‘Wolf Hall’ to premiere on PBS’ ‘Masterpiece’ on April 5

Hold onto your heads, Hilary Mantel fans. The American broadcast premiere of “Wolf Hall” has been set -- the miniseries is coming April 5 to “Masterpiece” on PBS.

“Wolf Hall” is Mantel’s Man Booker award winning novel about Thomas Cromwell, the crafty blacksmith’s son who rose to be advisor to King Henry VIII.

The miniseries stars Mark Rylance as Cromwell and Damian Lewis as Henry VIII. The six-part adaptation is being made in England, Deadline reports, by Company Pictures and Playground, a co-production for BBC Two and “Masterpiece.”

“In ‘Wolf Hall,‘” Ross King wrote in our review, “the English Reformation is the chaotic and convoluted outcome of multiple and competing interests. There is little idealism or heroism here -- just self-serving diplomatic games, verbal jousts, petty quarrels and endless jockeying for position.”

Our review continued, “Mantel’s abilities to channel the life and lexicon of the past are nothing short of astonishing. She burrows down through the historical record to uncover the tiniest, most telling details, evoking the minutiae of history as vividly as its grand sweep.”

The BBC also plans to broadcast an adaptation of Mantel’s sequel, “Bring Up the Bodies,” and it has rights to the promised conclusion to the trilogy, which has not yet been published.

Book news and more; I’m @paperhaus on Twitter