The Independent

Blood spilt in battle between ‘Game of Thrones’ and new pretender

- ADAM SHERWIN MEDIA CORRESPOND­ENT

The author whose novels are being turned into a blood-andguts medieval drama to rival Game of Thrones has claimed the long-running blockbuste­r fantasy series includes explicit scenes as “sexplanati­ons” to distract viewers from boring plot exposition.

Bernard Cornwell, whose Saxon Stories novels have been adapted by the BBC for its £10m Dark Ages drama series The Last Kingdom, said his fact-based stories were superior to the fantasy HBO drama, notorious for its graphic sex scenes.

Cornwell told Radio Times that he was not a fan of Game of Thrones. “So many characters. So many strands. You have to have large sections where the plot is explained; just have to sit there and be told what’s going on,” the author said. “This is very, very dull. So they put a lot of naked women behind it all.

He added: “They are called ‘sexplanati­ons’ in the trade. My programmes will not need sexplanati­ons.”

The BBC commission­ed The Last Kingdom, which depicts Alfred the Great’s battle to the unify England in the face of the Viking threat, after missing out on the chance to co-produce Game of Thrones. Cornwell, 71, who previously created the Sharpe Napoleonic War novels, recently admitted: “If I were a commission­ing editor at the BBC, I’d say, ‘We want Game of Thrones – boys, let’s have dragons and tits’”.

The BBC2 series, which launches next week, com- bines historical figures with fictional events and doesn’t skimp on the visceral, swordwield­ing violence. However the sex scenes are less explicit and nudity employed more sparingly than in its rival.

HBO has denied claims that sex is used gratuitous­ly in Game of Thrones. Michael Lombardo, president of programmin­g at the network, said: “As long as I feel that it isn’t a show trying to attract

 ?? AP/HBO ?? Diversiona­ry tactic? A scene from ‘Game of Thrones’, which makers HBO deny uses sex gratuitous­ly
AP/HBO Diversiona­ry tactic? A scene from ‘Game of Thrones’, which makers HBO deny uses sex gratuitous­ly
 ??  ?? Bernard Cornwell is a veteran of historical fiction, having written 24 Napoleonic-era ‘Sharpe’ novels
Bernard Cornwell is a veteran of historical fiction, having written 24 Napoleonic-era ‘Sharpe’ novels

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