How did Game of Thrones become the biggest show on television?
Alexander Siddig - who plays Doran Martell on the HBO drama - thinks its enormous success is down to two things: "complexity" and "generosity".
"Until whenever Game of Thrones started, TV shows were relatively simple, easily digestible - not too many plot lines, not much to follow, not much to put together - they had a strong driving narrative and off you go," Siddig told Digital Spy.
"But with this, you don't spend two minutes with someone before you're off to somewhere else - and dealing with another character - and then you barely get to know them before you're off somewhere else.
"They've tapped into the fact that audiences are capable of managing massive parcels of complexity - we can deal with enormous amounts of information...
"So they're giving it to us and they're giving it to us in a really generous way. I think generosity is the one key [to its success] - and complexity is the other."
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Siddig - no stranger to iconic TV series, having appeared on Star Trek and 24 - admitted that joining Game of Thrones felt like a "rite of passage".
"It was like, 'Great, they've found a thing for me - I'll come on, do a bit and then bugger off' - and it is like that, because there are 350 speaking parts on that show.
"It's vast and there's no room for egos - you look over your shoulder and there's a bigger actor than you everywhere. The whole thing's epic.
"It has this confidence - it's the product of a couple of guys whose vision has seen it take over the world in terms of ratings, or in terms of what people love, and they've really set the benchmark for television. Everybody wants to emulate Game of Thrones on some level."
Siddig will reprise his role of Doran Martell in the sixth season of Game of Thrones - still far too far away with a projected arrival date of April 2016.
Alexander Siddig stars in the historical epic Tut - a new event series beginning August 1 at 9pm on Channel 5 and concluding August 2.
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