# Terry Pratchett OKs Night Watch TV Series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [March 19, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-oks-night-watch-tv-series/575280 "2011-03-19T20:40:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-oks-night-watch-tv-series/575280/1 "2011-03-19T20:40:46Z")
[Story here](http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/108476-Pratchett-Gives-Thumbs-Up-to-Discworld-Cop-Show). I have to say, I was not terribly enamored of “The Colour of Magic” nor “Hogfather,” although I don’t think they were truly awful. Still, I look forward to checking this out via whatever means I will need to employ from the US. Shall we start casting now? ---
**Author:** ![Silophant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Silophant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silophant)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-oks-night-watch-tv-series/575280/2 "2011-03-19T20:44:37Z")
Yes! I wasn’t particularily thrilled with either film either, but I’ve always thought that the City Watch books would have been the most filmable, and wondered why they didn’t just start with them. I’ll also be watching, however I can. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-oks-night-watch-tv-series/575280/3 "2011-03-19T20:47:37Z")
Wow. That’s…not good news at all. They will surely fuck it up in a myriad of ways. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-oks-night-watch-tv-series/575280/4 "2011-03-19T21:36:44Z")
How about Jamie Bamber as Carrot? As for Angua… is Billie Piper still doing that series about the prostitute? And why not James Nesbitt as Vimes? ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-oks-night-watch-tv-series/575280/5 "2011-03-19T21:46:24Z")
I feel kind of sorry for whoever ends up playing Nobby. ---
**Author:** ![yastobaal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/258eb7/32.png) [@yastobaal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yastobaal)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-oks-night-watch-tv-series/575280/6 "2011-03-19T22:36:50Z")
> [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > As for Angua… is Billie Piper still doing that series about the prostitute? I think that the last series has been filmed. But in my mind Angua should be a tall women and Billie comes in at 5’5" (according to IMDB). ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-oks-night-watch-tv-series/575280/7 "2011-03-19T23:17:55Z")
A bit out of left field, but it might work: Anthony Stewart Head as Vimes. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-oks-night-watch-tv-series/575280/8 "2011-03-19T23:18:09Z")
> [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > How about Jamie Bamber as Carrot? > As for Angua… is Billie Piper still doing that series about the prostitute? > And why not James Nesbitt as Vimes? Good choices all. But unless they have some **great** CGI, Detritus is going to be MIA. Brad Dourif could probably essay a good Nobby. Mark Addy as Colon? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-oks-night-watch-tv-series/575280/9 "2011-03-19T23:37:43Z")
I could see Lee Evans as Nobby. But they will probably cast with relative unknowns, like they have for the films. Incidentally, the cast they chose for the most recent, _Going Postal_, was excellent. [Angua](http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/123/9/6/Angua_Von_Uberwald_2_by_Starmansurfer.jpg) was in that one. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-oks-night-watch-tv-series/575280/10 "2011-03-19T23:45:30Z")
You know that commercial \ where the couple is stuck at the airport and the husband looks up and brainstorms “To the cloud!”? Every time I see that I think he would be a good Carrot. 😛 And yep, it’s Windows 7; the commercial’s on Youtube. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lel3swo4RMc) Anyone else see it, or is it just me? The possibilities, I mean. For the record, I haven’t been influenced by much beyond my own imagination as far as what the characters all look like. To me, the glimpses I had of Angua in the movie previously mentioned didn’t really do it for me. But for some reason, this guy screams ‘CARROT!’ Though he probably looks different than what Pratchett might have meant. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-oks-night-watch-tv-series/575280/11 "2011-03-20T00:13:45Z")
Carrot is supposed to be like a redheaded Captain Awesome (from _Chuck_). Broad shouldered, narrow hips, i.e. shaped like a carrot. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-oks-night-watch-tv-series/575280/12 "2011-03-20T00:18:06Z")
Pratchett’s books are good because the writing is funny, not because the plots are particularly hilarious or compelling. So I don’t think a film version is ever going to capture whats memorable about the books. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-oks-night-watch-tv-series/575280/13 "2011-03-20T00:18:46Z")
Wow. I loved SkyOne’s Hogfather, and Colour of Magic was pretty good, too. I thought the guy they got to play [Nobby](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCX9K0Jk6ME&t=4m55s) in Hogfather was as perfect as you could possibly get; hell, with the possible exception of Susan I thought the casting in Hogfather was absolutely dead on, and the atmosphere was perfect. Now, that was SkyOne, so I don’t know what Prime Focus would do with it. But it _can_ be done well IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-oks-night-watch-tv-series/575280/14 "2011-03-20T00:35:41Z")
That picture **GuanoLad** linked doesn’t look at all like my mental image of Angua. For one thing, I expected her hair to be much more bodied, rather than just hanging straight and limp like that. And maybe it’s just the lighting in that scene, but she’s awfully pale. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-oks-night-watch-tv-series/575280/15 "2011-03-20T01:07:58Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > That picture **GuanoLad** linked doesn’t look at all like my mental image of Angua. They went with a Norse actress (with augmented wolfen eyes), even though Überwald is based on eastern Europe. Still, everyone has different ideas of what the characters look like. I tend towards the Paul Kidby approach most of the time. By the way, how about [Danny Webb](http://www.galaxy-autographs.com/images/danny_webb.jpg) for Vimes? ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-oks-night-watch-tv-series/575280/16 "2011-03-20T01:58:09Z")
John Candy would have been a superb Sergeant Colon. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-oks-night-watch-tv-series/575280/17 "2011-03-20T02:02:22Z")
_Going Postal_ was very well done. My mental picture of Vetinari has changed forever, and for the better. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-oks-night-watch-tv-series/575280/18 "2011-03-20T02:14:55Z")
He might be a bit too young and a bit too goofy looking, but maybe Rupert Grint could play Carrot. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-oks-night-watch-tv-series/575280/19 "2011-03-20T02:17:36Z")
Jason Statham in a wig? No? ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-oks-night-watch-tv-series/575280/20 "2011-03-20T02:29:52Z")
I think the best suggestions I’ve seen from other web sites are: Brendan Fraser as Carrot. It’ll never happen, but he’s got that goofy, boyish earnest thing going on, besides being very tall and imposing without being brutish. Michael Hogan as Vimes. My only gripe would be that I think he’s a little too old, but if Saul Tigh was any indication, the man can do complex, layered, surly-with-a-good-heart like nobody’s business. I also really liked Jeremy Irons as Vetinari. The voice alone is excellent; it’s just so silky smooth and seductive, yet he can make it sharp and dangerous in an instant when he needs to. Angua’s tough. Seems to me she needs to be long and lean and fit, with an undercurrent of danger, yet still feminine. Lena Heady, maybe? Nick Frost as Colon? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-oks-night-watch-tv-series/575280.md?page=2)