His Dark Materials (TV)

Source material knowledge first: I never actually read the books. I did, however, listen to the radio dramatisation of the trilogy and had it on tape. (There were still tapes in those days...) But that was a long, long time ago, which is actually helpful for dealing this this latest version as its own thing. I didn't have images of the characters in my head, and while I recalled the general points of the plot, a lot of details were lost to me, especially since I had liked but not loved what I had heard. I'm not sure, for example, whether or not the golden monkey, Mrs. Coulter's daemon, has a name in the books - I think he has one in the radio version? So I don't know whether this is a tv only thing. Also, being aquainted with the story via an audio dramatization first, I had no strong idea about how young or old anyone is supposed to be. (Well, obviously the children should be children, but other than that.)

( Spoilers found the tv series charming and look forward to s2 )