Here’s a bit of news to send nerds’ hearts aflutter: the BBC is adapting Terry Pratchett‘s Discworld books as a six-part series. The long-running epic fantasy series has an absolutely obsessive fanbase worldwide who will be incredibly pleased to hear this, most likely.
This news comes courtesy of Deadline, who say that Simon Allen – who wrote Strike Back, The Musketeers and the forthcoming reboot of Das Boot – will be helming the series, which is tentatively titled The Watch.
Given the tentative title, it can be assumed that the show will be set in Pratchett’s fictional city of Ankh-Morpork, and follow the Ankh-Morpork City Watch as it turns from a rag-tag fantasy city watch into a fully-equipped police force. Yes, it sounds absurd. All of Discworld is absurd – but, to be honest, the stories about the City Watch would be pretty perfect for TV.
The show is apparently being co-produced with Narrativia, the production company founded by Pratchett in 2012. It has been run by daughter since his death in 2015.
The BBC already adapted one of Pratchett’s works to television with Good Omens, which starred Michael Sheen and David Tennant. It’s quite surprising there hasn’t been more attempts to bring his works to TV and film – beyond a few abortive attempts – but it looks like that’s changing.
We’ll keep you posted as more details pop up.
