The Last Kingdom series two: Questions and talking points

Historical drama The Last Kingdom has returned to BBC2 and Netflix to document the power struggles and violent battles of ninth-century Britain in a second series.

Adapted from The Saxon Stories, Bernard Cornwell's series of historical novels, the show stars Alexander Dreymon as Uhtred, the orphaned son of a Saxon nobleman who was captured by Viking Danes and reared as one of them.

Now an adult and in the service of Anglo-Saxon King Alfred (David Dawson), Uhtred finds his loyalties tested as the royal campaigns to control England.

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The new series sees him older, wiser and battle-scarred, facing life without his loved ones.

The first episode went out last Thursday. Here are the main talking points that viewers and critics alike are debating.

Will Kjartan get the better of Uhtred?

Uhtred's biggest enemy is Kjartan (Alexandre Willaume), the man who betrayed his Danish family and burnt down their home.

The ruthless warlord has declared his desire to destroy our hero, saying: "I want him alive. I will take him piece by piece. Uhtred Ragnarson is mine."

Uhtred may have already outwitted Kjartan's weakling son Sven, but the father is a different matter. It looks as if the two will have a showdown before the season is out.

Can Guthred be trusted?

After King Alfred's success at Ethandun, Father Hrothweard (Richard Rankin) has started a revolt against the Danes.

But the plan to install Danish slave Guthred (Thure Lindhardt) as king in Cumberland seems questionable at best.

Can Guthred really be trusted, or is there more to him than meets the eye?

How will Uhtred and King Alfred fare on their own?

The first series seemed to imply that Uhtred and King Alfred, while both very different men, complemented each other and balanced out the other's weaknesses.

Series two sees them men separated, however: Uhtred has headed north with Hild the nun, while Alfred is strengthening his power base.

Will Uhtred make an error without Alfred to calm him down? Or will Alfred flounder without Uhtred's skill for making a decision in the heat of the moment?

What are they speaking?

Christopher Stevens in the Daily Mail calls the dialogue in The Last Kingdom, "infectiously strange".

The characters speak "part Shakespeare, part folk ballad and frequently inaudible", he says, which is even odder when you add in the "hodge-podge" of accents.

Hild (Eva Birthistle) speaks Chaucerian English "with the clipped tones of Cheltenham Ladies College", while the Danish hordes prefer "a rustic growl" reminiscent of The Archers and Uhtred "veers from South African to Norse to Russian, often in the space of a line".

According to the critic, the mix of accents make the series seem like sword and sorcery epic Game of Thrones, but without the "dragons or the boobs".

Is The Last Kingdom too similar to Game of Thrones?

It's easy to see why people would compare the two, says Huw Fullerton in the Radio Times.

There's the medieval dress, the political intrigue and the violent battles reminiscent of the HBO series. Plus it's unlikely The Last Kingdom would have been commissioned without the success of GoT.

But it is "a different beast", argues Fullerton.

The Last Kingdom can "stand on its own two feet as a historical drama with something to say about life, love and the formation of Britain".

The Last Kingdom continues at 9pm on BBC2 on Thursday.