The Watch. Image shows from L to R: Constable Cheery (Jo Eaton-Kent), Constable Carrot (Adam Hugill), Lady Sybil Ramkin (Lara Rossi), Sergeant Detritus, Corporal Angua (Marama Corlett), Sam Vimes (Richard Dormer)

Key details

Genre
Comedy Drama
Broadcast
2021
Channel
BBC iPlayer
Episodes
8 (1 series)
Creator
Simon Allen
Stars
Richard Dormer, Marama Corlett, Adam Hugill, Jo Eaton-Kent, Lara Rossi, Sam Adewunmi, Anna Chancellor, Bianca Simone Mannie and more
Writers
Simon Allen and Terry Pratchett
Directors
Brian Kelly, Emma Sullivan and Craig Viveiros
Producers
Johann Knobel, Hilary Salmon, Ben Donald, Rob Wilkins, Richard Stokes, Craig Viveiros, Simon Allen and Marisa Sonemann Turner
Companies

A series based on the Ankh-Morpork City Watch from Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels.

Set in a fictional city where crime has been legalised, The Watch is a genre-busting comedy drama series that follows a group of misfit cops as they rise up from decades of helplessness to save their corrupt city from catastrophe. Uniquely anarchic and thrillingly entertaining, the character-driven comedy follows several of Sir Terry Pratchett's best-loved creations on a riotous and emotional odyssey.

Richard Dormer stars as Sam Vimes, Captain of The Watch, disempowered by a broken society that's reduced his department's jurisdiction to almost nothing. Jo Eaton-Kent plays the ingenious non-binary forensics expert Constable Cheery, ostracised by their kin and finding a new home and identity within The Watch. Adam Hugill plays Constable Carrot, the idealistic new recruit, raised by dwarfs, but really a human abandoned at birth. Marama Corlett is the mysterious Corporal Angua who is tasked with Carrot's training and keeping the rookie alive.

Lara Rossi takes on the role of 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. Sam Adewunmi portrays the wounded, wronged Carcer Dun, out to hijack destiny itself, take control of the city and exact a terrible revenge on an unjust reality.

Anna Chancellor stars as Lord Vetinari, The Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, and architect of the city's normalised wrongness and ramshackle system of governance. James Fleet is The Archchancellor, wizard, magical advisor, and the Head of the Unseen University.

Ingrid Oliver plays the Head of The Assassins' Guild, Doctor Cruces. Ruth Madeley portrays the wiry Throat, the city's best snitch, with a gang of freelance henchmen at her beck and call.

Meanwhile Hakeem Kae-Kazim is Captain John Keel, former leader of The Watch and mentor to Sam Vimes, determined to save the corrupt and chaotic city, and Bianca Simone Mannie is on the cast list as the cunning Wonse, a wizard hopeful in waiting that is frequently underestimated.

Stream and download

Additional details

Production
Location
Camera set-up
Single camera
Picture
Colour

Website links

Broadcast details

First broadcast
Thursday 1st July 2021 on BBC iPlayer
Most recent repeats
  • Thursday 2nd September 2021 at 9:45pm on BBC2 - Episode 8
  • Thursday 2nd September 2021 at 9:00pm on BBC2 - Episode 7
  • Thursday 26th August 2021 at 9:45pm on BBC2 - Episode 6

Recording details

  • South Africa - Location filming

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