A thrilling Tudor murder-mystery series based on the best-selling series of novels by British author C.J. Sansom.
Drenched in mystery, suspense and deception, this four-part drama, based on the first novel in Sansom’s series, is 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.
★★★★ ‘This Tudor Morse is complex and moving….The performance required from Hughes is complex and he pulls it off.’ – The Times
★★★★ ‘Murderous monks ignite this magnificent CJ Sansom story’ – The Guardian
★★★★ ‘Murder, mad monks and menacing Sean Bean in a brutal Tudor mystery’ – Daily Mail
★★★★ ‘Arthur Hughes is magnetic in this Tudor murder mystery’ – The Evening Standard
‘Shardlake’ review: C.J. Sansom’s Tudor-era murder mystery – LA Times
★★★★ ‘Arthur Hughes impresses as Matthew Shardlake, as shrewd sleuth….in this well-made historical murder-mystery’ – TV Times
Credits
A 4-part series from The Forge and Runaway Fridge for Disney+
Starring: Arthur Hughes, Anthony Boyle, Sean Bean, Babou Ceesay, Paul Kaye, Ruby Ashbourne Serkis, Peter Firth, Matthew Steer, Brian Vernel, Irfan Shamji, David Pearse, Miles Barrow, Mike Noble and Kimberley Nixon.
Written by: Stephen Butchard
Director: Justin Chadwick
Producer: John Griffin
Executive Producers: George Ormond and Mark Pybus for The Forge, Stevie Lee for Runaway Fridge, Jonny Richards for Disney+, Stephen Butchard, Justin Chadwick, Chris Sansom
Press Quotes:
The Guardian – ‘Shardlake provides exactly this kind of incidental representation, the kind Hughes most values. Disability isn’t ignored or centred, it’s just part of the story. It feels authentic.’
Metro – ‘Shardlake whips up a compelling sense of time and space.’
Heat – ‘Deeply atmospheric 4-part drama’ – ‘Unmissable’
Radio Times – ‘C J Samson’s popular detective novels come to dark, teeming life in a dramatization by Stephen Butchard.’
