What a fantastic time to be a fantasy fan. Arriving just in time to banish the New Year blues, the eagerly awaited Game of Thrones spin-off, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, is about to sweep us off our feet and back to the world of Westeros. Buckle up for fabulous fights, top-level skulduggery and a reliable supply of sneery villains in ornate helmets.
But the new show also adds a feel-good element largely absent from Game of Thrones. Set 70 years before the time of Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen, it tells the story of a humble “hedge knight”, Ser Duncan (Peter Claffey), and his unlikely friendship with young squire “Egg” (Dexter Sol Ansell). Imagine The Mandalorian and Baby Yoda – or Steve and Dustin in Stranger Things – with bonus jousting.
The real magic, though, is that Knight of the Seven Kingdoms looks set to be another major hit. How far we have come from that distant time when decent fantasy series were rarer than a Nazgûl in a nightie. Clench thy broadsword, then, and adjust thy chain mail – here are the nine best fantasy shows of all time:
9. Avatar: The Last Airbender
‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ attracts new fans to this day (Photo: Nickelodeon)
Not to be confused with James Cameron’s blue aliens, Avatar is a kids’ cartoon with a maturity and dramatic scope beyond its years. Set in a vaguely Far East-style fantasy kingdom, the story unfolds during a destructive war between four kingdoms named after the elements.
As chaos rages, a potential saviour emerges in the form of a young boy named Aang, who is the last of his generation with the power to manipulate – or “bend” – air. Featuring richly drawn characters, complicated baddies – Prince Zuko is one of TV’s most evocative villains – and fantastic magical action, Avatar: The Last Airbender is an epic tapestry of a show that eclipses its children’s TV origins and is rightly regarded as a classic.
Twenty-one years after it first aired in 2005, it still draws new fans – and has even inspired a decent live-action reboot from Netflix.
8. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
The BBC series is an adaptation of Susanna Clarke’s 2004 novel (Photo: Marko Ercegovic/JSMN Ltd/BBC)
The 2004 novel by Susanna Clarke is regarded as perhaps the greatest fantasy novel of the 21st century. This 2015 BBC adaptation does justice to the book, even if the budget isn’t quite up to its sweeping scope.
Set during the Napoleonic Wars, it tells the story of feuding magicians who are caught in a war between human forces and shadowy figures from the world of faerie, as personified by Marc Warren’s eerie Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair. Bertie Carvel and Eddie Marsan are the perfect mix of petty and paranormal as the rival wizards, Strange and Norrell – each too multifaceted to qualify as a straightforward hero or villain.
Clarke’s novel was a dashing Regency romp, but it also delved into the difference in world view between Yorkshire-born Norrell’s practical attitude to magic and the more privileged Strange’s rakish outlook. That tension is preserved in the BBC retelling, which has the quality of a Jane Austen novel crossed with a haunting fairy tale.
7. The Chronicles of Narnia
The BBC version of ‘The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe’ was eerily melancholic (Photo: BBC)
The CS Lewis Narnia novels are soon to be rebooted by Netflix and director Greta Gerwig. But she will do well to locate the eerie melancholy that ran through the books and which was beautifully conveyed by the BBC’s overlooked adaptations of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and its sequels Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair.
Filmed on a micro-budget, these three series from 1988 to 1990 radiate the low-budget, shot-on-video creepiness that was a feature of so much 80s kids’ TV. The BBC had the genius to cast 70s horror movie star Barbara Kellerman as the White Witch, who gives a performance which is a cross between Joan Collins and Florence and the Machine.
Meanwhile, The Silver Chair (a faithful retelling of the strongest of the Narnia books) featured the best Doctor Who ever, Tom Baker, as morose sidekick Puddleglum.
6. Children of the Stones
This 1977 ITV kids’ series is thrillingly weird (Photo: YouTube)
Fantasy or folk horror for kids? When it comes to escapist storytelling, there is always the question of what does or does not fall inside the tent.
Either way, this 1977 ITV kids’ series is thrillingly weird. Remembered today for its shrieking soundtrack by the choral group the Ambrosian Singers, it tells the story of an astrophysicist and his teenage son who become obsessed with a megalithic stone circle (real-life Avebury circle in Wiltshire) and eventually pass into a completely different dimension.
Sheer nightmare fuel and a prime example of the “hauntology genre” in which the dystopian qualities of 70s Britain are given a supernatural glow-up.
5. Xena: Warrior Princess
Lucy Lawless’s series was brilliantly fun and cheesy (Photo: Sky TV)
The 90s were tough for fantasy fans. Dungeons and Dragons was in decline, fantasy films flopped at the box office and literary fantasy went through an unfortunate “grimdark” phase that often verged on torture porn.
There was a bright spot, however, in the brilliantly fun and cheesy Xena: Warrior Princess, starring Lucy Lawless as the eponymous warrior on a mission to stand up for the less fortunate. Yes, it was as camp as a scouting jamboree – but the best fantasy always has a core of silliness, and Xena is more fun than you could shake a battle axe at.
Filmed in New Zealand, it also paved the way for Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy – likewise shot in the home of the All Blacks and which similarly made full use of the stunning landscapes.
Available to rent or buy on Prime Video
4. Robin of Sherwood
‘Robin of Sherwood’ had great hair, fantastic mytholology and thrilling fight scenes (Photo: ITV/LFI)
Best remembered today for Michael Praed’s hair flapping majestically as Clannad burbled in the background in the opening credits, Robin of Sherwood was part of the rich tradition of British kids’ telly designed to terrify viewers of all ages.
In one episode, Robin went up against Satan himself. Elsewhere he was constantly pestered by his shadowy spiritual “father”, Herne the Hunter. But Robin of Sherwood’s genius was never to wink at us watching: it took itself seriously and, by introducing elements of the supernatural, fleshed out the fantastical undertones of the Robin Hood legend.
The show’s creator, Richard Carpenter, was explicit about wanting to retell the Robin Hood legend in the context of Britain’s pagan history – a past that had not quite stepped into legend in the time period of the show. “The Middle Ages were extremely superstitious and much remained of the old pre-Christian fertility and tree worship religions,” he explained. Great hair, fantastic mytholology and thrilling fight scenes – Robin of Sherwood had it all and then some.
3. The Magicians
What if Harry Potter was for grown-ups and less annoying? That was the pitch, more or less, of Lev Grossman’s Magicians books – which are well served by an enjoyably soapy Syfy Channel adaptation that ran for five seasons.
Unfolding in Hogwarts-esque Brakebills University, it tells the story of a group of young magic users who push themselves to the limit to master the dark arts. They include a nervy New Yorker, Quentin Coldwater, who is astounded to discover that his favourite novels, the Narnia-esque Fillory series, are real – and that mystical Brakebills wants him as a student.
Blending high school drama and epic fantasy, it’s a romp from beginning to end – and all without a Quidditch stick or racially dubious character name to be seen.
Available to buy on Prime Video
2. Arcane
The animation style of ‘Arcane’ looks spectacular (Photo: Netflix)
Streaming has brought mixed results for fantasy. There have been average shows (The Witcher on Netflix) and absolute dross (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Prime Video). One of the best, however, is Arcane, a tale of feuding sisters Vi and Jinx set in a steam-punk alternative universe and featuring gorgeous visuals, morally ambiguous characters and top-rank voice acting (Hailee Steinfeld and Ella Purnell play the two leads).
It looks spectacular – French animation powerhouse Fortiche laboured on the production for years – and the tale of sibling rivalry in a retro-future dystopia is gripping.
1. Game of Thrones
‘Game of Thrones’ is one of the best series of the last 25 years (Photo: HBO)
Yes, the ending was dreadful and the reliance on sexual violence as a plot device has aged terribly (and was pretty iffy in the moment). But let’s not allow that to detract from the fact that for its first four seasons, at least, Game of Thrones brought us some of the best on-screen fantasy ever.
Arya Stark watching in horror as her father was led to the chopping block; the Battle of the Blackwater; the Night King’s attack on Hardhome; Jon Snow standing firm against Ramsay Bolton’s hordes. These are not only some of the best fantasy moments, they are part of the highlight reel of the greatest TV of the past 25 years.
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