The obvious difficulty for anyone telling the story of 1066 is that there are no surprises:we all know what happened at the Battle of Hastings. TheBayeux Tapestry – a kind of 11th-century version of a miniseries,rendered in embroidery – depicted the saga over 58 scenes that show how Harold,King of England,died when an arrow pierced his eye,and his rival from Normandy earned a new title,William the Conqueror. Politically,it was a convulsion. England,now ruled by a French king,was about to be transformed.

Not many of us know much,however,about the machinations and intrigues that led up to that final fight,still less about the rivals themselves. “I think this is the thing,” says Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. He plays William inKing and Conqueror,a new eight-part series dramatising that power struggle. “We know the major things that happened. Like any major historical drama,we know how it’s going to end. But how do we get there? That’s the fun part. What did they talk about? And who the hell can we trust?”

Nobody,it seems;a dagger can appear from anywhere. Written by Michael Robert Johnson,whose credits include Guy Ritchie’sSherlock Holmes,King and Conqueror is a bloody mix of historical fact and imaginative reconstruction,enlivened with some large dollops of swashbuckling. British viewers and critics have compared it toGame of Thrones – not least because Coster-Waldau also playedGOT villain Jaime Lannister – but also found a modern parallel inSuccession.

The similarities are,in fact,glaring. Harold is the middle boy of three brothers,constantly vying with his bullying reprobate sibling,Sweyn,for his royal father’s favour;William the Bastard has survived a chaotic childhood and acquired a legitimate title only because he was scooped up as a favourite by Henry,the French king (Jean-Marc Barr). The Roy family – fictional characters,yet also not quite fictional,rather like these kings – would fit right in. “Humans evolve,but not that much,” says Coster-Waldau. “We’re still a greedy bunch that always wants more. That doesn’t seem to change.”

James Norton plays Harold,giving him plenty of swagger;he is also one half of Rabbit Track Pictures,the production company behind the series. Michael Johnson brought him the idea seven years ago,in the company’s early days. “It was very humbling,as an actor,to see how much work goes into the script stage,particularly,” he remembers. “Endless notes,endless revisions,even before we had anything to take to the BBC and CBS.”

Timelines had to be compressed for dramatic purposes,but Norton was surprised how closely the script cleaved to what historical records there are. “When Mike was issuing more and more scripts,we couldn’t believe that what he was writing about had actually happened,” Norton says,laughing. But as they moved into production in Iceland,he steered away from his producer’s duties to concentrate on Harold as a dramatic character. “For me,it was about the why. Why he was willing to sacrifice so much for power,for the crown. He persuades himself it’s to protect his family,but at a certain point something else has taken hold.”

The key to the story,says Norton,was the domestic realm,which was wide open to interpretation. Very little was known about Edith,Harold’s common-law wife,played here by Emily Beecham,but they knew she never left his side,even after he was married off for political purposes to someone else. William and Matilda,Duchess of Normandy,played by Clemence Poesy,were together all their lives;she was apparently the only person he trusted. An older generation of powerful women includes the dowager queen Emma (Juliet Stevenson),the controlling force behind her simpering son Edward the Confessor (Eddie Marsan),King of England.

“Obviously,we have masses of literature,often conflicting versions of what happened,mostly about the battles,coronations and men,” says Norton. “But the way into these men’s lives was actually through their relationships,so the really exciting work we did was in creating that domestic space,making it feel of its time but also relevant. About mothers and wives and fathers and brothers – and that’s timeless.” Once they had Edith and Matilda at the centre of the story,he says,the jigsaw began to fall into place.

It is also about shifting allegiances,alliances and inheritances;it is almost impossible to keep up with who killed whom,who married whom,who fathered whom and which of them are cousins – which is crucial,as alliances are largely based on blood ties. “I struggled with that until the very last day of the shoot!” says Poesy,laughing. “I always had to keep going back three scripts to get my head around it properly. I can’t imagine what it was like in real life.” The women are as immersed as the men in these intrigues;Matilda is not averse to dealing out a spot of torture.

“It wasn’t about these two women who were there as decoration,” says Norton. “Matilda was literate,while William couldn’t read or write.” He was the warrior;she was the political strategist. “And Edith,while she’s not as violent and sword-wielding as Matilda,gives birth on her own in captivity. She is tenacious and formidable and strong.”

Her survival,locked in a cold barn,is a story in itself. “We wanted to tell the truth about these women in the Middle Ages,which was that if they were to survive,they needed a hell of a lot of tenacity,” says Norton. “And that’s not acknowledged because most of the history books are about the battles.”

It’s hardly news,says Beecham,that women’s lives have gone unrecorded. “But these were the interesting parts,which I think gave richness and nuance to everything,a contrast to the brawn and aggression. I guess our job is to colour that in and get creative about what happened behind closed doors.”

In Coster-Waldau’s view,it was William’s partnership with Matilda that was the foundation of his rise to power. “They both have their parts to play in this campaign,” he says,then smiles as he delivers his big spoiler. “Because,without giving anything away,I’ll tell you something. William the Conqueror ends up on the throne of England!”

King and Conqueror premieres on SBS On Demand on October 12,with episodes screening on Sunday and Mondays at 8.30pm on SBS.

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