Author Olga Hughes

Olga Hughes

Olga Hughes has a BFA from the Victorian College of the Arts and a BA in History and Literary Studies from Deakin University. She has also contributed to websites such as History Behind Game of Thrones. Her research interests include medieval and early modern history, folklore and fairy tales. She is currently writing her Honours thesis on Shakespeare's Richard III.

His Dark Materials Book to Screen Analysis: Season 2 Episode 2 ‘The Cave’

Olga Hughes

November 19, 2020

Film & TV, His Dark Materials

Episode 2 Spoilers The Cave When Will and Lyra’s stories were separate in Season One, the children seemed a little too grown-up. Now that Lyra and Will’s paths have merged, there finally seems to be a rea... Read More...

Henry VII & Elizabeth of York: ‘The Shadow of the Tower’ Watch-along and Discussion

Olga Hughes

November 12, 2020

Film & TV, History

The recently formed 'James Maxwell and The Shadow of the Tower' Facebook group will be holding its first The Shadow of the Tower watch-along and weekly discussions, starting from next week. First broadcast by t... Read More...

His Dark Materials Book to Screen Analysis: Season 2 Episode 1 ‘City of Magpies’

Olga Hughes

November 10, 2020

Film & TV, His Dark Materials

Episode 1 Spoilers The City of Magpies Jack Thorne always allows his empathy to shine through in his writing. Over the last few years, the UK government have been doggedly dragging the country back into a Dic... Read More...

Sanditon: Why We Need Season Two

Olga Hughes

November 5, 2020

Film & TV

Back in 2018, when it was announced that the new adaptation of Jane Austen’s unfinished novel Sanditon would be penned by veteran screenwriter Andrew Davies, The Guardian demanded to know how it “would stand up... Read More...

Who’s Afraid of Anne Boleyn?

Olga Hughes

October 31, 2020

Film & TV, History

Recently I saw a meme aimed at history nerds making fun of ‘social justice warriors’. I’ll laugh all day long at the memes featuring peasants asking for gluten-free bread, but this one struck me as strange, and... Read More...

Eleanor of Aquitaine: Queen of France and England, Mother of Empires with Sara Cockerill

Olga Hughes

May 27, 2020

History, Interviews

“Writing about Eleanor of Aquitaine has been a very different experience to writing about Eleanor of Castile. With the latter, my almost universal experience was that people had no idea at all who she was. In... Read More...

“From The Ashes” Poetry for Bushfire Relief: Call for Submissions

Olga Hughes

January 23, 2020

Books, News, Poet's Stage

Call for submissions. The 2019-2020 bushfire season has seen unprecedented destruction, as well as an unprecedented national and worldwide response. To contribute to that effort, Maximum Felix Media is accepti... Read More...

His Dark Materials Book to Screen Analysis: Episode 8 Season Finale ‘Betrayal’

Olga Hughes

December 29, 2019

Books, Film & TV, His Dark Materials

Episode 8 Spoilers Betrayal If there was one episode this season that was an almost perfect adaptation of the source material, then Betrayal was it. We saw plenty of dialogue from the books, dæmons on-screen,... Read More...

His Dark Materials Book to Screen Analysis: Episode 7 ‘The Fight to the Death’

Olga Hughes

December 21, 2019

Books, Film & TV, His Dark Materials

Episode 7 Spoilers The Fight to the Death There is no way of getting around the fact that, for book fans at least, episodes six and seven of His Dark Materials have been a little underwhelming, and that expla... Read More...

His Dark Materials Book to Screen Analysis: Episode 6 ‘The Daemon-Cages’

Olga Hughes

December 11, 2019

Books, Film & TV, His Dark Materials

Episode Six Spoilers The Daemon-Cages Philip Pullman once said that “There are some themes, some subjects, too large for adult fiction; they can only be dealt with adequately in a children's book.” Northern L... Read More...

His Dark Materials Book to Screen Analysis: Episode Five ‘The Lost Boy’

Olga Hughes

December 5, 2019

Books, Film & TV, His Dark Materials

Episode 5 Spoilers The Lost Boy Who is the ‘lost boy’? Titled for chapter twelve of Northern Lights, in which Lyra discovers what horrifying experiments the Oblation Board has been carrying out on children, T... Read More...

Kerblam? Can the Doctor Bounce Back After Series 11?

Olga Hughes

November 30, 2019

Whovian News

While we have been on a break at Nerdalicous, it has been quite some time since I really wanted to write about Doctor Who. I loved Peter Capaldi’s last season with Bill and Nardole and was gutted when it was an... Read More...

His Dark Materials Book to Screen Analysis: Episode Four ‘Armour’

Olga Hughes

November 27, 2019

Books, Film & TV, His Dark Materials

Episode Four Spoilers Armour We’re now four episodes in, and Armour revealed some small flaws in the thus-far polished veneer of His Dark Materials. Lee Scoresby, however, is not one of those. Lee will always... Read More...

His Dark Materials: On Gyptians

Olga Hughes

November 24, 2019

Books, Film & TV, His Dark Materials

The Gyptians of Philip Pullman’s ‘Brytain’ and the wider world were introduced in the first episode of His Dark Materials by way of a newly-seen coming-of-age ceremony. The community came together to celebrate ... Read More...

His Dark Materials Book to Screen Analysis: Episode Three ‘The Spies’

Olga Hughes

November 20, 2019

Books, Film & TV, His Dark Materials

Episode Three Spoilers The Spies For an episode that took place over a handful of days in even fewer locations, The Spies has been the most revelatory episode thus far. We are now entirely involved with the G... Read More...

Jane Seymour projected the persona people demanded of her: An interview with Adrienne Dillard

Olga Hughes

November 16, 2019

Books, History, Interviews

It is difficult to try and define which of Henry VIII’s queens have been the most maligned, because they have all been the victims of misogyny, stereotyping or scapegoating, often in the pursuit of entertainmen... Read More...

His Dark Materials Book to Screen Analysis: Episode Two ‘The Idea of the North’

Olga Hughes

November 13, 2019

Books, Film & TV, His Dark Materials

Episode Two Spoilers The Idea of the North In his lecture 'The Writer’s Responsibility', Philip Pullman quotes film director and playwright David Mamet, who says the basic storytelling question is ‘Where do I... Read More...