Preposterous wigs, dull characters and miscasting. After a promising start this stutters and goes nowhere as a pale imitation of the original GOTs. There are over long scenes with pointless dialogue which will have you pressing fast forward. The violence and sex of GOTs is still here but somehow irrelevant.

In its favour are some great set pieces and wonderful scenery enhanced by CGI. The score creates the right atmosphere. Sadly though this is not enough to save the great houses from boredom. By the end of it you have stopped caring what happens to any of the characters that drift in and out of this expensive soap opera with dragons.