Game of Thrones series eight premiere breaks Sky ratings record

The show, lauded as the world's most popular by Time Magazine, and, well, everyone, returned after a 20-month hiatus to ring in its final six episodes on Monday 15th April, airing a live 2am simulcast on Sky Atlantic at the same time as its HBO broadcast in the US, and a more sociable repeat at 9pm that same evening. It was available to stream via on demand services such as Sky Box Sets and NOW TV from the wee hours of the morning, too.

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In total, 3.39 million viewers watched the new episode over the course of the day, up 20% on the first episode of season seven (which pulled in an overnight audience of 2.83 million) and a new record for Sky; the Game of Thrones series seven finale held the previous title with 3.03 million overnight viewers.

The US broadcast broke records for HBO, too, with 17.4m in total digesting the season opener overnight.

The total viewership is expected to rise further over the next few days as users tune in on demand, meaning it will likely break the cumulative audience for the season seven finale of 4.97m. And there's still five more MASSIVE episodes to go...

Game of Thrones continues on Sky Atlantic on Monday at 2am, followed by a repeat at 9pm