I would say Season 1 as well. I loved the character of Wolsey and really missed his presence in the show after he died.  And Maria Doyle Kennedy as KOA was magnificent.

Season 3 was just meh. I can't even remember that much about it except that when it was on I only half watched it as I found it quite boring.  I hated the way Jane Seymour was portrayed in it.  St Jane Seymour lol. Season 4 made up for it though.

I'm also torn between season 1 and 2.  Depends on my mood I think, though I always want to slap Jane Seymour in season 2.  She just really irritated me.  I didn't mind her so much in season 3, but that season is definitely my least favourite.  I'm from Yorkshire in England, so the whole Pilgrimage of Grace thing was ruined for me really.  I'm being picky but York was all wrong, lol.  Season 4 picked it up again, but it still wasn't a patch on the first two seasons.  Guess I just missed Anne, but Natalie Dormer was amazing in the role.  I still think all the stronger characters were in the first two seasons.  And Catherine Howard in season 4 got on my nerves a bit.  I also wish they'd done George Boleyn more justice.

Mine would have to be a tie between Season 1 and Season 4.  I would usually choose season 1 because how could you not love the entire cast of characters. Maria Doyle Kennedy was an awesome Katherine of Aragon, but sometimes a little too martyr-ish for me, but just a little. Natalie Dormer was just absolutely fantastic as Anne Boleyn, and as an AB fan, I'm generally harsh on the actresses who play Anne B. (I remember I watched a video of Anne's execution and the scene was totally botched and the actress, whose name I forgot, just didn't capture the role of Anne) And despite the fact that JRM looks nothing like H8, except for the eyes, he plays the role beautifully. And the love triangle thing between Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII, and Anne Boleyn is played out beautifully, and good love triangles are hard to master! I also love the H&A courtship! Season 2, was okay, but Anne's execution was just beautiful and brilliant, and I struggle not to cry! Jane Seymour just irks me! Honestly, this TV show has bent history in so many ways, given a balanced portrayal of most of the characters, but I just wish they would've gave a balanced portrayal of Jane Seymour. And I just missed Anne (Boleyn) in S3, and Jane didn't do it for me, but I did like Joss Stone as Anne of Cleves: an interesting portrayal. And although Season 4 was pretty awesome (totally made up for Season 3) why was Catherine Howard naked over half the time?! The scene where she was practicing putting her head on the block could've been so moving and given us an insight of Catherine, but she was naked! That just irks me. Besides those little nitpicks, each season was special in it's own way, occasionally not in a good way, so it's definitely hard to pick a favorite and stick with it.

Claire-Louise said:

I also liked Anthony Knivert in season 1… whatever happened to him?

He had an affair with Thomas Tallis and then died of sweating sickness. Tallis then smashes his lute on the cross at Knivert's grave in an attempt to show some emotion, then staggers off to find and propose to the twin sister who survived the sweating sickness. Yeah, that whole subplot was kinda WTF for me. The writing of the characters was odd, and the actors had no chemistry whatsoever. Ahem. But I digress.

I think the Thomas Tallis portrayal in The Tudors was mostly fictionalised.  He wasn't present at court until after Compton had died so there is no historical basis for that storyline.  His wife was called Joan, but she outlived him.

I don't understand what they were trying to do with that storyline at all. None of it had any relevance to anything. I thought it was bizarre.

My favourite seasons are (surprise surprise) those with Anne Boleyn.

Season 1 is probably my big favourite, because it focuses on Henry and Anne happy at the beginning of their relationship. The season also has great actors in roles which disapear later: Sam Neil (a truly gifted actor – great diction!), Maria Doyle Kennedy. Season 1 is also the season of youth and hope. henry and his friends are at their peak. All other seasons speak of the anxiety of ageing and of at least partial disillusion with life.

Season 2 is excellent but terribly sad. Anne's troubles, imprisonement and death traumatised me (because it is so well acted). The conclusion of S02 shows Henry evolving into a glutonous tyrant, gorging on a swan which symbolically represents his assassinated wife. A very appropriate image.

Season 3 is weak in comparison. Jane Seymour (portrayed as Perfect Miss Shy in S02) now appears as a precursor of feminism, who states she wants both Mary and Elizabeth to be spared further hardship because the cause of women must be advanced, even if discreetly. Please. There was no such thing as the cause of women in the 1530s. And if there had been an embryoninc feminism, Jane was its least likely champion. JS was, at least officially, the embodiment of the traditional woman (antithesis of feminism).

Like TheAwsome-B-Necklace, i thought Joss Stone did a good job. She redeems the season.

Season 4 is a tad better, essentially after the introduction of Katherine Parr (J. Richardson is very good in the role). Mary also grews up into her Bloody Mary persona, but the actress manages to keep the portrayal nuanced. Well done. Elizabeth gets more screen time, which I was glad for. Katherine Howard was painted an an airhead who grew up in a house akin to a brothel, a portrayal which sticks with tradition. No effort was made to escape nor renew an old concept. I agree with previous remamrks concerning the cheapening of the only scene that could have shown KH as a little more interesting: why did she have to be naked in her cell when trying to fit her head on the block?

Old concepts had also prevailed in the portrayals of Thomas and George Boleyn.

The series introduced oddities such as Thomas Tallis and Compton, followed by Tallis in a weird creepy triangular relationship with wife and the ghost of her dead sister. The musician's attachment to catholicism, which was to last all of his long life, is never mentionned. Tallis would have provided an excellent example of the difficulties which affected all during the Reformation: in his case, looking for work was a huge problem (not only was he still catholic, but the nature of his job meant looking for a catholic chapel for employer)

OTT note: Impish_Impulse, I love your signature: the quote speaks of resiliance and wit. It provides an excellent companion to the pink ribbon.

Mademoiselle Mya said:

May i ask a werid question? – Why do you think Elizabeth walked away from her crying step mother and sister when Henry was saying goodbye to them, obviously the last time she'd see her father? She didn't get emotional at all either. I understand completely but why'd she walk away from her father?

I think she left after Henry did.
In my opinion, she left Mary and Katherine because she didn't want either of them to see her show any form of weakness. The way she is portrayed in the series is as someone that is always very cool, calm and collected. It makes sense to me that she wouldn't want people to see her in her weak moments. Her position at court was always a little tenuous, so to show any sign of weakness would not have been an option for her. Especially in front of Mary, who I am sure Elizabeth was already aware, could end up being her rival for the throne (thankfully it never really got to that point in history. Seeing those two have it out would have been pretty unpleasant for anyone involved I would imagine. Both women proved more than once that they were extremely brutal when they needed to be!).

In as far as my favourite season goes, I am tossing up between 2 and 4. I thought that they could have handled Katherine Howard much better. But I also think the execution of Culpeper and Dereham, whilst Katherine is dancing, is an incredibly good scene, and I do feel like it redeems their overall portrayal of her a little. I also thought Joely Richardson was fantastic as Katherine Parr, and I couldn't help but smirk when Anne Stanhope showed her hand to Gardiner. The Brigette story arc annoyed the crap out of me though. But overall, a very good season, definitely an improvement on Season 3. 

And then there is Season 2. Even though the actress they had playing Jane Seymour made me want to scratch out my eyeballs (Season 3's Jane was a big improvement), the season did have a lot of good things going for it. And the execution scene… my god that execution scene. It ripped my heart out. Both seasons were good in their own ways, I don't think I can decide.

Thanks, MadameDeMerteuil. It appealed to my perverse sense of humor.