Game of Thrones

Lannister, Baratheon, Stark, Tyrell, Targaryen. As another season of HBO’s smash hit comes to a close, Game of Thrones will be back in the House, as we take a trip back to Westeros to explore the evolution of TV’s most dysfunctional noble families. After exploring the first two brutal seasons of Game of Thrones back in 2012, our panel will revisit the beheadings, red weddings and royal undoings of the ensuing three seasons, and examine the epic fandom that has engulfed the show. With HBO’s groundbreaking announcement of the simultaneous global broadcasting of its fifth season, Game of Thrones cemented its place in TV history as a worldwide phenomenon. Back in 2012 when we first examined the show in an evening of discussion, debate and some rather saucy erotic fan fiction, the popularity of the program was steadily climbing. Families had done battle, houses had fallen, and a handful of eggs had spectacularly hatched. But a lot can happen in three seasons, particularly in Westeros. With new characters emerging and old characters losing battles – and potentially their heads – season five promises to offer viewers more dragons, more fights, more sex, more epic battles, and a lot more snow (both atmospheric and of the Jon variety). Our panel of guests including film critic and writer for Guardian Australia Luke Buckmaster, journalist, author and cultural critic Mel Campbell, writer Luke Ryan and writer and broadcaster Clementine Ford, strapped their armour on, sharpened their swords and returned to the Seven Kingdoms to discuss who is still in the running to win TV’s most cut-throat game of thrones. Recorded: 30 June 2015