The Tudors

BBC

TV Series Promo

Dirt-covered performers intertwined in a close physical embrace, wearing chainmail and armour

A launch trailer for the BBC’s documentary series The Tudors depicting a seething and visceral chess game of Tudor family members and their brazen power grabs and disloyalty. The project was produced and filmed in London for the BBC through Karmarama and Rokkit.

Carefully pre-visualised and planned in 3D, the film features a 108 square metre chessboard, bespoke built from hessian and timber. Smoke, dust, a crane and high-speed cameras shape the imagery into an otherworldly and painterly form, with a colour palette that references the ageing pigments of 16th-century renaissance paintings.

The back of a queen standing in her opening chess position. The two rows of the other side can be seen in the background.
A life-sized chess board in a void with human chess pieces standing in their opening positions.
A queen whispering into the ear of a bishop.
A man dressed as a king is surrounded by six men fighting and wrestling.
Aerial view looking down on about 20 people fighting in hand to hand combat.
Close-up of a large man wearing fur screaming with spit flying out of his mouth.
A falling thurible hitting the ground.
A king standing in a black void.