Anticipation has been building for the air date for the TV adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, with fans of the book asking when does it start and where to watch it. The details below should give you everything that you need to get set for the release, including our take on the age rating in the parents guide section below.
Where to watch His Dark Materials?
The TV adaptation of His Dark Materials is being produced by the BBC for the UK and HBO to air in the USA, so in terms of where to watch it, you’re looking at either BBC 1 and iPlayer in the UK and HBO and HBO Go in the US. It’ll be interesting to see whether or not it gets released to buy on iTunes and Amazon Prime Video, which happens a lot with BBC shows, but the HBO link could stop that with its new streaming service HBO Max set to launch in Spring 2020.
AdvertisementIt’s a collaboration that went on to produce one of the biggest series of 2019 with an epic trailer that you can watch over on our page covering His Dark Materials theme tune. It has since been released on DVD and Blu-Ray, plus digital, and there’s a box set that covers both the first and the second series. There’s bound to be a 3 disc set to come when Series 3 arrives.
You can follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/tuppencemag to see more from us or check out the official Twitter page at twitter.com/darkmaterials.
When does it start?
His Dark Materials Series 1 started on BBC One on the 3rd November 2019 with each episode arriving on BBC iPlayer sequentially as they aired. As expected, it’ll be on at 8pm on Sunday nights, so it’s going to be the prime time series in the run-up to Christmas.
It’s an 8-part series covering Book I from the novels, starting out with Episode 1, Roger on the 3rd. The rest of the series will then air weekly in the run up to Christmas with the final episode to go out on Sunday the 22nd December 2019.
However, it’s a slightly different story for when does it start in the USA as HBO will be transmitting His Dark Materials a day later on Monday the 4th November 2019. The time slot is is an hour later at 9pm, and it will also get a sequential addition to HBO Go, with the weekly air dates on Monday running up to the final episode on the 23rd December 2019.
Age rating and parents guide
AdvertisementGoing only on the trailer to begin with, along with the content of novel, The Golden Compass, we expectedHis Dark Materials to get an age rating of between PG and 12 for the series. In the end, it was certified as being suitable for 12 years and over. The film adaptation had an age rating of PG with references to moderate fantasy violence and intense scenes in the parents guide information, but you can see in the trailer (linked above) that the BBC and HBO adaptation feels a little darker in terms of delivery.
There are some pretty hefty moments in the story, especially towards the end of the book, that may well be a bit distressing for younger kids. The ghost scene, golden monkey madness, intercision and Roger moment could all be a bit intense, which is why we’re veering more towards a 12 age rating than PG.
Read more about the BBC and HBO adaptation of His Dark Materials
You can find out more about the new BBC and HBO show with the links below, which give you more of an overview of the show, including who plays all of the big characters from the Philip Pullman books.
- His Dark Materials theme tune
- Who plays Pantalaimon, Iorek Byrnison, Hestor, Kaisa and Stelmaria in BBC and HBO’s His Dark Materials?
You can see more on the series on the HBO webpage at https://www.hbo.com/his-dark-materials.
