Wolf Hall under fire from Catholic Bishop of Shrewsbury

He and the Bishop of Plymouth Mark O'Toole have been the most outspoken about the historic drama and the way it depicts Sir Thomas More who was later made a saint.

Much of the historic criticism of St Thomas focuses on his alleged involvement in the prosecution of heretics during Henry VIII's reign.

English law at the time dictated that those who refused to abjure their heresy were burned at the stake.

His defenders argue that, although he approved of the laws, he often used his powers to persuade authorities to imprison heretics rather than to execute them.

He resigned his office when Henry took the English Church into schism from Rome, annulled his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and wedded his mistress, Anne Boleyn, whom he hoped would bear him a son.

Cromwell then summoned More to take the oath attached to the Act of Succession, which recognised the progeny of the king and his new queen to be the legitimate heirs to the throne.

More refused on grounds of conscience and was committed to the Tower of London. He was beheaded on Tower Hill in 1535 after being convicted of treason.

In the following five years Cromwell drove through Henry's Protestant reforms, including the dissolution of the monasteries.

But in 1540 he too was arrested and beheaded for heresy and treason.

In the show he is shown as the Lord Chancellor of England, played by Anton Lesser, and is depicted as a cruel, cold and creepy misogynist who keeps a brain-damaged man imprisoned in his house apparently for his own entertainment.

Thomas Cromwell, who as King Henry VIII's Chief Minister helped to send St Thomas to his death, is in contrast projected as a deeply human, enlightened and modern man who cuddles kittens.

Both bishops today criticised Wolf Hall for its "perverse" and "anti-Catholic" depiction of Saint Thomas More.

Although the series opened to rave reviews, a number of historians and other commentators have already voiced concerns about the narrative, based on the novels by the award-winning writer Hilary Mantel.

And the bishops have attacked the drama for its "dark" depiction of St Thomas, a martyr who was canonised in 1935 and who was made patron saint of politicians by St John Paul II in 2000.

Bishop Davies said: "We should remember Wolf Hall is a work of fiction.

"It is an extraordinary and perverse achievement of Hilary Mantel and BBC drama to make of Thomas Cromwell a flawed hero and of St Thomas More, one of the greatest Englishmen, a scheming villain.

"It is not necessary to share Thomas More's faith to recognise his heroism – a man of his own time who remains an example of integrity for all times.

"It would be sad if Thomas Cromwell, who is surely one of the most unscrupulous figures in England's history, was to be held-up as a role model for future generations."

Bishop O'Toole said that he thought there was a "strong anti-Catholic thread" in the series, which stars Shakespearean actor Mark Rylance as Cromwell and Damien Lewis as Henry VIII.

He said that the drama appeared to connect St Thomas and his Catholic faith to religious fundamentalism in the 21st century.

"Those modern parallels need to be cautiously drawn," Bishop O'Toole said.

"Hilary Mantel does have this view that being a Catholic is destructive to your humanity.

"It is not historically accurate and it is not accurate in what the Catholic faith has to contribute to society and to the common good as a whole.

"There is an anti-Catholic thread there, there is no doubt about it. Wolf Hall is not neutral."

Margaret, St Thomas's eldest daughter, he said, learned Latin and Greek in the home "which was very uncommon".

In Wolf Hall, however, it is Cromwell who is seen educating his daughters while More is depicted as humourless, severe and unloving.

"The idea that you get in Hilary Mantel that St Thomas is a dour anti-feminist is pushing it a bit too far," said Bishop O'Toole.

He added that the series also failed to offer a positive view of the monasteries and their centrality to the lives of many communities.

He added: "Did More make mistakes? Yes. Does it mean he is not a saint? No.

"Mainstream histories seem to recognise that. Wolf Hall is not presenting Thomas Cromwell through a neutral perspective. There is an anti-Catholic element.

"If we compare the characters and the manner of their deaths it is very interesting.

"Thomas More approached his death with serenity and even a degree of humour, whereas Thomas Cromwell was shouting out loud all night in the Tower and begging for mercy. He saw his death as a deep failure whereas More transcended his.

"One is rightly held up as a saint and one is held up as a villain in history. One is worthy of devotion and the other is worthy of learning from but not in emulating because of his ruthlessness and pursuit of power. It is hard for me to say that Cromwell was driven by principles instead of by darker motives."

Bishop O'Toole, the former private secretary to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor and head of the bishops' Department of Evangelisation, has had a life-long devotion to St Thomas, attending St Thomas More Catholic High School in North London, and studying at and then serving as rector of Allen Hall, the seminary built on part of the site of St Thomas's Chelsea home.

A spokeswoman on behalf of the production team did not wish to comment.