Cool TV Shows That You're Not Watching

The Tudors focuses on the life and romances of the young King Henry VIII. The ten one-hour episodes take a look at the often overlooked, early political relationships as well as Henry's marriage to Katherine of Aragon and his trysts with such notable women as Anne Boleyn. This is a sexy, well-written and well-acted series. A number of liberties have been taken with the historical record, but who cares? Starring Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (Mission: Impossible 3), Sam Neil (Jurassic Park) and number of younger and older British character actors, The Tudors is full of lust and intrigue and is just plain fun to watch.

The first season is currently available on DVD with some cool extras and for those of you gentle readers in Canada, you can catch the last handful of season 1 episodes Tuesdays on CBC at 9:00 p.m. Season 2 is currently in production and should premiere on Showtime in the U.S. in March.

The five sovereigns of the Tudor dynasty are among the most well-known figures in Royal history. Of Welsh origin, Henry VII succeeded in ending the Wars of the Roses between the houses of Lancaster and York to found the highly successful Tudor house. Henry VII, his son Henry VIII and his three children Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I ruled for 118 eventful years.

Born on 28 June 1491 at Greenwich, Henry was the second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York.

Following the death of his elder brother, Henry became next in line to be King. His father died in 1509 and Henry took the throne just before his 18th birthday.

Henry was described by contemporaries as vigorous and handsome and considered a great athlete and loved jousting and hunting. In addition, Henry was considered to be very clever and could speak Latin well and was adept at maths, astronomy, cosmology and music.