The award-winning television drama Wolf Hall has returned with a much-anticipated second series, once again directed by Honorary Fellow Peter Kosminsky (1976, Chemistry).

The new series is based on The Mirror and the Light, the third and final book in Dame Hilary Mantel’s trilogy charting the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell. Picking up where the original series ended – with the death of Anne Boleyn – The Mirror and the Light reunites Sir Mark Rylance as Cromwell and Damian Lewis as King Henry VIII.

Airing in 2015, the original series of Wolf Hall was loved by viewers and critics alike, picking up BAFTA awards and a Golden Globe among other accolades. The new series looks set to make an equal splash: reviewing it in The Guardian, Lucy Mangan called The Mirror and the Light ‘six hours of utter TV magic’ and described the drama as ‘the most intricate television you are ever likely to see […] so beautifully made it’s breathtaking.’ Meanwhile, in The New Statesman, Rachel Cooke writes: ‘Peter Kosminsky again directs, and though he remains an unlikely choice for this historical drama, the result is alchemical […] Kosminsky is content for things to unfold – jeopardy, he has learned, loiters in unexpected corners – and he trusts his audience to understand that even when nothing seems to be happening, everything is. In this case, the very particles of the air are replete with murderous intent.’

Peter shares more about how his email correspondence with the late Hilary Mantel guided his vision for the new series in The Telegraph. Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light is available to watch now on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.