Henry VIII (TV serial) has an all-female cast.
Henry VIII (TV serial) . It stars Ray Winstone in his first role in a costume drama . His co-star is Helena Bonham Carter who played Henry VIII 's second wife , Anne Boleyn ; her character dominates the first episode and her dramatic death brings the first part of the story to its conclusion . David Suchet also makes an appearance as Henry 's first chief minister , Cardinal Wolsey . The second episode , which follows the last eleven years of Henry 's life , sees Winstone act opposite Emilia Fox , as his docile third wife Jane Seymour , Sean Bean as Robert Aske , leader of the Pilgrimage of Grace , and Emily Blunt ( in her first major appearance ) as Catherine Howard , the promiscuous teenager who was coerced into becoming Henry 's fifth queen . Henry VIII and His Six Wives . His six wives are portrayed by different actresses , among them Charlotte Rampling as Anne Boleyn , and Jane Asher as Jane Seymour .