Season 2, Episode 4 (1st episode on Disc 2) -

When: In the scene where Thomas Cromwell visits Charles Brandon (The Duke of Suffolk) as he is teaching his young son archery.

What:

1) The bows used by Brandon and his son lack horn nocks at the ends to protect the bow from the string, a characteristic feature of English bows of the time, even lighter sporting or hunting bows.

2) When shooting, both Brandon and Cromwell draw the bow incorrectly for the period, drawing the bowstring back to the face and sighting down the arrow. Though English military archery was somewhat past its heyday by this period, and the bow being used was certainly not a full draw-weight (100 lbs+ !) war bow, no Englishman worth his salt would have dreamed of drawing a bow this way! The correct technique was to draw "in the bow", that is, to draw the string past the eye - until the nock end of the arrow is at or near the angle of the jaw - to get a deeper draw and use the full strength of the bow.