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And All Was Right With the World

Reportedly: Discworld City Watch Show Moving Right Along

by Susana Polo | 1:58 pm, August 29th, 2012


It’s been known that a Discworld television show based in the fictional city of Ankh-Morpork and the cast of characters it is associated with has been in various stages of preproduction discussion for more than a year now. In fact, there’s even video evidence of Sir Terry Pratchett talking with writers about coppers starting up an inter-species band, the trickiness of humane prisoner treatment, and what it might be like to have the undead coming in to file reports on their own murders.

But last weekend the annual Discworld convention was held in Birmingham, England, and it promised a panel hosted by the team behind BBC Worldwide’s fabled Discworld project, and an announcement.

Diane Duane, author (of such close-to-my-childhood books as So You Want To Be A Wizard) and attendee had this to say about the panel’s contents:

The new Discworld series “The Watch” (AKA CSI:Ankh-Morpork) has been approved by Terry Pratchett and will go into production with BBC Worldwide.

Pratchett’s Discworld series, for those unacquainted, is a rambling and wide ranging collection of books that craft an expertly put together universe of fantasy tropes embodied in nuanced characters, wicked puns, and more political, racial, gender and culture allegory than you can shake quite a large stick at. He’s given us characters like Granny Weatherwax, Susan D’eath Sto Helit, and the three most central female characters of the Ankh-Morpork Watch books: Angua von Überwald (a werewolf of considerable pedigree, pictured above), Cheery Littlebottom, and Sybil Ramkin, all formidable women in their own right.

Probably the most unique to television, however, would be Cheery, a young dwarf on the forefront of the modern dwarvish gender revolution. See, on the Discworld (like in Middle Earth) male and female dwarves are indistinguishable from each other, right down to the beards. Most of dwarvish courtship is actually spent making sure your intended is, in fact, the desired gender through close observation of their habits. Of course, dwarven culture doesn’t encourage androgyny… it encourages everybody to appear as male. Cheery, on the other hand, is a member of a younger generation of dwarven women who really prefer drinks with tiny umbrellas over mead, wouldn’t mind a little lipstick or some steel-toed high-heels, and wear their leather skirted armor a little too short for their elders’ tastes, and would rather not be bothered about it.

So color me excited for this new adaptation. Especially judging by this year-old peek into the writers room. Seems like this adaptation is off to the right start. Now if they could just cast my dream Sam Vimes, Hugh Laurie, I’ll be over the moon.

Come on! House is over, he’s got to do something!

(via Diane Duane on Tumblr.)

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  • http://twitter.com/loerwyn Kathryn

    I don’t think Hugh Laurie would quite work as Sam. He’s known too well as a silly actor in the UK (the US <3s him as House, we know him as one half of Fry & Laurie, a Blackadder member and as Bertie Wooster) so I don't think he'd be taken seriously for the role of Vimes – you need a hard, strong actor for him. Jason Statham would be closer to my 'ideal' for him but even then I'd hesitate to cast him as Vimes.

    But this is great news, and not just because Cheery is by FAR my favourite Discworld character.

  • Anonymous

    ‘Excellent’
    (said in the silken tones of the Patrician)
    :D

  • http://twitter.com/Prettylettuce Roz Mosis

    I was at the con and I can tell you, the excitement was palpable. First off, sorry to be a pedent, it was a biannual convention and it’s Susan Sto Helit. I’ll stop. But yeah, it’s really exciting! We also know that Terry Pratchett, Rob Wilkins (his PA) and his daughter Rhianna Pratchett will be setting up Narrativia Productions to work alongside BBC worldwide so they can keep control over the whole thing. We also know that they will have a budget of roughly £26 million and it’ll be after the watershed! Which is after 9:00pm, so they can put in more swearing and violence an’ stuff. This’ll keep it more in line with the later books. Basically. Awesome.

  • Anonymous

    Between this and the report about the Joss Whedon S.H.I.E.L.D. show, I may have to buy a fainting couch just so I can set it on fire in massive, massive excitement.

  • Anonymous

    Oh I hope this comes through with all the potential awesome I know it has. Alas, it’s unlikely my dream Vimes will be cast — Rupert Graves.

  • Anonymous

    Oh yeahhhh… D’eath is that guy who wants to kill Vetinari and make Carrot king in Men at Arms.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XOOS2K7SQEIHQRL4JQAEJRYOZA mauricio ariel

    I just hope that they cast the right carrot and make his relationship with angua like in the books. for me from a male perspective is the female version of be with the perfect woman. sound good in paper but once in a while angua feels a little frustrated for be with such a good caring and honest man

  • changed the login again i see

    I love Hugh Laurie but he is no Vimes.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=513877109 Samantha Wilson

    I like the idea of Rupert Graves for Vimes and Tom Hopper for Captain Carrot!

  • http://twitter.com/AlexisTalbot Alexis Talbot

    Yes! Finally more Discworld to watch! Once you get through all the books and movies halfheartedly, you start to crave more cause you miss what you had!

  • http://www.facebook.com/ManyTotems Wendy Emlinger

    Eeeeeee! Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy! I love Discworld! I’ve bought all the movies and now a series! Yes!

  • http://twitter.com/Prettylettuce Roz Mosis

    Also, it’ll be thirteen one hour episodes per season with a crime of the week along with a season arc. There will also be new characters including a human male formerly of the Ankh Morpork aristocracy, an Igorina (filling the role of Abby from NCIS as far as we can tell) and a goblin. The earliest wean expect a release date is late 2014. It’s going to be a long wait.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=835857714 Kevin Richard Heasman

    Hugh Laurie would be awesome (can’t believe I haven’t thought of him before), but it’s got to be Robert Lindsey. Carrot is the tricky one to cast – Tahmoh Penikett? Would he do Brit TV though? And would Detritus be CGI (costly) or dude in a suit?

    Can I start the campaign for Reece Shearsmith for Nobby Nobbs right now, please?

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003037095323 Jerilyn Nighy

    Hopefully we get a guest appearance by Michelle Dockery as Susan, which was probably the best performance by a woman in a fantasy movie ever, and, sadly, unheralded.

  • Anonymous

    An Igorina, hell yes :D I love the Igors, and they have to be a good plot-hole-filler, I guess. Can’t wait!

  • Anonymous

    Tony Robinson (aka Baldrick) is the only Nobby I can imagine, though he may be a little too old now.

    What about Fred Colon? I’d say Nick Frost would make it work :)

  • Anonymous

    Pete Postlethwaite would’ve been the best Vimes, he’s the guy that Kidby based his illustrations on. Shame he’s no longer with us.

  • http://twitter.com/WhatKateDoes Kate Lorimer

    I might be a little depressed if Stephen Briggs doesen’t reprise his role as Vetinari from the audiobooks.. his delivery of the character has become the default in my head for many years now!

  • http://twitter.com/SimonFr Simon

    Hi Roz! I was there, as well – one of the purple-shirted brigade. We made sure to offer our condolences to a certain attendee for his namesake, too!

    I liked the ideas of using Discworld style replacements for technology, such as using the zombie watch members for the bug guys, because they could just be mobile bug labs.

  • Life Lessons

    Oh I must agree. He would have been spectacular. He was, well still is, my favorite actor.

  • Life Lessons

    Just make sure to keep the women characters!! YAY!

  • http://www.facebook.com/colin.witz Colin Witz

    now if we can get Christopher Lee away from those hobbits to voice the Reaper again….

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000280306542 Claire Hale

    One can never be to old to play Nobby Nobbs. But poor Tony is a wee bit type cast; FOR THE MERRIER.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000280306542 Claire Hale

    Shall I fetch it for you? But not on fire, I’ll need it soon.

  • http://www.facebook.com/lara.harris.92 Lara Harris

    Those are AWESOME suggestions!

  • Dani

    Hugh Laurie as Vimes would be utterly perfect. And I’m putting MacKenzie Crook forward as Nobby Nobbs! (cos he’s a fantastic actor)

  • http://twitter.com/PopeTackler Rob

    Absolutely. Far too tall for a start!

  • Anonymous

    There’s so many things I love about the Discworld books, one of them that they have the coolest, wisest, wittiest, strong female characters I (personally) ever came across in them.

    From Granny Weatherwax to Peaches the rat. :)

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