BBC & HBO Join Forces to Adapt Tudor Drama ‘1536’
Ann Pickett's buzzy Tudor-era stage play is getting the prestige drama treatment.
Queen Anne Boleyn was beheaded on May 19, 1536, executed for an array of alleged crimes that included treason, incest, and witchcraft. But while her life (and death) has an outsize influence on the story HBO and the BBC’s latest historical series aims to tell, 1536 isn’t your typical Tudor drama.
The six-part limited series is based on Ann Pickett’s (The Great) popular play of the same name, which premiered at London’s Almeida Theatre last year, before transferring to the West End for a second sold-out run this summer. Set in rural Essex during the reign of King Henry VIII, its story may be set in the past, but it wrestles with all too timely themes of misogyny, disinformation, political violence, and toxic masculinity.
1536 follows the story of three women — Jane, Anna, and Mariela — who dream of better lives, even as they meet to discuss the (frequent) gossip surrounding the king and his relationship with his infamous second wife, a woman he broke with the Catholic Church and divorced his spouse of two decades to have. But when word arrives that Henry has had Anne arrested — and later executed — they must confront what it means to be a woman in a world where even a queen is not safe from the dangerous whims of men.
Here’s the series’ synopsis.
A darkly comic and terrifyingly relevant story about friendship, sisterhood, and a changing world, 1536 explores how the actions of a man in power changes the fate of working-class women on the edges of the country. It asks if a King can murder his Queen, what does that mean for women elsewhere and how much have things really changed?
“I’m so excited and thrilled to be working with HBO, the BBC and Drama Republic on 1536 and feel very lucky to have them champion this story so fiercely,” Pickett said in a statement. “To be collaborating with the brilliantly talented Molly Manners is a dream come true. I can’t wait to bring this story about power, patriarchy and friendship to a new audience.”
There’s no cast attached to the project as yet, but the stage version featured Tanya Reynolds (Ted Lasso), Liv Hill (The Serpent Queen), and Siena Kelly (Domino Day: Lone Witch) in the three lead roles. In addition to the three women at the story’s center, we probably have to assume that the TV adaptation will expand the story beyond its original Essex setting, likely into Henry’s court itself.
Pickett will serve as the series showrunner and writer, with Molly Manners directing. Both are also executive producers alongside Jude Liknaitzky, Roanna Benn, Rebecca de Souza & Chloe Beeson for Drama Republic, and Anna Ferguson for the BBC. The series is made by Drama Republic, a Mediawan Group Company, for HBO, BBC iPlayer, and BBC One.
1536 is expected to start filming by the end of 2026. It does not yet have a release date.
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