His Dark Materials BBC air date: When does it start? How many episodes?

The BBC and HBO have brought to screens a fresh adaption of author Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials. Featuring an all-star cast including Hollywood actor James McAvoy and Ruth Wilson, the new series will be sticking close to the original books. Here’s what you need to know about the brand-new drama including the plot and what to expect.

BBC One will be airing His Dark Materials from tonight (Sunday, November 3) at 8pm.

The show will be broadcast on a weekly basis with eight episodes in total.

Viewers who miss out on episodes can catch up on BBC iPlayer.

Those in the US can watch His Dark Materials on HBO with the season premiere on Monday, November 4 at 9pm.

READ MORE:His Dark Materials HBO and BBC release date, cast, trailer, plot

American viewers can catch up on episodes of His Dark Materials on the HBO website.

Alternatively, you can catch up via the network’s platform HBO GO which you’ll need a HBO subscription to access. There’s also HBO NOW which also requires a monthly fee.

British viewers will be getting to watch episodes of the show before they air in the US - something of a reversal with Game of Thrones, Chernobyl and Watchmen airing in Stateside before coming to the UK.

Speaking about the number of episodes, producer Jane Tranter told media including Express.co.uk: “So, I think we thought that to be honest that book one could not be adapted in less than eight episodes.

“And I didn’t want to push my luck by asking for more than eight.

“If I’m honest, I also get very tired when it gets to episodes nine and 10.”

READ MORE: Where is His Dark Materials filmed?

Season one takes its cue from Pullman’s first novel Northern Lights published in 1995.

His Dark Materials is set in a parallel world in which human souls manifest outside the body as a creature called a daemon which accompanies them and offers comfort in times of distress.

This world is controlled by the all-powerful Magisterium - also known as “the Church” - which zealously enforces its doctrine and those accused of heresy severely punished.

However, the rule of the Magisterium doesn’t reach the Northern wilderness where witches live and speak of a prophecy which could change the world.

READ MORE: Who is in the cast of His Dark Materials?

The story follows orphan Lyra Belacqua (played by Dafne Keen), who has grown up in Jordan College Oxford after she was taken there as an infant by her uncle Lord Asriel (James McAvoy).

Lyra is raised by the Master of the college (Clarke Peters). However, she eventually leaves Oxford after her ward tries to poison Asriel and her friend Roger Parsley (Lewin Lloyd) goes missing.

But before she leaves, the Master gives her an alethiometer, a truth-telling device to detect when people are lying.

She meets Mrs Coulter (Ruth Wilson) who promises to help her but has more nefarious motives for taking Lyra under her wing.

So begins an epic journey which will take Lyra across worlds and see her fulfil her destiny.

On trying to bring the characters and the source material to life for the screen, writer Jack Thorne said: “We did 46 drafts of episode one and we went down a lot of wrong corridors and sat in those corridors and wept.

“These books are monstrously good and when you’re given an adaptation there are two forms.

“One – ah, there’s a seed of something brilliant that I can play with and make work and there’s other ones where you go, ‘My job is just to get this as close to this as possible on the screen.’”

He added: “The books are perfect and when you’re given perfection, it’s scary as s***. So that’s what we tried to do.”

His Dark Materials starts on BBC One tonight at 8pm