Nearly a year ago it was first reported that the BBC was developing an adaptation of Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels. Now, the network has revealed the casting for the first season of the series, titled The Watch.
Set in the fictional city of Ankh-Morpork, where crime has been legalized, The Watch is a uniquely anarchic drama. The series centers on a group of misfit cops as they rise up from decades of helplessness to save their corrupt city from catastrophe. The Watch is an inclusive genre-bending series inspired by the legendary ‘City Watch’ subset of Sir Terry Pratchett’s bestselling “Discworld” novels and its many iconic characters.
Actor and playwright Richard Dormer (Game of Thrones‘ Beric Dondarrion) stars as Sam Vimes, Captain of The Watch, disempowered by a broken society that’s reduced his department’s jurisdiction to almost nothing.
Joining him in the cast are Jo Eaton-Kent (Don’t Forget The Driver) as Constable Cheery, the ingenious non-binary forensics expert, ostracized by their kin and finding a new home and identity. Adam Hugill (1917) as Constable Carrot, the idealistic new recruit, raised by dwarfs, but really a human abandoned at birth. Marama Corlette (Blood Drive) as the mysterious Corporal Angua who is tasked with Carrot’s training and keeping the rookie alive. Lara Rossi (Crossing Lines) as as the formidable Lady Sybil Ramkin, last scion of Ankh-Morpork’s nobility, who’s trying to fix the city’s wrongs with her chaotic vigilantism; and Sam Adewunmi (The Last Tree) as the wounded and wronged Carcer Dun, out to hijack destiny itself, take control of the city and exact a terrible revenge on an unjust reality.
The Watch begins filming in Cape Town, South Africa on September 30th and is part of BBC AMERICA’s 2020 slate. The first season will consist of eight episodes.
Produced for BBC AMERICA by BBC Studios and Narrativia, the show’s lead writer is Simon Allen (The Musketeers). Joining Allen as writers on the series are Joy Wilkinson (Doctor Who), Catherine Tregenna (Torchwood), Amrou Al-Khadi (Little America) and Ed Hime (Skins). Craig Viveiros (Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None) is set to direct.
