Hulu streams period Tudor mystery ‘Shardlake’
Fans of “Outlander” and other period mysteries may enjoy “Shardlake,” streaming on Hulu. It adapts the popular murder mysteries set in the Tudor times of King Henry VII, written by C.J. Sansom.
The action touches on characters known to viewers of other period adaptations like “Wolf Hall.”
But the accent here is on dark shadows, court intrigue and bloody murder. Was the phrase, “over the top” known to the people of Tudor England?
Characters speak in loud, theatrical declarations seemingly more appropriate to the London stage than the small screen. There must be some kind of acting course that teaches ways to say the words “law” or “God” that informs audiences that they are in the presence of “History” with a capital H.
Arthur Hughes stars as Matthew Shardlake, the hunchbacked lawyer at the center of the drama who reports to the king’s indispensable minister Thomas Cromwell (Sean Bean). Anthony Boyle, recently seen in “Masters of the Air” and as a memorable John Wilkes Booth in “Manhunt,” stars here as well.
› “Prisoner in Russia: The Brittney Griner Interview” (10 p.m., ABC) presents a conversation between Robin Roberts and the WNBA star about her ordeal in a Russian prison. Playing in Russia in 2022 during the WNBA offseason, Griner was arrested by authorities who claimed she had cannabis oil in her luggage. Sentenced to nine years in prison, she was seen the world over as a political prisoner, snatched at the outset of Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine. Griner discusses the indignities of her captivity, her moments of suicidal despair and details of the diplomacy that set her free.
The Putin regime’s use of Griner as a pawn also put the spotlight on the fractures in the American media landscape. Far right, Putin-friendly “America First” commentators on cable news and social media openly taunted her as a way of displaying their open sympathy with a murderous authoritarian regime.
› To everything there is a season. Don’t take my word for it. That’s in the Bible’s Book of Ecclesiastes. The phrase was turned into a folk song by Pete Segar and adapted into a No. 1 hit for the Byrds in their 1965 song “Turn! Turn! Turn!”
But for some, particularly TV stations, there are only two seasons: Christmas and Halloween. Hallmark has turned the Christmasin-July theme to hitherto unknown limits. And now, MGM+, the cable station and streaming app formerly known as Epix, reminds us that we are “Halfway to Halloween” with a marathon of frightful fare.
Look for scary favorites, from “Rosemary’s Baby” (9 a.m.) to “Cloverfield” (10:10 p.m.). Perhaps some just see this as an excuse to eat candy corn at any time of the year; a truly terrifying thought.
› Paramount+ revives a chestnut from the zenith of the cable era, streaming new installments of “Behind the Music.”
New episodes will profile Bell Biv DeVoe, Trace Adkins and Wolfgang Van Halen and remastered episodes feature 50 Cent, Bobby Brown, Ice-T, Milli Vanilli, The Notorious B.I.G. and Sinead O’Connor, among others.