I’ll admit, I was unsure as to whether we REALLY needed another series of the sixth wives of Henry VIII.  Not only did we have one earlier this year but there’s several easy to read popular history books on the subject not to mention countless novels.  Children even study it in school.  Couldn’t we have delved into something else?

But even I was very disappointed to see such a sarcastic and bitchy review by Joel Golby in the Guardian of last night’s ‘Six Wives’ with Lucy Worsley on BBC 1, which was described as ‘awful’ and ‘tedious’.  Even after reading it several times, I wasn’t exactly clear what the criticism was.

I’m not quite sure if Golby is saying that a) the story of Catherine of Aragon just isn’t interesting so no one should try and make it so, or that b) it is interesting therefore the dramatic antics of the presenter were unnecessary.

Either way it’s a criticism that makes little sense.  How can anyone really fail to acknowledge the voyeuristic appeal of the marriage antics of England’s most powerful ruler?   Yes, ultra-geeks like me would like to see other topics explored, but I recognise the reason we hear so much about this subject is because of its widespread popularity.  And in my opinion, having Worsley pop up as a commentating cast member was a fresh and novel approach – I liked it.

So enough of the sarcasm thank you Mr Golby.

Last night, I watched the programme with an open mind.  I’m still not sure it was the right choice of topic, but I will say this for it:

• I enjoyed it.  As I said above the approach was novel.
• There were a few things I hadn’t considered before; the emphasis on Catherine’s first pregnancy being essentially a phantom is one that I hadn’t dwelt on before and I will be checking the history books to see how big a deal it was.
• It got people talking.  I was involved in several conversations on Twitter last night – and during today – about the show.  People liked it and there’s clearly an audience for it.

Geeks like me are always going to want to go to the next levels, to greater depth.  But for as long as there’s an audience for the Six Wives of Henry VIII, TV producers have every right to keep pumping out the content.

I’ll be watching next week.