I’ve gained a new perspective on the Reformation from watching the BBC’s 1970 serial The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Thanks to a mix of classical education and technical limits, old TV often watches like a stage play adapted for the screen – and I love it. Characters explain what they’re doing and why; there’s a synthesis of personality and ideas. Whereas modern dramatists would have Henry’s motivations expressed through copious amounts of rumpus-pumpus, the golden age relied squarely on innuendo and poetry. It’s far more powerful.