When a grand magus summons and imprisons the lord of dreams, there are consequences for just for himself but all of mankind.

That noise you can here is not the ‘sound of her wings’, but a huge sigh of relief. Not that I ever really doubted it, but the opening hour of Netflix’s adaptation of the award-winning 1989 Neil Gaiman comic book series is a great success. Faithful to the source material, but with contemporary tweaks, this is a stunning opener, written by Neil Gaiman, David S Goyer and Allan Heinberg.

Covering comic issue #1, The Sleep of the Just, this is less an origin story of the eponymous Dream (Tom Sturridge) instead picking things up when sorcerer Roderick Burgess (an on-form Charles Dance) accidentally sucks him out of his dream realm into a country house in 1920s England. His plan was to capture and leverage Dream’s sister, Death, but having realised the value of his accidental prisoner (and his accessories), he keeps Dream incarcerated.

Sturridge is just so good as Dream – the chiselled cheeks, shock of jet-black hair, and a sonorous voice that perfectly embodies the trademark black speech bubbles from the comics’ pages. For those familiar with the comics (full disclosure: I’ve been there since the beginning) I was giddy at seeing such a faithful rendition of the elements that made the comic unique, with some shots replicating panels perfectly. As you’d expect, there are some changes to the original story, but nothing jumps out as extraneous, and if anything, they add clarity.

The Dirk Maggs-produced Audible audiobooks continue to be an excellent alternative take on the Sandman series, and with this 10-part television series we can experience the first 16 issues of the comic in yet another medium. I was initially disappointed when the mooted movie version fell through in 2016, but now I realise that was a blessing in disguise. Technology is now sufficiently advanced to credibly present Gaiman’s fantastical dream world – what a treat.

Verdict: As good as we dreamed it might be – welcome to the Dreaming. This is small screen fantasy with a big screen aesthetic and you’ll be hard pressed to resist bingeing the whole lot in one go. 10/10

Nick Joy