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David Tennant and Michael Sheen to star in Neil Gaiman's "Good Omens" TV show.

T

torre_avenue

Banned
Per TVLine:
Masters of Sex‘s Michael Sheen and Doctor Who‘s David Tennant are headed to Amazon.

The actors are set to star in Good Omens, a six-part comedy for the streamer based on the acclaimed fantasy novel Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman (American Gods) and Terry Pratchett (Colour of Magic).

Good Omens takes place in 2018 when the Apocalypse is near and Final Judgment is set to descend upon humanity. The armies of Good and Evil are amassing, Atlantis is rising, and tempers are flaring. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. However, Aziraphale (played by Sheen), a somewhat fussy angel, and Crowley, a fast-living demon (played by Tennant) — both of whom have lived amongst Earth’s mortals since The Beginning and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle — are not actually looking forward to the coming war.

“I first read Good Omens as a teenager and it’s been one of my favourite stories ever since,” Sheen enthuses. “To be part of the team entrusted with bringing it alive on screen is a bit of a dream come true to be honest. To work alongside Neil, who I think is one of the greatest storytellers of all time, is incredibly exciting. And, just like the rest of the world, I’m a huge fan of David’s so I relish trying to save it with him.”

Gaiman will serve as showrunner on the limited series, which is being produced in conjunction with the BBC.
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B

Bobby Roberts

Banned
Very much looking forward to the adaptation.

Because the book annoyed the living shit out of me as it was, so I'm hoping something happens in the translation that dials back some of that annoying factor
 
S

Slackbladder

Member
Listened to the radio version a few years back with Peter Serafinowicz and Mark Heap (Spaced and Stressed Eric). I liked it even though as a Pratchett fan I somehow overlooked this originally.
The series has got two strong leads. That's a big positive.
 
M

mclem

Member
That is fine, fine casting.

Although I'm slightly amused to note that you could switch the leads and it'd probably still work.
 
P

Platy

Member
David Tennant has the best manager !

Doctor Who, Broadchurch, Jessica Jones, DuckTales and now this ? Dude is in a roll
 
T

Team Filler

Member
Huh, I thought Sheen had retired to do activism full-time. Regardless, I'm definitely interested.

Edit: Nevermind, guess he clarified that he was just focusing less on it.
 
B

Blue Lou

Member
Multi-award-winning actors Michael Sheen, OBE (Masters Of Sex, Passengers and the upcoming films Home Again and Brad’s Status) and David Tennant (Broadchurch, Doctor Who, Jessica Jones) are to star in Good Omens, a six-part humorous fantasy drama, for Amazon and BBC Two.
Equal parts humour and horror, fantasy and drama, this 6 x 1 hour series is written by Neil Gaiman (American Gods), who will also serve as Showrunner. It is based on the well-loved and internationally bestselling novel Good Omens by Terry Pratchett (Hogfather) and Gaiman.

Good Omens is being produced by the comedy team at BBC Studios, the BBC’s commercial production arm, Narrativia and The Blank Corporation, in association with BBC Worldwide.

Good Omens was commissioned for Amazon by Roy Price, Head of Amazon Studios and Prime Video content globally, and for BBC Two by Patrick Holland, Controller, BBC Two; Shane Allen, Controller, BBC Comedy Commissioning and BBC commissioning editor Gregor Sharp.
Good Omens is set to broadcast on Amazon Prime Video and BBC Two in 2019. BBC Worldwide will distribute second-run rights internationally.

Sheen will star as the somewhat fussy angel and rare-book dealer Aziraphale, and Tennant will play his opposite number, the fast living demon Crowley, both of whom have lived amongst Earth's mortals since The Beginning and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle and of each other. So it’s really terrible news for both of them that, if Heaven and Hell have their way, the world will end on Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner. The armies of Good and Evil are amassing, Atlantis has risen, tempers are flaring. The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse are ready to ride. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except that someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist…

Good Omens will be brought to the screen by the highly acclaimed director Douglas Mackinnon, whose credits include Doctor Who, Outlander and the standalone Victorian episode of Sherlock: The Abominable Bride, winner of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie last year.

Michael Sheen says: “I first read Good Omens as a teenager and it’s been one of my favourite stories ever since. To be part of the team entrusted with bringing it alive on screen is a bit of a dream come true to be honest. To work alongside Neil, who I think is one of the greatest storytellers of all time, is incredibly exciting. And, just like the rest of the world, I’m a huge fan of David's so I relish trying to save it with him.”

David Tennant says: “Michael Sheen, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett and directed by Douglas Mackinnon, it’s a dream team and a dream gig. I am very excited that I’ve been asked to be part of this amazing project. Bring on the Apocalypse!”

Douglas Mackinnon, Director and Executive Producer, says: “Ironically, given that it is a timeless novel, the Good Omens story stretches from the beginning of time to quite near the end of time. I am honoured to be working with Neil Gaiman (and Terry Pratchett in absentia) and directing such a wonderfully prestigious project for BBC Studios and Amazon. I hope to deliver an epic parcel of fun just before Armageddon arrives instead.”

Neil Gaiman, Writer and Executive Producer, says: "If you are looking for actors to play two of the best-loved characters you and Terry Pratchett ever created, then, if you are very lucky and have been very good, you will get Michael Sheen and David Tennant to bring them to life. The best Welsh actor of his generation gets to be an angel, the best Scottish actor of his, a demon. Terry and I wrote Good Omens (I like to think it's one of the funniest novels ever written about the end of the world and how we are all going to die) almost 30 years ago. It's strange that it feels more relevant now than it ever did before. I only wish that Terry could be here to see it come to life with such a fantastic team."

Chris Sussman, Head of Comedy at BBC Studios and Executive Producer says: “We're thrilled two actors of the calibre of Michael and David loved the scripts as much as we do, and have signed up to play the leads. This is a very good omen for the project indeed.”

Roy Price, Head of Amazon Studios and Prime Video content globally, said: “We could not have hoped for two better suited actors to take the roles in this highly-anticipated show. We look forward to seeing David and Michael make these roles their own, as they are sure to do, and look forward to bringing the show to Prime members around the world in 2019.”

Rob Wilkins, Executive Producer and Narrativia MD, says: “I can say with absolute certainty that Terry would be utterly delighted with our Crowley and Aziraphale - both David and Michael were very much in his mind for the roles when we began developing this series for television all those years ago, and I can’t believe we’ve been lucky enough to sign up our dream choices now. I’m so excited that we are this close to filming Neil’s brilliant scripts with Douglas at the helm.”
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2017/good-omens
 
Oppo

Oppo

Member
Excellent news. This is the one I really wanted to happen.

The dialog is going to be hilarious to watch.
 
C

Cosmic Schwung

Member
Slackbladder said:
Listened to the radio version a few years back with Peter Serafinowicz and Mark Heap (Spaced and Stressed Eric). I liked it even though as a Pratchett fan I somehow overlooked this originally.
The series has got two strong leads. That's a big positive.
Click to expand...

Lol, you could have gone with Spaced and Spaced. That must be one of Heap's more memorable roles.

Shame Terry won't be able to do a cameo this time around :(
 
P

Protome

Member
Literally the only better casting than this would have been Serafinowicz and Heap reprising their roles from the audio play.

Seriously excited about this now!
 
W

wetflame

Pizza Dog
Probably my favourite book ever. You can open that book on any page at random and there's something great to read. I have a copy at home signed by both Neil and Terry. So glad this is getting made, and at a time when there's the opportunity to give it the treatment it deserves.

Fantastic casting and really looking forward to this. Will have to give the book another re-read.
 
D

deleted

Member
Nice, I liked the book, did not love it however.

On that note though, has there been any movement on Pratchetts Nightwatch TV series?
 
M

mclem

Member
xyla said:
On that note though, has there been any movement on Pratchetts Nightwatch TV series?
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Apparently the BBC Worldwide Fan Panel (an international focus group thingy) has mentioned it quite recently, it looks like it's in some form of planning stage.
 
Dice//

Dice//

Banned
8IYHext.gif
 
C

Cosmic Schwung

Member
Praetorpwj said:
Utter crap. Mark Heap has done loads of great stuff. Green Wing, Stardust, Brass Eye, Jam etc
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Woah there, Pickle! Wasn't disputing that he'd done a lot of great stuff, just thought it was funny that he could have listed the same program for both of them. As I said, Brian is definitely one of his most memorable roles.
 
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