Game of Thrones

Shaping up nicely for some truly epic bloodletting: House of the Dragon reviewed

3 September 2022 9:00 am

House of the Dragon got off to a pretty uninspirational start, I thought: no major characters brought to a shocking…

The sad decline of my one-time favourites

25 June 2022 9:00 am

I don’t think it’s my imagination: it really is getting harder and harder to find anything worth watching on TV.…

Latest proof that western civilisation is over: Sky Atlantic's Domina reviewed

29 May 2021 9:00 am

I’ve been looking at the reviews so far of Sky’s new Romans series Domina and none seems to have noticed…

Paul Mason: The Brexit party is great news for Labour

11 May 2019 9:00 am

Multiple copies of a Labour leaflet for the European elections are being shared on messaging apps by horrified activists. Not…

Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) and Jon Snow (Kit Harington) having some quality time together

I admire the scale and ambition of Game of Thrones – but isn’t it just a little bit corny?

20 April 2019 9:00 am

If you’ve ever faced the social embarrassment of having to admit that you’ve never seen Game of Thrones (Sky Atlantic,…

No mere mortal could possibly keep up with Game of Thrones

20 April 2019 9:00 am

By the time you read this, James Delingpole and I will have made our first podcast in 596 days. That’s…

Cable and Deadpool recreate the image from the Sistine chapel (Deadpool 2) [Rex Shutterstock]

Which comes first, the events or the zeitgeist? Peter Biskind examines pop culture

6 October 2018 9:00 am

Those who study culture — or think about public policy in relation to it — often wrestle with the classic…

Is Britannia really in the Game of Thrones’s league?

20 January 2018 9:00 am

It’s a terrible thing for a TV critic to admit but I just don’t know what to make of Britannia,…

Winter is nearly here – bring on the body count

22 July 2017 9:00 am

As a Game of Thrones fan, I feel ambivalent about the fact that the saga is finally wending its way…

Bending London’s listing rules to win Saudi favour smacks of desperation

22 July 2017 9:00 am

Now here’s a tricky question. The world’s largest oil company, potentially worth six times as much as ExxonMobil and ten…

Dethroned by feminism

22 July 2017 9:00 am

I’m a bit worried about Game of Thrones (Sky Atlantic). Not seriously worried: there’s too much money invested, too much…

Lily James as Juliet and Richard Madden as Romeo

Derek Jacobi as Mercutio is half-genius, half-prank: Romeo and Juliet at the Garrick reviewed

4 June 2016 9:00 am

Out come the stars in Kenneth Branagh’s Romeo and Juliet. He musters a well-drilled, celebrity-ridden crew but they can’t quite…

James Delingpole is loving Ben Elton's new Shakespeare sitcom

14 May 2016 9:00 am

There’s no way of saying this without shredding the last vestiges of my critical credibility, but this new Ben Elton…

Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark and Alfie Allen as Theon Greyjoy in ‘Games of Thrones’

It’s time Cersei destroyed the Corbyn-like High Sparrow: Game of Thrones, season six, reviewed

30 April 2016 9:00 am

So: Game of Thrones. Finally — season six — the TV series has overtaken the books on which it is…

Going Dutch: Eelco Smits and Janni Goslinga of Toneelgroep Amsterdam in ‘Kings of War’

This year's must-see Shakespeare? Four hours of history in Dutch

23 April 2016 9:00 am

James Woodall talks to the Belgian director Ivo van Hove, who has brought a swathe of Shakespeare’s history plays to the stage in Dutch (four hours of it)

The spying game: Ben Whishaw as Danny in ‘London Spy’

James Delingpole cringes at London Spy’s gay sex scenes

14 November 2015 9:00 am

The main problem with being a TV critic, I’ve noticed over the years, is that you have to watch so…

The Last Kingdom is BBC2’s solemnly cheesy answer to Game of Thrones

24 October 2015 9:00 am

The opening caption for The Last Kingdom (BBC2, Thursday) read ‘Kingdom of Northumbria, North of England, 866 AD’. In fact,…

The shape-shifting Fens, thought to be the landscape of Beowulf and the haunt of Grendel

Spirit of place: the landscape of myth and magic

19 September 2015 8:00 am

We live in disenchanted times. We barely do God, most of us don’t do magic and frenzied consumerism occupies our…

Saints still beat Game of Thrones for baby-naming – but maybe not Mohammed

29 August 2015 9:00 am

We reached peak Charlie in 2012, when 5,571 baby boys were given the name. There were only 4,642 last year.…

I wish Daenerys Targaryen would free the nipple: Game of Thrones series five reviewed

18 April 2015 9:00 am

Blimey, there has been so much good stuff to watch on telly of late: the Grand National, the Boat Race…

Henry VI did at least fulfil one function of kingship — that of ‘sacerdos’. Kneeling behind him is his uncle Henry Cardinal Beaufort, and standing (bearded) is another uncle, the ‘good Duke’ Humphrey

Britain’s own game of thrones

13 September 2014 9:00 am

Thank goodness for Game of Thrones. I think. Apparently it is inspired by the Wars of the Roses, drawing inspiration…

Adeel Akhtar plays Wilson Wilson in Utopia

Eye-gouging within the first half-hour: the edgy new rules of TV drama

23 August 2014 9:00 am

Where is Jessica Hyde? If those words mean nothing to you then I have some excellent news. If not, then…

Looking for a Game of Thrones substitute? Vikings is the closest you’ll get – but it ain't close

28 June 2014 9:00 am

Did you know that the 8th-century Kingdom of Northumbria was the epicentre of an international exotic reptile trade? I only…

Facing his greatest challenge yet: Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister

Thank God for the Game of Thrones imp – and the heaving breasts

17 May 2014 9:00 am

Which character are you in Game of Thrones? For me it’s got to be the imp, Tyrion Lannister. As Ed…

Game of Thrones tells the story of Britain better than most histories

29 March 2014 9:00 am

A young pretender raises an army to take the throne. Having recently learnt of his father’s beheading, the adolescent —…