Kevin’s bedroom quakes. His wardrobe starts to shudder. It opens … on to a scene of a Viking warrior being chased by some angry Saxons. The warrior leaps into the safety of Kevin’s bedroom and Kevin seizes his chance. “I was wondering,” he says to his bearskin-clad visitor, “if you could tell me why the Vikings suddenly stopped their murderous ways and adopted agrarianism?”
Which is Kevin (Kal-El Tuck), an 11-year-old history fanatic, and the show – Time Bandits, a reimagining for TV by Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement and Iain Morris of Terry Gilliam’s 1981 hit fantasy film – in a nutshell. Funny, charming, confident and still channelling a Python-esque welcome to any form of oddity in the world. Aesthetically it is perhaps inevitably more polished than the original, but enough of the Heath Robinson vibe has been retained to give comfort to any parents watching with the children at whom this is largely aimed.
