Costumes

(dramatic music) - That's not Christmas, ladies and gentlemen.

That is a heavily foamed suit, which goes all the way down into my knees and all the way up to here.

And into here as well, though you wouldn't see because of my Joan Collins shoulders.

It's bloody hot, I'll tell you that much.

I'm the only person on set who hasn't been cold.

I've seen people in full anoraks and jackets absolutely freezing, and I've never, ever been cold 'cause of this big foam fat suit.

- The richness of the piece is shown through Henry.

To me he's like a sort of burning star.

He's something that burns really brightly.

We have a lot of quite dark rooms with a lot of men in very dark clothes, and I'm always trying to put Henry into something that really shines beautifully.

- Joanna, who's our designer, is really very talented.

Today I'm the moon and Damien is the sun.

It's so wonderful.

And the sun was shining through the window it just hit both of us, and I think everyone was blinded by the reflection of our clothes.

- Well, I get the pleasure of looking at, you know, Jane Seymour and Henry and the very fabulously dressed most powerful of the kingdom, and they change their clothes a lot during the series.

I like the big heavy fur coats.

It's been rather nice in the cold weather and the unheated buildings.

I like my hats.

I I've always loved a hat.

And the language of hats is fun to have.

The language of bowing to people, receiving bows.

- Cromwell has a look that progresses quite gently through this piece.

He has to be careful in his position.

He can't be too flamboyant.

But if you understand the colors and if you understand the furs, he's a bit playing a dangerous game.

I mean, he is, he moves it from the green into the black and black being the most expensive color that people can wear other than the king.

- So these clothes are secretly representative of a status when you think the amount of work that will be involved.

It's wealth, wealth and status.

Like a castle, you know?

- This time round I've got a bit more puff going on.

A bit wider set shoulders.

It's always the higher up status, the wider Tudor shoulders seem to get.

So a little bit more color and a little bit more bling.

Everything just to kind of slightly elevate him from being, you know, a bit more of a boy.

It's so lovely wearing these costumes.

They're so beautifully made.

The fabrics are amazing.

They look stunning on camera.

- I remember the first costume fitting just when you put on all the different layers, it just makes you sit, stand in a certain way.

That again, gives you an insight into who I'm playing.

And all of these little details are in the costume, which is for an actor, just a gift to really sort of feel like you're in that period in time.