Now this one we’re looking forward to.
Shardlake is a four-part drama, based on the first novel in CJ Sansom’s critically acclaimed series, and is described as ‘an eerie whodunnit adventure, set in 16th century England during the dissolution of the monasteries’.
Shardlake’s sheltered life as a lawyer is turned upside down when Cromwell instructs him to investigate the murder of one of his commissioners at a monastery in the remote town of Scarnsea. The commissioner was gathering evidence to close the monastery and it is now imperative for Cromwell’s own political survival that Shardlake both solves the murder and closes the monastery. He leaves Shardlake in no doubt that failure is not an option. Cromwell insists that he is accompanied by Jack Barak to Scarnsea, where the duo are met with hostility, suspicion and paranoia by the monks who fear for their future and will seemingly stop at nothing to preserve their order.
Arthur Hughes plays Matthew Shardlake, a lawyer with an acute sense of justice and one of the few honest men in a world beset with scheming and plots. Shardlake works for Thomas Cromwell, played by Sean Bean the dangerous and all-powerful right-hand man to Henry VIII. Anthony Boyle plays the cocky Jack Barak, who leaves Shardlake unsure of whether he is an assistant, or Cromwell’s spy.
The series also stars Babou Ceesay as Abbot Fabian, Paul Kaye as Brother Jerome, Ruby Ashbourne Serkis as Alice Fewterer, Peter Firth as Norfolk, Matthew Steer as Goodhap, Brian Vernel as Brother Mortimus, Irfan Shamji as Brother Guy, David Pearse as Brother Edwig, Miles Barrow as Brother Gabriel, Mike Noble as Bugge and Kimberley Nixon as Joan.
Shardlake: Wednesday 1st May, Disney+
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