Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers is to play the young King Henry VIII in a new drama series on US television.
'The Tudors' will be filmed in Ireland and screened on the Showtime network in the US next year.
'Desperate Housewives' director Charles McDougall will direct at least the first two episodes of the series, which will focus on the early years of King Henry VIII's reign.
Rhys Meyers can currently be seen on Irish cinema screens in the new Woody Allen film 'Match Point'.
