The BBC is taking on the success of bloodthirsty fantasy show Game of Thrones with its own "epic" series about the ninth century wars between the Anglo-Saxons and Viking invaders.
The Last Kingdom, an eight-part series inspired by a series of novels by Bernard Cornwell, starts filming in Autumn and will be shown on BBC2.
It is made by Carnival Films, who make Downton Abbey, and tells the story of the son of a Saxon nobleman who is kidnapped by Vikings and raised as one of their own before returning to England to fight against them.
Executive Producer Gareth Neame said the books "combine historical figures and events with fiction in an utterly compelling way".
He said: "In part the epic quest of our hero Uhtred, it is also a fascinating re-telling of the tale of King Alfred the Great and how he united the many separate kingdoms on this island into what would become England."
Game of Thrones, which is made in the US by HBO, is based on George R.R. Martin's novels set in a medieval-inspired fantasy world.
Cornwell is the author of the Sharpe novels, about a soldier in the Napoleonic Wars, which inspired a long-running TV series with Game of Thrones star Sean Bean in the title role.
BBC drama boss Ben Stephenson said: "I hope The Last Kingdom will expand BBC Two's distinctive portfolio of drama. It's an epic narrative with an extraordinary creative team. It will feel like nothing else on television, with all of the scale and intrigue of the best fantasy stories but the reality of fact."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article