I still haven't read the books (I hope to, but my to-read pile is so large, and at this point some distance from the television version may be a good idea anyway), but I'm beginning to suspect that there is an element of dialogue with other versions of the story, or of playing against type. We're familiar with the stereotypes of the villainous Cromwell, the sainted More, the bewitching Anne, the weak and self-serving Rich, so maybe Mantel and/or Kosminsky are saying "Hey, but maybe it wasn't quite like that." Which doesn't excuse distorting the known facts, of course - and there is a backlash against this version, too (see the comments of Simon Schama, who from his own TV history is very definitely bewitched by Anne).

When I said they were selling Cromwell/More as an unrequited intellectual love story, I didn't mean it quite like that. My interpretation was that Cromwell doesn't give a damn about the snobbish courtiers who look down on him, but does crave the requital of the respect he pays to heavyweights like Wolsey and More. Clearly in this version he hits lucky with Wolsey, who becomes his surrogate father, and probably the social factor plays a role here (Wolsey appreciates what he's achieved as a self-made man himself - though it didn't have to play out that way, the line where he laughs about finally meeting someone of lower birth than himself could have been a malicious one). But Wolsey's dead, and that's left a void. Cromwell can't realistically expect More to fill that void, but he's still hoping for some sort of grudging acknowledgement, and More just won't provide it - not, I think, through malice: it's not as if he's pretending to forget the childhood incident, he simply doesn't because it wasn't important to him, and Cromwell still isn't important to him now.

Margaret Pole was a bit blink-and-you'll-miss-her-hey-was-that-Janet-Henfrey - did she get any more time in the book?

Incidentally, I noticed that the young Mary Tudor was played by Lily Lesser, so looked her up and confirmed my suspicion that she's Anton's daughter, which was amusing, though I think they were probably wise not to cast her as Meg.