- [Crew] And action.

(bright music) - One of the great joys of this job is the locations.

- In many ways, they're a bigger star of the program than we are.

- These houses that we're going into are just so precious.

- There's something very inspirational about knowing that this is where certain people stood, you know, that you might be playing, or that a king visited this building.

You know, that's all very helpful as an actor, 'cause you just need everything that your imagination can feed on.

- This time around, we've been lucky enough to actually film in Hampton Court Palace.

They agreed that we could film in the Great Hall, which has got tapestries when Henry VIII was actually there.

So these original tapestries, so we get to walk the same places that we're actually representing, which is fantastic.

(water splashing) - We've been in these beautiful, beautiful locations.

Wells Cathedral here, the Bishop's Palace, Berkeley Castle, Haddon Hall, Montacute House, which was built actually in the configuration of an E, which you can see from up above.

- We've used a house called Great Chalfield, I think, which is one of the lovely houses that's privately owned and the family still lives in it.

- These owners of these beautiful old houses, they love the historical detail that we've gone into and they're all massive fans of the show.

- One of the best things about this job is we get to go round all these stunning old houses.

They're the veterans of this story.

They really existed during this time.

Some of the events that we depict actually happened in these very buildings.

I often think what the buildings, they must kind of laugh and go, God, I remember those guys.

You remember when we were full of people that looked like that, and did that, and spoke about these things?

- To play Thomas Cromwell in that hall where Jane Seymour and Henry lived and worked and where Cromwell lived and worked, that's very spooky.

You get a shiver up your spine walking in the places where they walked and lived.

- It's like stepping back in time and I often say this 'cause I've been fortunate enough to do a number of period dramas and I don't take for granted the fact that, when you step into the clothes and you step into the environment, so much of the work has been done for you before you even open your mouth because, I mean, there's no way that I'm me.

That's very special and it doesn't happen very often.

- When I hit hard times, I will do a Cromwell tour for American tourists coming to England, and that will keep me going in my old age, I think, (laughs) because these places are very, very wonderful.

(bright music continues)