Starkey blasts "awful" 'Tudors'

TV historian Dr. David Starkey has branded period drama The Tudors "gratuitously awful".

The BBC, which airs the Showtime-produced series in the UK, has been accused of "squandering" licence fee payers money by Starkey.

He told The Telegraph: "It is gratuitously awful. There are errors in Shakespeare when he handles history but they are there for a purpose. The mistakes in The Tudors are completely gratuitous."

Starkey took issue with the show's malleable approach to history, particularly a plot line that saw Henry VIII's sister Margaret marry the King of Portugal instead of the King of Scotland.

"There's only one reason for that: so that she can have a bonkorama in a supposed ship's cabin with the hunk who plays the Duke of Suffolk," he commented.

A BBC spokesman defended the show, stating: "The Tudors is not a a drama documentary, which has always been made clear. It is a highly authored and entertaining interpretation of events during a period of history."