His Dark Materials

Based on the books by Philip Pullman, BBC and HBO worked together to bring this series from the frist book, Northern Lights, to the screen.

This is the same one that was filmed over a decade ago with Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman as The Golden Compass, but with more details as it is of course longer... but also a bit forward into modern times as well, times have changed.

His Dark Materials is set in a multi-world reality, with the action moving from one world to another. The story begins in an alternate world where all humans have animal companions called daemons, which are manifestations of the human soul. The series follows the life of a young girl named Lyra who is an orphan living with the scholars at Jordan College, Oxford. As in Pullman's novel, Lyra discovers a dangerous secret that involves Lord Asriel Belacqua and Marisa Coulter. In her search for a missing friend, Lyra also uncovers a series of kidnappings and its link to a mysterious substance called Dust, which leads her on a journey of epic proportions and will lead to her crossing paths with a boy named Will.

That dark secret involves experiments "cutting" the daemons from the children away, in order to gather more Dust and create a bridge to an alternate world that can be observed in the Aurora Borealis.  Prepare to cry not only at the season finale, but especcially at the fate of Billy Costa, a young boy that went missing early on in the series and triggers the Shiptians to help out Lyra in her quest to find her father and look for his help.

With a strong cast of which there are some big names of british television, this is a fantastically made high production series, the daemons looking very natural for being CGI and the actors really strong in their roles.

A joy to watch, and I look forward for the second confirmed season of the story...