Matt Smith reveals his brush with injury while filming House Of The Dragon

The former Doctor Who star takes on the role of Viserys Targaryen’s younger brother Daemon in the Sky Atlantic series that is a prequel to the Game of Thrones phenomenon, this time based on a different George R.R. Martin entitled Fire and Blood.

This story is set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, with the story of House Targaryen told to an audience of Game of Thrones fans who have been counting down to the launch of this show for months.

Also starring Paddy Considine, Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Sonoya Mizuno, Fabien Frankel and Rhys Ifans, this is a show that cost £16million-a-show to produce.

Such was the success of the Game of Thrones franchise that a spin-off series was inevitable and the House of the Dragon delivers on so many levels for fans of the fantasy genre.

It was early in the filming of the show that Smith received his head wound in a duel with Frankel, who plays the role of Ser Criston Cole.

“Fabien got me with a sword to the face,” revealed Smith. “I have a big forehead so it was a pain the backside. It left a little cut and a mark, but it’s all part of a day’s works.

“You know you are going to get a few knocks when you take on a role like this and there is some pressure to get it right.

“The way I see this is project is it’s like a second album for a musician.

“It’s not called Game of Thrones, but fans of that show will want something that does credit to it and that was our aim here.

“Thrones left an enormous cultural footprint and we are never going to be able to lay something as big as that.

“Hopefully what we have done is produced something original and what we feel like is something we own.

"You want to deliver some of the hits from the first great album and then create some of their own.

“We have different actors in this and that makes it very different, but it feels like a Game of Thrones episode on so many levels.”

The spectacular House of the Dragon received a lavish premiere in London’s Leicester Square on Monday night, with the Sunday World on hand to mix it with the stars.

Doctor Who fans were among those cheering Smith on as he attended the premiere with his mother Lynne and he he admitted the headgear all characters needed to adorn were a big challenge.

“The wig is a big challenge. I didn’t see that coming my way. It’s hot under there, you know,” he continued.

“You go through an hour and a half every day of getting it on. There is a whole convoluted process, but it looks great at the end so you have to go with it.

“Seeing myself in a blonde wig is a little strange, but it is vital to this role you just get on with it.”

With dragons, wild sex scenes and plenty of violent clashes, this blockbuster ticks all the boxes for Game of Thrones fans, with 39-year-old Smith admitting he is always on the look out for roles that take him to another level.

“It is always good to have a breath as an actor to try and find different avenues to go down,” he added.

“Doctor Who was great for me. The interesting thing about that role is that crosses generations.

“Some people who are 95 and watched it all their lives come at it from a different perspective. Their tone is very different, but the passion for the show is still there.

“Once I’d played Doctor Who, you are looking for something different to take you in a different direction. “And I’d say there is a bit of me in all the characters I play. I’m a bit clumsy at times and everything you see from actors on screen tends to include a bit from the actor involved.”

House of the Dragon lands exclusively on Sky Atlantic and NOW from Monday 22 August.