Game of Thrones

Last time we saw the sword-happy folk of Westeros, things were in flux, as they tend to be in this neck of the woods. Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) had finally shaken off The Hound and was sailing merrily to the Free City of Bravos, while Tyrion was sailing a little less merrily in a crate away from King’s Landing after killing his father (Charles Dance’s Tywin), who was otherwise engaged on the toilet. Nice touch, Tyrion.

In this first episode of series five, we find Peter Dinklage’s lion-hearted Lannister drunk and in exile, with the main hope of unseating the powerful ruling family having a few familial problems of her own: Mother of Dragons Daenerys Targaryen’s flying lizards keep barbecuing her people’s children alive. The Baelish/Sansa double act has the brains to mount a decent challenge but, alas, no force of arms.

It’s a relatively quiet catch-up-and-ease-in start to a new series, which will become as bloody as any, we have been assured (Kit Harington as Jon Snow likens it to a “horror film”).

Notable developments include our first look at an ascetic sect called the Sparrows, fronted by Jonathan Pryce’s High Sparrow. And there is a truly breathtaking panorama of the Great Pyramid at Meereen that will leave you gaping in awe.