betrayal and political machinations which flourished under Henry VIII, Cardinal Wolsey and the King’s Chief Minister, Thomas Cromwell. All vividly brought to life, of course, in Hilary Mantel’s trilogy, Wolf Hall. After a break of nine years, the third part of that trilogy has returned to television screens in the BBC’s acclaimed adaptation directed by Peter Kosminsky. I spoke to him earlier, and I began by asking him how much of the success of the adaptation is down to Hilary Mantel.
Peter Kosminsky: This is a fantastically faithful adaptation with significant chunks of dialogue that are verbatim from the novel. So we owe everything to Hilary, really. And it was a huge shock when she died completely unexpectedly just before we went into pre-production. So suddenly what was always going to be quite a responsibility turned into the responsibility to bring to the screen her last novel.
Krishnan Guru-Murthy: I mean, it’s an incredibly sumptuous, sort of rich production to look at. How easy was it to do?
Peter Kosminsky: Not easy, to be absolutely honest. I could give you the sort of joyful answer, but the truth is, it wasn’t particularly easy. And I don’t really know how a show like this is going to continue to be made. And when I see a show like this, I mean, something that is essentially largely funded here in the UK. It does strike me that in other countries, in France, in Germany, in many of the European countries, the governments there have made the decision to put a levy, a small levy, on the subscription charges – we’re talking about Netflix, Amazon, Apple – and that money, that subscription, which over their large user base is actually quite a large amount of money, is put into a fund. And that fund is available for entirely UK based drama production. And that would make the difference between being able to make something like Wolf Hall in the future and not.
Krishnan Guru-Murthy: Do you think they would go along with that?
Peter Kosminsky: There’s been a change of government since this was first proposed a year or two back. I’ve got a meeting with the relevant minister coming up in the next two or three weeks and I’m going to ask him whether he would consider doing it.
Krishnan Guru-Murthy: This is a show about power and politics and personality. And, I mean, there’s so much that she packs into these stories.
Peter Kosminsky: Yes, and it feels somehow particularly relevant at the moment. Essentially, this is the story of Thomas Cromwell trying to negotiate his way around a dictator, a despot. Henry had a parliament which essentially he ruled by decree, and he was a capricious, difficult character to manage, to handle, who could fly into a temper.
Krishnan Guru-Murthy: And do you have anyone in mind?
Peter Kosminsky: There are many possible examples. But funnily enough, during the pandemic, when I saw those images of Vladimir Putin sitting at one end of a long table with all his obsequious advisers at the far end, I was put in mind of Henry VIII, actually. And of course, with the recent election of Donald Trump.
Krishnan Guru-Murthy: Although Trump has been clarifying his position on being a dictator by saying, well, he’ll only be a dictator on day one.
Peter Kosminsky: That’s what you said, is it? As far as I can tell. And just judging by his behaviour in the last few years, this is a man who has no concept of the truth. He’s prepared to say and do whatever he wishes to get the effect that he is setting out to achieve. And there are definite echoes with the Henrician times there.
Krishnan Guru-Murthy: I mean, the other contemporary theme, if you like, at the moment is the role of the church in the state. And we, of course, have just seen the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury. What we don’t understand, I suppose, is how much the church is about power and power structures and retaining power. And that is also what has been revealed in this scandal.
Peter Kosminsky: It’s an established church. That’s the key point. It’s essentially written into the concept of the British state. It has certain rights, inalienable rights, which are part of being an established church. And that goes back to Henry, who twinned the sort of ruler with the head of the church. And, of course, King Charles is the head of the Anglican Church and the head of the Anglican Communion. That’s part of his role, defender of the faith. Those changes that took place as a result of Henry wanting to divorce his first wife back in the early 16th century still have their ripple effects today.