His Dark Materials (HBO) Series One

Lyra is 12 and has grown up with the academics at Jordan College, Oxford, since her uncle left her in their care as a baby. But this is a different Oxford in a different world, where the sinister Magisterium rules a religious dictatorship with an iron fist. Lyra sets out on a quest to rescue her kidnapped friend, meeting an array of unexpected allies along her journey to the frozen north. There she discovers she is not actually an orphan and may have an important role to play in changing the world. Casting and CGI are the cornerstones of success in adapting Philip Pullman’s trilogy of dark fantasy novels for the small screen. The cast is outstanding and uniformly excellent, featuring Ruth Wilson, James McAvoy and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Dafne Keen as Lyra holds it all together. The CGI is also very good, bringing to life the daemons that represent souls that take on a fixed form at puberty – oh and then there are the armoured bears. The books are extremely complex, with a large array of characters, challenging concepts and a twisty plot. For the most part these have translated well, but there are a few coincidences and unexplained elements that leave a gap in the narrative despite having eight episodes to map it all out. A second series may well resolve some of these mysteries and a third is planned.