Game of Thrones? It’s just like the Tory party

On the face of it, Game of Thrones doesn’t look very good. The HBO television series, based on a sequence of fantasy novels by George R.R. Martin, is set in a fictional, medieval kingdom called Westeros where various ambitious men do battle for the Iron Throne. It features dragons, zombies and dwarves, and has a cult following among the sort of people who think The Lord of the Rings is a great work of literature. One to be avoided, yes?

Well, no, actually. The dialogue leaves a lot to be desired and the supernatural hocus-pocus wears a bit thin after a while, but those caveats aside it’s the best thing on television at the moment. Better even than Breaking Bad — and that’s saying something.

Why is it so good? There’s the cast, for one thing. Game of Thrones may be an American import, but the actors are predominantly British. Not just any Brits, either, but the crème de la crème of the RSC. It’s like one of those lavish costume dramas that we do so well, except the actors are covered in blood rather than powder. Think Downton Abbey, but with X-rated levels of sex and violence. (It has been described as a glimpse inside the head of every teenage boy.)

Then there are the production values. Filmed in Northern Ireland and Malta, it’s a lavish, authentic affair with a Hollywood special effects budget. HBO spent $60 million on the first season alone — and that was just the haircuts. OK, I made the haircut bit up, but the sets and costumes are spectacularly good. Even the matchstick model of Westeros that features in the opening credits of each episode looks like it took the entire population of HM Prison Wandsworth to assemble.

But the reason I like it so much is because it’s so political. Most great modern sagas are described as ‘Shakespearean’, and that’s a term frequently bandied about by fans of Game of Thrones. In this case, though, it’s accurate. The main drama pivots around the competing royal ambitions of two powerful dynasties, the Lannisters and the Starks — instantly recognisable as the Lancasters and the Yorks. Martin’s inspiration for Game of Thrones is clearly Shakespeare’s Wars of the Roses.

The Richard III figure is a Machiavellian dwarf called Tyrion Lannister. The story unfolds from the viewpoint of seven different characters, but Tyrion dominates, if only because he has all the best lines. Asked how he’d like to die by an axe-wielding thug, Tyrion replies, ‘In my own bed, at the age of 80, with a belly full of wine and a girl’s mouth around my…’ Well, you get the idea. He’s cynical and jaded, but also clever and ambitious. You root for him because he’s aware of his moral shortcomings — just like Richard, in fact.

The great thing about this epic is its political realism. Unlike Shakespeare, George R.R. Martin isn’t constrained by the historical record, but he might as well be. What really differentiates Game of Thrones from The Lord of the Rings is that good does not always triumph and evil is not always vanquished. The characters don’t inhabit a hostile universe, just an indifferent one. Virtuous characters occasionally end up on top, but only because they’re lucky. And good fortune is distributed in a way that’s completely arbitrary from a moral point of view.

One of Martin’s best tricks is to suddenly kill off one of the protagonists. Not as a particular story line is winding its way to a conclusion, but midway through, at the height of the action. This produces a terrible sense of foreboding about the fate of the sympathetic characters and makes those scenes in which they’re in jeopardy almost unbearably tense. Game of Thrones has been downloaded illegally 25 million times, making it the most pirated programme in history. I’m sure the reason for that is because those viewers watching it in places like the UK, where episodes are broadcast a few weeks later than in America, simply can’t wait to find out what happens next.

HBO is trying to reduce the number of illegal downloads by cutting this lag time, but I’m not sure that will work. Episode one of season three debuts on Sky Atlantic next Monday and I’m trying my hardest to be patient because I strongly disapprove of copyright theft. But I’m not sure I can wait. Forget about House of Cards. If you really want an insight into the leadership battle that’s raging within the Conservative party at the moment, you have to watch Game of Thrones.