Korean War veteran Atticus Freeman meets up with his childhood friend Letitia and his Uncle George to embark on a road trip across 1950s Jim Crow America in search of his missing father.

There’s something delicious about H P Lovecraft’s name and works being used in a series that’s as much about racism as ancient Cthulhu beasts. I, like many, grew up reading the author’s fantastical tales, and only in more recent times discovered that he was so overtly racist.

Can or should we separate the man from his appalling attitudes? Should his work no longer be promoted? Or should we, as the series’ lead character Atticus Freeman explains in this season opener, when challenged why he is reading Burroughs’ Princess of Mars, about an ex-Confederate soldier, try to overlook their flaws?

Based on Matt Ruff’s 2016 episodic novel, this new 10-part HBO series from Misha Green is quite unlike anything else showing on TV. From its bonkers opening dream sequence with a baseball player fighting UFOs and winged Cthulhu beasts, to the arrival of a pink Martian, this is something unique.

Jonathan Majors (Da 5 Bloods) is Atticus ‘Tic’ Freeman, our hero, who meets up with his Uncle George (Courtney B Vance, Terminator Genisys) in Chicago. The latter is the writer of a “Safe Travel Guide for Negroes” in segregated America and agrees to take Tic with him on a road trip to find father/brother Montrose, who has mysteriously disappeared. They’re soon off to Ardham, Devon County, Massachusetts. His friend Letitia (Jurnee Smollett, Birds of Prey) is also along for the ride but it’s not long before they’re being abused by white folk.

A stop at Lydia’s Diner in Simmonsville doesn’t go to plan, where the travellers are pursued by gunmen in a truck, saved by the intervention of a magical silver Bentley driven by Abbey Lee’s (Max Max: Fury Road) as yet unnamed character. But they’re not out of the woods yet (figuratively or literally), as they’re then hounded by the racist cops of Devon County, who take them into the darkness to kill them. But this is Lovecraft Country, and ancient beasts are waiting to tear off limbs.

Verdict: A strong start to the series with some great performances, memorable set-pieces and excellent period detail. I’ll be back for more. 9/10

Nick Joy