The horrifying truth behind Wolf Hall: BBC drama shows beheadings, torture and burning at the stake, but the real dark side of Henry VIII's reign was even more gruesome (and forks were a rarity at the Tudor dinner table!)

The horrifying truth behind Wolf Hall: BBC drama shows beheadings, torture and burning at the stake, but the real dark side of Henry VIII's reign was even more gruesome (and forks were a rarity at the Tudor dinner table!) By HARRY HOWARD, HISTORY EDITOR Published: 07:54, 16 November 2024 | Updated: 07:54, 16 November 2024 e-mail View comments Wolf Hall has once again left viewers gripped as it continues the story of the dramatic rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell under the tyrannical King Henry VIII. The BBC show, an adaptation of the mega-selling series of novels by the late Hilary Mantel, is at times gruesome as it depicts executions and torture. The new and final series, named The Mirror and the Light after Dame Hilary's final novel, left viewers shocked when it opened with a flashback of the beheading of Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn.

The beheading scene is by no means the only gruesome moment in the televised version of Wolf Hall. But the reality of life during Henry's reign was at times even more gory and revolting - as we reveal below. Executions (including being boiled alive) 'How you were going to be tortured or executed depended on your social status and the crime that you were accused of,' historian Dr Charlotte Gauthier told MailOnline.

Anne Boleyn's execution is depicted in the opening episode of the Mirror and the Light, leaving some viewers shocked. Henry VIII's second wife was beheaded on May 19, 1536, after failing to give her husband his desired son and hav.