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The show is based relatively accurately upon the medieval fantasy book series A Song of Ice and Fire. The action is set in the Seven Kingdoms where the nobility struggle over power, against supernatural forces and through an enthralling and dangerous series of adventures. Sean Bean stars as Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North alongside his wife, Catelyn (Michelle Fairley) and his six children including his illegitimate son Jon Snow they form an intriguing dynasty and a spider’s web of rich character background and potential story lines. Then we have the King of the Seven Kingdoms Robert Baratheon who is wonderfully embodied by Mark Addy who fittingly pointed out in the Q&A his character’s resemblance to Henry VIII in both gregariousness and excess. King Baratheon is married to his beautiful and disquietingly shrewd queen Cersei, played by a blonde but still stunning Lena Headey, who has a disturbing and perverse secret that she’s keeping from her husband (no, not giving that one away, watch the first episode for yourself and have your own jaw drop to the floor). Harry Lloyd and Emilia Clarke are also introduced in the first episodes as the flaxen Targaryen siblings and they’re all golden beauty, treacherous ideas and distracting charm.
The title sequence alone is utterly captivating with lots of multidirectional zooms and dives over a clockwork map of the Seven Kingdoms whilst the show itself is awesomely cinematic. I briefly caught a word with the extremely amiable and patently talented production designer Gemma Jackson after the screening and we both lamented the fact that neither of us
Without spoiling any of the sumptuously moreish plot lines I must admit, I was more than a little swept away by Game of Thrones. Some people may feel a little dubious about the fantasy style and throwback to Medieval Europe but Mark Addy was quick to highlight that this is fantasy for people who don’t do fantasy, and I can sincerely vouch for that fact. You’d be hard pushed to find Game of Throne boring: fantasy has never been this dark, sexy and surprisingly imaginative.
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Game of Thrones begins on Sky Atlantic tonight at 9pm and we highly recommend you tune in!
[Rating:5/5]