"Mortals, I made you," declares ZeusThe king of the gods, known to the Romans as Jupiter., the all-powerful king of the gods. "And this is how you repay me!" Viewing TV footage of a hurricane with delight, he adds: "We need to make destruction really sing!" But then we hear a dissentingNot agreeing with. voice: "All the best things are human." Welcome to the wild, highly entertaining world of Kaos.

The drama, which was launched on Thursday, has had rave reviews. Some people found it so addictive that they have already watched all eight hours of it - though unfortunately you have to be 15 to view it.

One reviewer, Ellie Mackin Roberts, describes it as a "sensorial feast of intrigue, intra-family drama (divine and mortal), love and lust".¹ Even if you know nothing about Greek myths, it is still "an enjoyable and thrilling romp of a story of gods and mortals vying for power and influence over the cosmosThe universe, especially when it is understood as an ordered system.".

In episode one, Zeus finds a wrinkle on his forehead which reminds him of a terrifying prophecy. It says that his reign will end and chaos will consume the world instead. As a result he becomes increasingly paranoidBelieving, often with no solid basis, that you are being harassed, betrayed or persecuted by others. and destructive.

Meanwhile, his enemy PrometheusA god of fire in Greek mythology. - played by Stephen Dillane - is plotting to make the prophecy come true. His scheme makes use both of humans and of the ghosts in the underworld.

The humans include Orpheus and Riddy. In the original myth, Orpheus is a brilliant musician who journeys into the underworld to bring his wife Eurydice back from the dead. In Kaos, Orpheus (Killian Scott) is presented as a world-famous rock star whose girlfriend (Aurora Perrineau) is killed in a car crash.

The series is written by the actress Charlie Covell, whose script, according to Lucy Mangan in The Guardian, is "subtle and intricate, witty, rigorous, hugely intelligent, funny and brutal".

Adapting myths for the modern day is by no means a new idea. James Joyce's ground-breaking novel Ulysses takes the story of the Greek hero's journey home from Troy and transposes it to 20th Century Dublin.

The recent musical Hades Town is another retelling of the Orpheus legend, set among the American poor. Last year the BBC radio broadcast Mahabharata Now, a contemporaryModern. drama based on the Indian epic.

Are the Greek myths relevant today?

Yes: As Charlie Covell notes, they are "about timeless things like love and power and death and dysfunctional families". We may not believe in gods any more, but we have all felt at the mercy of powers which are beyond our control.

No: They belong to an age of superstition. The world was a very different place when people believed that thunderbolts were signs of Zeus's wrathAnger. instead of recognising them as natural phenomena.

Or... There are only a handful of basic stories that humans tell - the person who returns from the underworld like Orpheus being one. So it is not surprising that myths are retold in different forms.