The Best Episodes of The Tudors
Every episode of The Tudors ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of The Tudors!
The Tudors is a history-based drama series following the young, vibrant King Henry VIII, a competitive and lustful monarch who navigates the intrigues of the English court and the human heart with equal vigor and justifiable suspicion.
Top Episode Ratings Summary
The best episode of "The Tudors" is "Destiny and Fortune", rated 8.7/10 from 888 user votes. It was directed by Jon Amiel and written by N/A. "Destiny and Fortune" aired on 6/1/2008 and is rated 0.1 point(s) higher than the second highest rated, "The Act of Treason".
8.7/10 888 votes#1 - Destiny and Fortune
Season 2 Episode 10 - Aired 2008-06-01
Queen Anne is imprisoned in the Tower, awaiting her execution. The king granted her wish for a special executioner, but he is delayed and the execution has to be postponed. King Henry proposes to Jane Seymour now that his marriage to Anne has been declared null and void. He hopes she will gave him a legitimate, male heir.
Director: Jon Amiel
Writer: N/A
8.6/10 765 votes#2 - The Act of Treason
Season 2 Episode 9 - Aired 2008-05-25
Anne has lost a son and with it her last chance at a lasting marriage with Henry. The King's affections are shifting anyway: the Seymour family are awarded rooms at court and seem likely to replace the Boleyns as royal favourites. Several in the court begin to move against Anne who is accused of adultery. Arrests are made of suspected lovers and of Anne herself. All, including the Queen, are sentenced to death.
Director: Jon Amiel
Writer: N/A
8.6/10 805 votes#3 - Death of a Monarchy
Season 4 Episode 10 - Aired 2010-06-20
Finale - Henry’s thoughts turn to his own mortality with the news that his long-time friend and sometimes foe King Francis, and his unshakable soldier Charles Brandon, are each dying. As he faces death, Henry encounters the ghosts of his former wives who each get a chance to confront him. Hans Holbein paints a last, iconic portrait of the Tudor King.
Director: Ciaran Donnelly
Writer: N/A
8.3/10 765 votes#4 - His Majesty's Pleasure
Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 2008-04-27
Attempts to legitimise the King's marriage and increase his power hit unmovable obstacles as Sir Thomas More and Bishop Fisher insist that only God can be head of the church. Imprisoned in the Tower of London they face likely execution unless they take the Oath of Allegiance. Meanwhile Henry's wandering eye continues to roam.
Director: Ciaran Donnelly
Writer: N/A
8.2/10 631 votes#5 - The Death of a Queen
Season 3 Episode 4 - Aired 2009-04-26
The leaders of the Pilgrimage of Grace uprising are put to death, but Brandon is disturbed by the cruelty and mercilessness of the suppression; Henry celebrates the birth of a son but his joy is short-lived as Queen Jane dies within days.
Director: Ciaran Donnelly
Writer: N/A
8.2/10 598 votes#6 - Bottom Of The Pot
Season 4 Episode 5 - Aired 2010-05-09
Lord Hertford’s investigation into allegations of the Queen’s infidelities moves with speed. Deeply upset by revelations of his beloved young wife’s sexual past, Henry weeps. But once adultery is uncovered, his response is swift and decisive.
Director: Ciaran Donnelly
Writer: N/A
8.1/10 890 votes#7 - The Death of Wolsey
Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 2007-06-03
Cardinal Wolsey is down but not yet out. Although exiled, he tries to gather last-minute support from his old enemy, Queen Katherine. She hesitantly agrees to his plan, as she finds herself in a situation similar to that of the fallen Cardinal. But their plot is intercepted by the King's new advisors and Wolsey must pay the ultimate price.
Director: Ciaran Donnelly
Writer: Michael Hirst
8.1/10 678 votes#8 - Lady in Waiting
Season 2 Episode 8 - Aired 2008-05-18
At Henry's command Jane Seymour is made a lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn, to the discomfort and suspicion of the Queen. When Henry is seriously injured in a jousting match all thoughts turn to who might succeed him. There will be far-reaching consequences if Anne's pregnancy does not deliver a healthy son.
Director: Dearbhla Walsh
Writer: N/A
8.0/10 648 votes#9 - The Undoing of Cromwell
Season 3 Episode 8 - Aired 2009-05-24
Henry moves swiftly to annul his loveless marriage to Anne of Cleves, and beds a new mistress, 17-year-old Katherine Howard; Princess Mary falls in love with Duke Philip of Bavaria; Cromwell's fall from favor is sudden and dramatic.
Director: Jeremy Podeswa
Writer: N/A
7.9/10 711 votes#10 - Checkmate
Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 2008-04-13
Henry's patience finally wears out and he marries Anne in secret, appoints his Lutheran chaplain Thomas Cranmer the head of the Church of England, and strips Queen Katherine of her title and status; the king and new queen have their first child, and are disappointed that it's a girl...whom they christen Elizabeth.
Director: Colm McCarthy
Writer: N/A
7.9/10 696 votes#11 - The Act of Succession
Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 2008-04-20
Sir Thomas More refuses to accept Henry's command that his people swear an oath of "allegiance and recognition of the King's supremacy" to both church and state. Anne is made aware of the King's womanizing ways, and arranges then gives her blessing to his next mistress. Also, Anne has a confrontation with Lady Mary, Henry's daughter.
Director: Colm McCarthy
Writer: N/A
7.9/10 689 votes#12 - The Definition of Love
Season 2 Episode 6 - Aired 2008-05-04
As the Reformation gathers pace Sir Thomas Cromwell becomes ever more powerful as propagandist-in-chief of a new moral order. Royal confidence has given way to doubt. Henry is haunted by the memory of the executed Thomas More while Queen Anne Boleyn's insecurities border on paranoia. Her husband's affairs continue and an effort to have her daughter Elizabeth betrothed to a French royal fails when the French King refuses to recognise that the infant Princess is of legitimate birth.
Director: Ciaran Donnelly
Writer: N/A
7.9/10 675 votes#13 - Matters of State
Season 2 Episode 7 - Aired 2008-05-11
The English Reformation is in full swing. Queen Anne suffers from nightmares and feels threatened by Katherine and her daughter. Henry pays an unplanned visit to an old friend, Sir John Seymour, father of Jane Seymour.
Director: Dearbhla Walsh
Writer: N/A
7.9/10 694 votes#14 - Civil Unrest
Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 2009-04-05
King Henry marries for the third time, taking as his queen the demure noblewoman Jane Seymour. A growing number of his subjects protest the king's decision to abandon the Catholic Church.
Director: Ciaran Donnelly
Writer: N/A
7.9/10 621 votes#15 - Dissention and Punishment
Season 3 Episode 3 - Aired 2009-04-19
Henry reconciles with his estranged daughters Mary and Elizabeth in time for the Christmas holidays, but betrays and brutally suppresses the rebellion against him after making conciliatory promises to the uprising's leaders.
Director: Ciaran Donnelly
Writer: N/A
7.9/10 562 votes#16 - Sixth And The Final Wife
Season 4 Episode 7 - Aired 2010-05-23
Henry marries Catherine Parr - his sixth and final wife. A loving step-mother and compassionate companion, Catherine is liked and respected by all at court save the Catholic Bishop Gardiner who suspects her to be a heretic. Henry prepares to invade France.
Director: Jeremy Podeswa
Writer: N/A
7.9/10 552 votes#17 - Secrets of the Heart
Season 4 Episode 9 - Aired 2010-06-13
Henry VIII’s health is on the slide: the recent siege of Boulogne has taken its toll on his aging body and his ulcerous leg is constantly in pain. Bishop Gardiner and the Catholic Church are once again in the ascendant at court but, tired of conflict, Henry demonstrates little enthusiasm for the ambitious Bishop’s accusation that Catherine Parr is a heretic.
Director: Ciaran Donnelly
Writer: N/A
7.8/10 843 votes#18 - Truth and Justice
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 2007-05-20
A papal envoy has come to discuss the annulment of the King's marriage to Katherine of Aragon, as requested by the King. The outcome of these discussions will determine Cardinal Wolsey's future career as well as the King's romance with Anne Boleyn. These discussions will also influence the nature of the relationship between England and Rome.
Director: Alison Maclean
Writer: Michael Hirst
7.8/10 744 votes#19 - Tears of Blood
Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 2008-04-06
Christmas at the Tudor court is a time for ringing in the new. Mistress Anne Boleyn has replaced the banished Queen Katherine. The King's chaplain, Thomas Cranmer, makes a fact-finding visit to Lutheran Germany while Henry withdraws both the authority and taxes of the Catholic Church at home. And a royal visit to France finally convinces Anne to consummate her relationship with Henry, even as his best friend Charles Brandon suggests that she is no virgin.
Director: Jeremy Podeswa
Writer: N/A
7.8/10 627 votes#20 - The Northern Uprising
Season 3 Episode 2 - Aired 2009-04-12
The uproar over the king's break with the Catholic Church turns into a full-blown rebellion that comes to be known as "The Pilgrimage of Grace." Immobilized by an old jousting injury, Henry sends Charles Brandon to deal with the uprising and focuses his attention on the Lady Ursula Misseldon.
Director: Ciaran Donnelly
Writer: N/A
7.8/10 561 votes#21 - As It Should Be
Season 4 Episode 8 - Aired 2010-06-06
The siege of Boulogne is a long, expensive and difficult military campaign that is finally won by Henry’s troops at great financial and human cost. Rejuvenated, Henry rejects the idea of marching on to further conquests, preferring to return to England in triumph.
Director: Jeremy Podeswa
Writer: N/A
7.7/10 980 votes#22 - His Majesty, The King
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 2007-04-22
As a reward for his denunciation of Martin Luther, the Pope christens Henry “Defender of the Faith,” but a brush with death causes the king to seek a solution to his lack of an heir. Princess Margaret marries the decrepit King of Portugal reluctantly, but the union is short-lived; Henry's desire for Anne Boleyn intensifies when Anne goes home to her family estate.
Director: Steve Shill
Writer: Michael Hirst
7.7/10 863 votes#23 - Message to the Emperor
Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 2007-05-13
England's population is suffering, both from a lack of food and from a lethal plague called 'The Sweats'. As a result, King Henry feels depressed and not his usual, confident self. He starts having doubts about the future and his ability to rule the country. Fortunately for him, a change is coming up.
Director: Alison Maclean
Writer: Michael Hirst
7.7/10 782 votes#24 - Everything is Beautiful
Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 2008-03-30
The King makes himself head of the Church of England while the Catholic Church fights a losing battle to control Henry VIII's desire for an annulment. Anne Boleyn demands that Henry break off contact with Katherine, so the noble Queen is banished from court. On top of that The Reformation is underway.
Director: Jeremy Podeswa
Writer: N/A
7.7/10 578 votes#25 - Sister
Season 4 Episode 2 - Aired 2010-04-18
Thomas Culpepper - Henry VIII’s newest servant - continues to make eyes at his King’s young bride, Katherine Howard. Her servant suggests seduction. While the King shows his age by going to bed early during the Christmas celebration the young but not so innocent members of his court party on.
Director: Dearbhla Walsh
Writer: N/A