Are you ready for your new favourite TV show? Disney+ has released a first look at Shardlake, a new drama starring Sean Bean alongside Harry Potter and the Cursed Child star Anthony Boyle, and Then Barbara Met Alan actor Arthur Hughes.
So what can we expect from the new series, the story follows Matthew Shardlake, “a lawyer with an acute sense of justice and one of the few honest men in a world beset with scheming and plots”.
The synopsis reads: “Shardlake works for Thomas Cromwell, played by Sean Bean the dangerous and all-powerful right-hand man to Henry VIII. Despite Shardlake’s unwavering loyalty to Cromwell and the Crown, his position in society is unfavoured due to his appearance, as a person living with scoliosis during the Tudor period, suffering the indignity of being abused as a ‘crookback' wherever he turns. Anthony Boyle plays the cocky and good-looking Jack Barak, who leaves Shardlake unsure of whether he is an assistant or Cromwell’s spy.”
The four-part drama is based on the first novel in Sansom’s series, with the description continuing: “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 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.”
The show doesn’t have an official release date just yet - so watch this space!