The Tudorshas been a boon to the Irish film industry in recent years, and the good news is that US cable channel Showtime has given the green light for the fourth season of the series to be shot here this summer. The bad news is that this will be the final season because Henry VIII will have run out of wives by the end of it.

The new 10-episode season will dramatise Henry's last two marriages, to Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr. Jonathan Rhys Meyers reprises his role as the king, which has earned him two Golden Globe nominations, and Michael Hirst, who has scripted every episode of the series, returns as screenwriter.

The third series of The Tudorsbegins transmission on TV3 next Tuesday night.