Terry Pratchett’s ‘Discworld’ novels are heading for the small screen again in a brand new 6-part series it has been announced.
According to the report in Deadline, who broke the story, Simon Allen, who has written on ‘The Musketeers’, ‘New Tricks’, and ‘Strike Back’, is set to pen the series, which currently has the working title of ‘The Watch’. Although it’s not being announced exactly what bits of the Pratchett novels are being used for the show, that title would suggest it revolves around Ankh-Morpork City Watch, who has appeared in a number of the book series.
For those of you unfamiliar with ‘Discworld’, it is the setting for Pratchett’s collection of fantasy novels. The location consists of a slightly convex disc resting on the backs of four huge elephants which are in turn standing on the back of an enormous turtle, named Great A’Tuin, as it slowly swims through space.
Ankh-Morpork is the main city-state which prominently features in the books. It is corrupt, polluted, and is subject to outbreaks of comedic violence on a fairly regular basis. Ankh-Morpork City Watch are the main police force trying to maintain control of the streets. Many of the stories often include the character of Samuel Vimes. In the books, he starts off as a cynical, working-class, alcoholic policeman but rises through the ranks to become a rather reluctant member of the nobility, married to the wealthiest woman in the city. It’s distinctly possible we’re looking at something akin to ‘CSI: Discworld’, which is frankly, an awesome idea!
This wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen ‘Discworld’, or Ankh-Morpork, on screen. Sky adapted ‘Hogfather’, ‘The Colour of Magic’ and ‘Going Postal’ between 2006 – 2010, although this seems to be something new, which won’t be based on one specific book. The BBC & Amazon are also adapting ‘Good Omens‘, the non-Discworld novel written by Pratchett with Neil Gaiman, which will star Michael Sheen and David Tennant.
This is still in very early development right now, but we’ll let you know when we hear more!
