The Watch (TV series)

The Watch is a fantasy police procedural television series under development by BBC America, which ordered an eight-part season in October 2018. The series is inspired by the stories about the Ankh-Morpork City Watch from the Discworld series of fantasy novels by Terry Pratchett.

The Watch
GenreFantasy
Police procedural
Written bySimon Allen[1]
Country of originUnited Kingdom / United States
Original language(s)English
No. of seasonsOne ordered
No. of episodesEight ordered
Production
Producer(s)Johann Knobel
Running time60 minutes
Production company(s)Narrativia
Release
Original networkBBC America

Development

Early plans

The Watch was announced in 2011 as under development by Prime Focus Productions, which previously created three two-part television adaptations of Discworld novels.[2] It was later reported to be produced by Pratchett's own TV production company, Narrativia, which he founded in 2012 and which was led by Rod Brown, the erstwhile head of Prime Focus.[3]

In 2012, the series was variously reported to be written – under Pratchett's oversight – by either Terry Jones and Gavin Scott[3] or by Guy Burt,[4] and to have a budget of either £13 to £15 million[3] or £26 million[4] for its projected run of thirteen 60-minutes episodes, with Pratchett's daughter Rhianna as co-writer.[5]

In September 2014, Pratchett's agent Colin Smythe said that the script was in development and shooting would commence in 2015.[6] After Pratchett's death in 2015, his assistant Rob Wilkins said that pre-production was still ongoing, but that no further announcements would be made until filming had begun.[7] In October 2016, Rhianna Pratchett said in an interview that the project was still ongoing[8] but in 2019, she announced she had not been involved in the project "for many years".[9]

BBC series

In March 2018, Deadline Hollywood reported that BBC Studios was developing The Watch as a six-part series and as the basis of a "returnable franchise".[10] On October 30, 2018, BBC America announced that it ordered an eight-episode series of The Watch written by Simon Allen[11][12] together with Joy Wilkinson, Catherine Tregenna, Amrou Al-Khadi and Ed Hime.[13] Hilary Simon and Phil Collinson will be executive producers;[14][15] the director is Craig Viveiros.[13] Filming has begun in Cape Town,[16] South Africa; the release is planned for January 2021.[17]

Cast
Hakeem Kae-Kazim (Captain Keel)
Ingrid Oliver (Dr Cruces)

The cast are:[13][18]

Setting and plot

Set in the fictional Discworld's principal city of Ankh-Morpork, The Watch was described by Terry Pratchett as a "Pratchett-style CSI"[19] and by Narrativia as a "punk rock thriller".[1] It is to have an episodic storyline, following the format of a "crime of the week" as tackled by the city's police force under the command of Sam Vimes.[2]

References
  1. "BBC AMERICA GREENLIGHTS ORIGINAL SCRIPTED SERIES THE WATCH". Narrativia.
  2. Connelly, Brendon (14 March 2011). "Terry Pratchett's Discworld Being Adapted To Crime-Of-The-Week Mystery TV Series". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  3. Kanter, Jake (1 October 2012). "Sir Terry Pratchett launches indie". Broadcast. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  4. Shaw-Williams, Hannah (2 October 2012). "More About Terry Pratchett's Discworld TV Show, The Watch". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  5. "Terry Pratchett: My daughter Rhianna will take over the Discworld when I'm gone". New Statesman. 14 November 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  6. Dalila (26 September 2014). "26. 09. 2014 – NOVINKY OD COLINA SMYTHE, AGENTA TERRYHO PRATCHETTA". www.discworld.cz. Prague. Archived from the original on 2 November 2014. Městská hlídka – “CSI: Ankh-Morpork” – série 12x1h epizod. Projekt je nastartován, scénář se neustále vylepšuje, natáčet by se mělo buď v Londýně nebo v blízkém okolí. Může se s tím ale začít až v roce 2015 kvůli rozpočtovému plánu BBC. Dobrou zprávou ale je, že na odvysílání prvního dílu nebudeme muset čekat až na konec natáčení, epizody by měly být uvolněny do vysílání postupně. Alt URL
  7. "Editorial". Discworld Monthly. November 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  8. "Meet Rhianna Pratchett – The woman behind the Lara Croft backstory". 2016-10-06. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  9. Pratchett, Rhianna (2019-08-10). "@rhipratchett on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2020-02-17. Just to be clear (since I'm asked this a lot) I am not working on The Watch TV series, and haven't been for many years. The show is under the creative control of BBC Studios.
  10. White, Peter (1 March 2018). "Terry Pratchett's 'Discworld' Set For TV Adaptation With BBC Studios & Narrativia". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  11. "BBC AMERICA GREENLIGHTS ORIGINAL SCRIPTED SERIES THE WATCH". Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  12. Santangelo, Nick (31 October 2018). "Bbc America Greenlights New Series Based On Terry Pratchett's Discworld Novels". IGN. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  13. Baysinger, Tim (11 September 2019). "Richard Dormer to Star in BBCA's Terry Pratchett Adaptation 'The Watch'". The Wrap. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  14. Nemetz, Dave (2018-10-31). "BBC America to Adapt Discworld Novels With 'Punk Rock Thriller' The Watch". TVLine. Retrieved 2018-11-05.
  15. "BBC AMERICA GREENLIGHTS ORIGINAL SCRIPTED SERIES THE WATCH". Retrieved 2018-11-05.
  16. "Extras in Cape Town Wanted for Terry Pratchett's The Watch from the BBC". Bleeding Cool News And Rumors. 29 October 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  17. "NEW Photo: BBC America's 'The Watch' Starring Richard Dormer and Lara Rossi". BBC America. BBC. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  18. White, Peter (19 November 2019). "'The Watch': 'Pennyworth's Anna Chancellor & 'Outlander's James Fleet Join BBC America's Terry Pratchett Adaptation". Deadline. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  19. "Terry Pratchett Talks Discworld-Inspired TV Show, New Book Dodger". WIRED magazine. 12 October 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
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