> Buy Season 1 on DVD on Amazon.

Before Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon, Hannibal Lecter was a brilliant psychiatrist in the employ of the FBI. His task: to help an unusually gifted criminal profiler, Will Graham, who is haunted by his ability to see into the minds of serial killers.

After a particularly gruelling case hunting a serial killer known as the Minnesota Shrike, Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) threatens to walk away. Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne), the head of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit, desperately needs Will on his team to break the tough cases, so he enlists Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen), to ensure Will’s mental well-being. Unbeknownst to Will, Hannibal also has a particular insight into these horrible crimes and the psychopaths who commit them. As Will hunts down brutal killers, he is unknowingly sitting across from the most gifted killer of them all.

To celebrate the release of Season 1 on Blu-ray and DVD on Monday 2 September, here are ten facts about Hannibal that you might not know…

1. Each episode is named after a French word for a meal course.

2. Mads Mikkelsen deliberately kept his accept for the part – he was adamant not to ‘do a Cox or a Hopkins’. Fuller supported him in this – Hannibal is foreign, he is other and exotic.

3. Two characters from the books have changed genders: sleazy male journalist Freddie Lounds is now a ruthlessly manipulative female online blogger. Similarly, Dr Alan Bloom is now Dr Alana Bloom, Will’s friend and potential love-interest.

4. Garrett Jacob Hobbs, the serial killer from Episode 1, is referred to in the first of Thomas Harris’ books, Red Dragon. He was a murderer stopped by Will Graham two years before Hannibal Lecter was captured. In the book, the stress of this case caused Will to spend a month in hospital before returning to the FBI. Hobbs’ implied cannibalism is not mentioned in the book, however.

5. Director and show creator Bryan Fuller has a seven year plan for Hannibal: ‘In the first season we have this weird bromance between Will and Hannibal, Season 2 is the nasty break up… The third season would have a fugitive angle to it, the fourth season would be Red Dragon, the fifth season would be in the realm of Silence Of The Lambs, and the sixth season would be Hannibal. In the seventh season it would be interesting to see Will Graham and a Clarice Starling type character come together for an adventure with their nemesis, Hannibal Lecter.’

6. Doctor Who star David Tennant auditioned for the lead role of Hannibal. Bryan Fuller was so impressed with his audition that he told a magazine that even though he didn’t get the role, he wanted to write Tennant a guest role as a deranged serial killer.

7. Season 1 Episode 4, ‘Oeuf’, was taken off air because of the Boston Marathon Bombings.

8. Laurence Fishburne and Gina Torres, who play Jack Crawford and his wife, are actually married in real life.

9. In Episode 1, Will Graham says: ‘Don’t psychoanalyse me. You wouldn’t like me when I’m psychoanalysed.’ This is a reference to the famous ‘Don’t make me angry’ line, said by the Hulk. In the film The Incredible Hulk, the superhero is played by Edward Norton, who also played Will Graham in 2002’s Red Dragon.

10. Hard-core fans of True Blood are ‘Trubies’. Hard-core fans of Justin Bieber are ‘Beliebers’. Now, hard-core fans of Dr Lecter and all things Hannibal are called ‘Fannibals’.

> Buy Season 1 on DVD on Amazon.

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