Video: Watch the trailer for ‘Wolf Hall’

Hilary Mantel’s novel “Wolf Hall” tells the story of Thomas Cromwell, the 16th century British political manipulator, and the king, Henry VIII, that he served. The book, full of evil-hearted actions and bloody beheadings, won the Man Booker Prize in England and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction in the U.S. and was a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic.

And, on both sides of the ocean, it’s coming to television screens. BBC Two has released the first trailer for the series, which PBS’ “Masterpiece” will begin showing April 5.

In the six-part “Wolf Hall” miniseries, noted Shakespearean actor Mark Rylance is Cromwell and Damian Lewis (“Homenald”) plays Henry VIII. The cast includes Jonathan Price as Cardinal Wolsey, Anton Lesser as Thomas More, Joanne Whalley as Catherine of Aragon and Claire Foye as Anne Boleyn.

Mantel has written a sequel, “Bring Up the Bodies,” which the BBC plans to adapt. A promised third and final novel, as yet unpublished, is slated for adaptation, too.

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