Teacher swops the lab for royal robes of Henry VIII

Jason Sharp

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FOR years, pupils at Counthill School have told Jason Sharp that he looks like Henry VIII.

So the physics teacher decided to become him — playing the Tudor king in a film about Mary I.

“The Twisted Tale of Bloody Mary” takes a sometimes gory look at the reign of Henry’s eldest daughter.

Billed as a fairy-tale turned horror story it has been made by TV Choice, which produces and distributes educational films.

The 43-year-old amateur actor, who auditioned for the role after spotting an advert and sending in a photograph, said self-deprecatingly: “It helps being fat and ginger!

“I can always tell when the children are doing the Tudors in history. They always come along saying, ‘Oh sir, you look like Henry VIII’. Well, now I really am.”

Filming took place at the medieval manor house Haddon Hall, in Derbyshire, and Jason got to wear costumes from the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre.

However, his film debut wasn’t all glamorous and he added: “I had an interesting time but there is no way I would do it again. It takes about three hours to set up a scene that lasts a few seconds.

“My death scene was awful. I had to get up up 4am for make-up. They aged me 40 years and I had attachments put on my legs, which were boils filled with something similar to custard, which they lanced.

“That took all day for what was effectively 15 seconds of film and it was freezing cold.”

Jason, assistant Oldham branch secretary of the ATL teaching union, grew a full beard for filming and revealed that he shares more in common with Henry VIIi than just looks. His wife is also called Catherine — although admittedly Henry had three wives with that name, one of whom he had beheaded.

The pair met while acting in “15 Streets” at Playhouse II, Shaw, and also had a bloody relationship, with Jason joking: “I murdered her eight nights running on stage and then a year later we were engaged at the same place.”

“The Twisted Tale of Bloody Mary” is available on DVD and writer/director Jason Barnard rates Jason’s portrayal above actors such as Ray Winstone who have also played the monarch on screen.

He said: “Jason Sharp is in my opinion the most realistic Henry in any film ever.”

For more information visit the website at www.thetwistedtale.com