For hardcore Discworld and Terry Pratchett fans, this is HUGE. (For us, not so much. But we’re Philistines and we know it. Anyway:)
REPORTEDLY: DISCWORLD CITY WATCH SHOW MOVING RIGHT ALONG – by Susana Polo
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 pre-production 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.
Kidding, kidding, we love Pratchett’s series. Because it demolishes – absolutely squishes, smashes, and mutilates – everything we thought we loved about heroic fantasy. Iconoclasm rulez! (Tropeclasm? Hm.)