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.

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. 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.
In 2012, the series was variously reported to be written – under Pratchett's oversight – by either Terry Jones and Gavin Scott or by Guy Burt, and to have a budget of either £13 to £15 million or £26 million for its projected run of thirteen 60-minutes episodes, with Pratchett's daughter Rhianna as co-writer.
In September 2014, Pratchett's agent Colin Smythe said that the script was in development and shooting would commence in 2015. 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. In October 2016, Rhianna Pratchett said in an interview that the project was still ongoing but in 2019, she announced she had not been involved in the project "for many years".

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". On October 30, 2018, BBC America announced that it ordered an eight-episode series of The Watch written by Simon Allen together with Joy Wilkinson, Catherine Tregenna, Amrou Al-Khadi and Ed Hime. Hilary Simon and Phil Collinson will be executive producers; the director is Craig Viveiros. Filming has begun in Cape Town, South Africa; the release is planned for 2020.

Cast

The cast are:
Set in the fictional Discworld's principal city of Ankh-Morpork, The Watch was described by Terry Pratchett as a "Pratchett-style CSI" and by Narrativia as a "punk rock thriller". 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.