What happened when our TV critic watched 67 hours of Game of Thrones?
Ned Stark who? White Walkers? And what’s a Wall anyway? As the final series begins, one newcomer gets up to speed
Ten years, 47 Emmys and innumerable shattered budgetary and viewing records later, Game of Thrones’ eighth and final season is about to dawn. Of the previous seven I – apparently alone of my generation – have not seen a single minute. This must, I am told by people pressing feverish hands to my shoulders and me to the sofa, be remedied. It is time, they say, that I enter the world of Westeros, the Wall and something called White Walkers and bingewatch until I believe.
When you watch 67 hours of epically sweeping storytelling, you win or you die. I kept a diary of my long, long days and nights to find out which it would be.