This new series throws you immediately into the action. Watching my preview copy, I felt sure that a segment must have been cut from the opening scenes, but no: the story simply wastes no time in steeping you in the atmosphere or gradually unveiling the characters. This approach will either provoke a nagging sense that you’re being hurried along, or you’ll think it’s swift and exciting.
The year is 866 AD we’re in the Kingdom of Northumbria. A father and son are on the beach. The son looks out to sea and cries that ships are approaching. It’s an invasion of Danes, here to support the Viking army. They hurry back to their fortress where the father instructs the men to seal the entrances and be ready to fight: “Every man must be prepared to die!”
Based on the novels by Bernard Cornwell, best known for his Sharpe books, this often seems like a low-budget Game of Thrones, although Cornwell has pointedly said he is not a fan of that gargantuan series.
As the Northumbrians prepare to defend their fortress a very cool and laconic Dane approaches the drawbridge. Perhaps he will offer a truce? No, he unfurls his cloak and a severed head tumbles forth. That’s his peace offering. His horse turns and slowly walks away.
“We do not wish England to become, piece by piece, Daneland!” say the besieged Northumbrians – but it seems they have rather a fight on their hands.
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