Tamzin Merchant is one of those actors who pop up in a bunch of frock flicks — not necessarily “prestige” historical productions, but she’s in a lot of them. She’s a hard worker and keeps at it, which is admirable! She does bring a strong sense of the character to these roles, and it’s usually the costume and/or hair-styling that bring things down. Her roles here do show an evolution, and she’s young so hopefully she’ll continue to get more interesting parts with higher production values. After all, she shot the Game of Thrones pilot in the role of Daenerys Targaryen but she turned it down because she wasn’t into the sex scene. That takes conviction on her part! Meanwhile, she’s also directing short films that have been presented on the festival circuit, and she’s written and published a children’s book series.
Georgiana Darcy in Pride & Prejudice (2005)
Margot Durrell in My Family and Other Animals (2005)
Probationer Eastwood in Casualty 1906 (2006)
Alice Davies in Princess Kaiulani (2009)
Catherine Howard in The Tudors (2009-10)
Mary Rivers in Jane Eyre (2011)
Rosa Bud in The Mystery of Edwin Drood (2012)
Molly Cooper in Murder on the Home Front (2013)
Anne Hale in Salem (2014-17)
Imogen Spurnrose in Carnival Row (2019-23)
Aunt Harriet in Tom Jones (2023)
What’s your favorite of Tamzin Merchant’s frock flick roles?
I haven’t seen her in anything other than The Tudors, alas, but she was excellent as Katheryn Howard*. She definitely nailed the whole “way too young and flighty but basically kind” character, although I seriously doubt there was any nude swinging around Hampton Court (oh, Showtime, how you love to anachronistically sex things up…). I’ve always felt sorry for the historical personage, as she was clearly too young and immature to take on a Queen’s role; she might have managed married to a lesser noble in the country, but being in the vipers’ den that was the Henrician court, she never had a chance. “Nothing personal, just business…”
*Has it ever been determined definitively how she (or any of the other wives, really) actually spelled her own name? The one I used is the one I’ve seen most recently, and looks about right, but who knows? If they can’t manage to settle on when she was actually born (1524 seems popular, which would have made her 15-16 when she married Henry, and probably only 17 when she died), I imagine they find dealing w/Tudor-era spelling too much to deal with.
Spelling wasn’t really solid in the 16th-c. even for names. A lot of places (like the Historic Royal Palaces) use “Catherine Howard” & “Katherine Parr” just to have a distinction between the two wives but that’s arbitrary!
I believe Katherine Parr signed herself ‘Kateryn the Queene KP’ I believe the initials were to differentiate her from her predecessors Catherine Howard and Catherine of Aragon.
She had really nice dresses (and hats) in Carnival Row.
I thought she was very good in season 1 of Carnival Row, the only season I’ve seen so far. I barely remember her character in Jane Eyre. Overall, I absolutely LOVED that version of the book.
Personally I thought Tamzin’s Catherine Howard was a little too Valley Girl, but no doubt that was the director’s fault.