Sansa (Sophie Turner) and Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) contend with their unwanted union in season four of Game of Thrones.
* This story contains spoilers
Pick of the week: Game Of Thrones
"Debts will be paid," could be the tagline for season four of the juggernauty fantasy series. We all know the Lannisters pay theirs, but as season three finished, injustices were mounting, and there are plenty of characters with cause for revenge. How it will be exacted remains to be seen, but let's start with where things left off.
Catelyn Stark, Rob Stark, his new wife Talisa, and her unborn baby are all dead, at the hands of the Freys, and the devious Lord Bolton. Bran Stark has joined forces with Jojen and Meera Reed, and accompanied by Hodor, is venturing north of the wall. Arya Stark has killed her first man, and is currently buddied up (in a mutually advantageous arrangement) with The Hound, as they head back across the country, having witnessed the slaughter at the Red Wedding. "I feel like Arya is slowly slipping into this more selfish side of killing people; that actually it's more for personal pleasure at times than for what is the right thing to do" says Masie Williams, who plays the youngest Stark girl.
Sansa Stark is now married to Tyrion Lannister - against their own desires - but Tyrion seems determined to do his best by Sansa, even if he's in a tricky position, what with his father, sister and nephew all hating him. Of course with Jaime Lannister back in Westeros, sans swordhand, but still with plenty of family sway, and a soft spot for Tyrion, the brothers may rally together.
That is if Cersei Lannister doesn't ruin everything - she's glad to have Jaime back, but she's losing control over her son, and her life, which makes her ever more malicious. "Why have the gods made me love such a hateful woman!" cries Jamie at some point. Seems they're no longer such happy incestuous bedfellows.
And one reason for that may be Brienne of Tarth, the warrior woman who escorted Jaime back to King's Landing. Can she keep him from returning to his old ways?
Hateful young King Joffrey will of course soon be married to Margaery Tyrell, which means there will be a wedding as ostentatious as anything Kim and Kanye can conjure up, and the Tyrells continue to do their best to out-manoeuvre the Lannisters in a quest for power. Of course, none of this really matters if winter is indeed coming and the wildings and white walkers are going to conquer the wall and defeat the Night's Watch. Jon Snow might be alive, and reunited with Sam, but they're not going be able to hold off Mance Rayder or the undead for long.
And of course, then there's Daenerys Targaryen - she may still be on the other side of the Narrow Sea, but with thousands of freed slaves, an army of Unsullied, and the Second Sons, her remaining Dothraki, and three growing dragons behind her, she is certainly gathering support. Will season four see her make an attempt to reclaim the Iron Throne, or will she be side-tracked by her new role as Breaker Of Chains?
One thing seems clear - there will be huge battles, and plenty of action, right from the top.
"In each season to date there's always been something you're expecting," says Isaac Hempstead-Wright, who plays Bran Stark. "It's always leading up to a climax. This season throws that away and everything is a mishmash of chaos and excitement."
Game of Thrones
When: Monday, 8.30pm
Where: Soho
What: The fourth season. Yes winter, still coming
Music pick: Prime Rocks: David Bowie - Five Years
The first true pop chameleon, David Bowie remains one of the most influential and innovative artists of our lifetime. Despite the 30 intervening years, and massive technological leaps, few have been as daring and groundbreaking as Bowie was in the late 70s and early 80s. This documentary is an intimate portrait of five key years in his career. With welcome access to Bowie's personal archive of costumes, set designs, lyrics and memorabilia, the examination of each year illustrates not only the source of his inspiration, but also where those ideas led him. It starts in 1971, with the creation of Ziggy Stardust; moves on to 1975, the year of the
Young Americans
and the
Thin White Duke
; 1977 and the release of huge albums Low and Heroes; 1980, the year of his powerful song
Ashes to Ashes
; and 1983, the year Bowie went commercial with the release of
Let's Dance
.
Prime Rocks: David Bowie - Five Years
When: Wednesday, 9.30pm
Where: Prime
What: From Ziggy Stardust to commercial fame.
Drama pick: American Horror Story: Coven
American Horror Story
is back for another season of all-new characters, storylines, and locales. Jessica Lange returns, this time as a very powerful witch, Fiona Goode, the supreme head of a coven residing in Miss Robichaux's Academy in New Orleans.
Coven
delves into the secret history of witches and witchcraft in America, and the descendants of the witches who escaped the Salem trials 300 years ago. Their numbers are dwindling as shadowy attacks against them escalate, but Goode is determined to preserve her power. Sarah Paulson returns as her daughter, and headmistress of the Academy; Frances Conroy is Myrtle Snow, an old rival of Fiona's; Denis O'Hare, who was in first season
Murder House
, is Spalding, the academy's mysterious butler and Evan Peters is a young man caught up in the coven's ways. Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Gabourey Sidibe, and Taissa Farmiga are among the stars who form the rest of the cast.
American Horror Story: Coven
When: Monday, 9.30pm
Where: Soho
What: Survival of the witches
Cameo pick: Hannibal
As the delightfully chilling series enters its second half, British comedian Eddie Izzard joins the cast for a recurring guest role, which sees him play a demented ex-doctor, Abel Gideon, now locked up in the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. His path crosses with Hannibal when a nurse at the institution is brutally murdered in the manner of the Chesapeake Ripper, and Gideon confesses to being the ripper himself. But the team have doubts about whether he simply believes he is the ripper due to those thoughts being planted by another doctor at the hospital, or whether he may have committed the original crimes. When Gideon realises he may have been psychically driven, it sets him on a road to competing with the real ripper - Hannibal - setting up all sorts of dangerous games for season two as well. Hannibal is no longer the only character with a ruthless, calculating nature.
Hannibal
When: Sunday, 9.30pm
Where: TV3
What: A playmate for Hannibal
Comedy pick: Davey Hughes: Untamed
Eccentric and enthusiastic Kiwi entrepreneur Davey Hughes is best known for his autobiographical book
Untamed
, and is the founder of Swazi Outdoor Clothing. He appeared on
Border Patrol
from time to time, bringing in all manner of exotic stuff - guns, tusks, furs - and clearly has a taste for adventure. But he's not just a hunter, or a businessman, he's also a self-styled conservationist (Siberian tigers are his key cause), and is passionate about getting Kiwi kids back out into the wild for adventures. Now the family man has his own show, and in each of nine episodes he'll be heading off to some far-flung corner of the world. In the first episode, he travels to Tanzania on an old-school safari, and is given the opportunity to hunt dangerous cape buffalo. But while there he also witnesses the devastating results of elephant poaching, which has a lasting effect.
Davey Hughes: Untamed
When: Sunday, 2.00pm
Where: Prime
What: Swazi Man on global expedition
- TimeOut
Di Leach is returning to theatre seven years after she became unwell.