Based on the internationally acclaimed Tudor murder mystery novels by C.J. Sansom, the four-part drama is set in 16th century England during the dissolution of the monasteries.　　The series will follow the story of Matthew Shardlake, a lawyer with an acute sense of justice and one of the few honest men in a world beset with scheming and plots. Shardlake works for Thomas Cromwell, the dangerous and all-powerful right-hand man to Henry VIII.
　　Despite Shardlake’s unwavering loyalty to Cromwell and the Crown, his position in society is unfavored due to his appearance, as a person living with scoliosis during the Tudor period, suffering the indignity of being abused as a “crookback” wherever he turns. As he investigates the murder of one of Cromwell’s commissioners at a monastery in the remote town of Scarnsea, he is accompanied by Jack Barak, a cocky and good-looking character who may be Cromwell’s spy.