Game of Thrones simulcast: US-UK time lag hits zero

But why, in the age of video-on-demand, do Brits need to be up at 2am to enjoy the thrill?

Game of Thrones leading man Kit Harrington

BACK in the 1980s, when I was at primary school, friends who went on holiday to the United States would come back with a glimpse of the future. For six months at least, every new film release would be met with the same lofty response. “Oh yeah,” they’d say, “I saw that when I was in America.”

Back to the Future, for instance, came out in the US on 3 July, 1985, but British school kids had to wait until 4 December to catch up with their jet-setting classmates. Over the years, the gap between American and British release dates narrowed, but it has not entirely disappeared.

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Holden Frith is The Week’s digital director. He also makes regular appearances on “The Week Unwrapped”, speaking about subjects as diverse as vaccine development and bionic bomb-sniffing locusts. He joined The Week in 2013, spending five years editing the magazine’s website. Before that, he was deputy digital editor at The Sunday Times. He has also been TheTimes.co.uk’s technology editor and the launch editor of Wired magazine’s UK website. Holden has worked in journalism for nearly two decades, having started his professional career while completing an English literature degree at Cambridge University. He followed that with a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University in Chicago. A keen photographer, he also writes travel features whenever he gets the chance.