The series is inspired by[3] the Ankh-Morpork City Watch from the Discworld series of fantasy novels by Terry Pratchett. Set in the fictional Discworld's principal city of Ankh-Morpork, The Watch was described by Terry Pratchett in 2012 as a "Pratchett-style CSI";[4] it was 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.[5] In 2018, Narrativia described it as a "punk rock thriller".[1]
Captain Sam Vimes' life in the City Watch is changed forever when a figure from his past returns to Ankh-Morpork. 20 years ago, Vimes watched his street brother and gang-leader Carcer Dun fall from a fatal height. Somehow, Carcer is back.
Using the policing of Constable Carrot, the Watch connects Carcer's evil plan to strange goings-on at the magical institution called Unseen University. Perhaps a missing library book has something to do with the dragon attacks in the city.
As fear of the dragon keeps people off the streets, The Watch must heist The Assassins' Guild, the city's most secretive and dangerous institution, in a desperate effort to find the precious magical artefact known as Gawain before Carcer.
Carcer is willing to do anything to find the sword for Gawain; the Watch is close on his tail, following him to Twilight Canyons, a place where the elderly residents await death; DEATH patiently waits for them to draw their last breaths.
The Watch have the sword, and with it they could wield the force of the Noble Dragon. Vimes would much rather no one had power on that scale. The Watch must trek through the Unreal Estate to destroy the sword in a magical lake. Carcer isn't far behind.
In the race against Carcer for the second mystical artefact, Cheery, Angua, and Carrot venture into the Mines of Tak, Cheery must confront the darkness in her past. Vimes and Sybil defend the besieged Watch House from Doctor Cruces and her Assassins.
Vimes wakes up with more than the usual hangover. He's slipped into an alternate universe where he's a prisoner in the middle of a jailbreak. In Ankh-Morpork, the alternate-version of Vimes is leading The Watch straight into Carcer's trap.
Carcer's got everything he needs to control the Noble Dragon and destroy Ankh-Morpork. With hysteria on the streets and DEATH preparing for a very busy day, can The Watch, this band of misfits, step up and save the city from annihilation?
Production
Development
The Watch was announced in 2011 as under development by Prime Focus Productions, which previously created three two-part television adaptations of Discworld novels.[18] 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.[19] In 2012, the series was variously reported to be written – under Pratchett's oversight – by either Terry Jones and Gavin Scott,[19] or by Guy Burt,[20] and to have a budget of either £13 to £15 million,[19] or £26 million,[20] for its projected run of thirteen 60-minute episodes, with Pratchett's daughter Rhianna as co-writer.[21] In October 2016, after Pratchett's death, Rhianna Pratchett said in an interview that the project was still ongoing,[22] but in 2019, announced she had not been involved in the project "for many years".[23]
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".[24] On 30 October 2018, BBC America announced that it had ordered an eight-episode series of The Watch written by Simon Allen[25][26] together with Joy Wilkinson, Catherine Tregenna, Amrou Al-Khadi and Ed Hime.[6] Hilary Simon and Phil Collinson were the executive producers;[27][28] the director was Craig Viveiros.[6] Narrativia retained an executive producer credit but was not involved creatively.[29] The series premiered on 3 January 2021.[30][5]
In September 2014, Pratchett's agent Colin Smythe said that the script was in development and shooting would commence in 2015.[32] 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.[33] Filming began in Cape Town, South Africa.[34]
Reception
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, The Watch has a 'rotten' score of 53%, an average rating of 5.9/10, based on 19 reviews. The website's consensus states: "Despite fantastic production design and a solid cast, The Watch simply doesn't capture the wonder, whimsy, and world building of Terry Pratchett's beloved novels."[35] Kiko Martinez of Variety dubbed it a 'tonal mess' and stated, "the show's generic worldbuilding, one-dimensional characterizations and lack of consistent wit will disappoint the kind of niche audience it’s trying to attract."[36]The Hollywood Reporter praised the show's "imaginative world-building" and humour, but said, "the plots are crushingly rote and uninvolving" and found them too familiar.[37] Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Ed Power cautioned that "The Watch takes everything devotees loved about Pratchett: the wryness, the whimsy, the Tolkien-goes-Monty Python setting of Ankh-Morpork. And then chucks it out the window."[38]
Deviations from source material
Even before the series' release it attracted a large amount of attention for departing from the books' old-fashioned setting, delving into "punk rock" visuals, changing the gender, personality, or origins of characters, and removing some characters completely.[39][40][41] These changes angered some Discworld fans, which was exacerbated when Simon Allen, head writer for the series, failed to mention Terry Pratchett during his post commemorating the end of filming.[42][43] After the 9 October 2020 New York Comic Con panel, Rhianna Pratchett stated it shared "no DNA with my father's Watch",[44] and Neil Gaiman compared the series to "Batman if he's now a news reporter in a yellow trenchcoat with a pet bat".[45]
Notes
^"A Near Vimes Experience" was released on December 31, 2020, on AMC+
^Pratchett, Rhianna (10 August 2019). "@rhipratchett on Twitter". Twitter. Archived from the original on 25 December 2020. Retrieved 17 February 2020. 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.
^
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.Alt URL
^"Editorial". Discworld Monthly. November 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
^Pratchett, Rhianna (9 October 2020). "@rhipratchett on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 9 October 2020. Look, I think it's fairly obvious that @TheWatch shares no DNA with my father's Watch. This is neither criticism nor support. It is what it is.
^Gaiman, Neil (9 October 2020). "@neilhimself on Twitter". Twitter. Archived from the original on 25 December 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020. Yes. But the fan base are fans. And they like the source material because it's the source material they like. So if you do something else, you risk alienating the fans on a monumental scale. It's not Batman if he's now a news reporter in a yellow trenchcoat with a pet bat.