After the sucessful adaptation of Johnny and the Bomb on BBC1, Terry
Pratchett fans have another reason to rejoice as it has been announced that
Hogfather will be adapted by Sky One for a Christmas Day showing. The UK comedy
writer is capitalising on the increase in interest in fantasy based
entertainment, perhaps, following the success of Lord of the Rings and The
Chronicles of Narnia.
The story, one of the Discworld series, concerns an attempt to destroy the
Hogfather (the Discworld equivalent of Father Christmas). Seeing himself as the
only chance of filling the gap, Death himself steps in to replace him, whilst
his granddaughter Susan does the best she can to assist. Confused? Trust me, it
makes more sense when you see it, although with a supporting cast of Wizards,
the Oh God of Hangovers, assasains and The Cheerful Fairy it might be a little
confusing. However, it is bound to be funny.
Ian Richardson and David Jason will star as the voice of Death and Death's
assistant Albert the exceptionally grumpy elf respectively. Jason is apparently
a fan of the series.
Pratchett himself has said that this is the first time that a live action
version of one of his books has been created beacuse "I'm not a very easy person
to negotiate with. The books have made me a lot of money and I have very much
enjoyed writing them. You have to give up a lot of control for the movies and I
can't quite bring myself to do it. TV is more fun than movies, because you can
get involved more, because these people are close at hand."
It should, however, be pointed out that British animation studio Cosgrove
House have previously produced two animated adaptations of Pratchett's work -
Soul Music and Wyrd Sisters.
The other factor is the improvement and lower costs of special effects,
required of course to bring a seven foot tall animated skeleton to life, as it
were, on screen. With a budget of £6m we can all hope we don't suffer from poor
effects - with the quality of acting talent involved it seems the production is
in safe hands.
The Discworld series was started in 1983, currently runs to 34 books with
more on the way.
