Terry Pratchett's Hogfather

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Terry Pratchett's Hogfather
Image:Hogfather-sky.JPG
Hogfather series logo.
Format Fantasy, comedy
Created by Terry Pratchett
Vadim Jean
Starring Michelle Dockery
David Jason
Ian Richardson (voice)
Marc Warren
Narrated by Ian Richardson
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of episodes 2
Production
Executive
producer(s)		 Rod Brown, Ian Sharples
Running time 189 min.
Broadcast
Original channel Sky One
Picture format 1080i (HDTV)
Chronology
Preceded by Wyrd Sisters
Followed by Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic
External links
Official website
IMDb profile

Terry Pratchett's Hogfather is a two-part television adaptation of the book of the same name by Terry Pratchett, produced by The Mob, and first broadcast on Sky One, and in High Definition on Sky One HD, over Christmas 2006. First aired in two 1.5 hour episodes on the 17th and 18th of December 2006 at 20:00 UTC, it was the first live-action film adaptation of a Discworld novel. In 2007, the two episodes were rerun on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day respectively on Sky One and Sky One HD.

Hogfather won the Interactivity Award at the 2007 BAFTA TV Awards for its use of the interactive options available on digital television.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The series closely follows the plot of the novel, in which the Hogfather, the Discworld equivalent to Father Christmas, has gone missing, and Death is forced to take his place, while his granddaughter Susan attempts to find out what happened.

[edit] Main cast

Pratchett himself has a cameo as a toymaker, in addition to his official script credit of 'Mucked About By'. Although not named in the original book or the script, Pratchett decided the toymaker was named Joshua Isme, and his shop was Toys Is Me (a play on Toys R Us). The set dressing for the toyshop included appropriate labels.

The Death of Rats was credited as played by "Dorckey Hellmice", an anagram of "Michelle Dockery".

Both Nigel Planer, who plays Sideney and the voice of the Auditors, and Tony Robinson, who plays Mr Crumley, have been the readers for many of the audiobook editions of the Discworld novels, and have both had voice acting roles in the Discworld video games.

Ian Richardson also played Francis Urquhart in the BBC series House of Cards; when Death says to Albert, You may think I've already thought of that, but I could not possibly comment, this mirrors a similar phrase of Urquhart's.

[edit] Production

The storyboarding for the film was by artist Stephen Briggs, who drew The Streets of Ankh-Morpork and The Discworld Mapp. Bernard Pearson was involved with the 'look' of Ankh-Morpork.[1] Some interior and exterior scenes were shot in Spring 2005 at Sutton House, Hackney, with extensive use of artificial snow to create winter.

The film premiered at the Curzon Cinema in Mayfair on Monday 27 November 2006. Part 1 and a teaser for part 2 were shown.

Beginning the second week of December, Sky began using a new Christmas ident for Sky One, Two and Three, featuring the Hogfather's sleigh and the message "Happy Hogswatch". The song "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" was used on Hogfather radio advertisements with the word "Hogfather" replacing "Santa Claus". A "making of" documentary entitled The Whole Hog was shown on Sky One on the 10th. The film was shown on the 17th and 18th of December on Sky One, and was repeated shortly afterwards on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

[edit] CGI effects

The CGI for the show was done by Moving Picture Company, one of the largest post production companies in Europe. The firm employs upwards of 450 people and is based in Soho, London.

[edit] DVD release

Terry Pratchett's Hogfather was released in the UK (R2) on 23 April 2007 in both standard and limited-edition packaging. The making of the Hogfather is also available on iTunes as a free video podcast.

The limited edition release is a two-disc set, with an individually numbered case and signed card from Terry Pratchett. The second disc contains special features, including:

  • Deleted Scenes
Bilious (the Oh God of Hangovers) introducing and explaining himself to Susan
Death and Albert discovering the altered Hogswatch card
Further explanation on the role of the ancient Hogfather
  • 12 Days of Hogswatch (Death's Guide to Discworld)
A series of 4 1/2 minute featurettes in which Death interviews Terry Pratchett, Stephen Briggs and others to explain various apects of Discworld. The subjects are:
  • The Whole Hog: Making Terry Pratchett's Hogfather documentary

[edit] U.S. debut

The first U.S. screening was on November 25, 2007 (7:00PM) on ION Television. The film was released on DVD exclusively from Borders Books and Music on November 18, 2007, followed by a general release on March 3, 2008. None of the extras from the British limited edition DVD are included, the only extras being an interview with Terry Pratchett and the original trailer.

[edit] German debut

Both parts of Terry Pratchett's Hogfather were shown on German TV (ProSieben) on 25th December 2007 as a double-feature.

[edit] French debut

Both parts of Terry Pratchett's Hogfather were shown on French TV (M6) on 24th December 2007 as a double-feature, under the name "Les Contes du Disque-Monde" (Discworld's Tales)

[edit] Australian debut

Both parts of Terry Pratchett's Hogfather were shown on the Seven network in Australia. They were shown over two days. Part one was shown on December 23 2007 and part two was shown on December 24th 2007.

[edit] Controversy

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In March 2006, the production company, impressed by Discworld costumes seen at fan events, announced that fans with appropriate costumes would be offered the opportunity to appear in background scenes. This was announced by a fan on the Usenet newsgroup alt.fan.pratchett, and caused a flurry of negative posts, with some criticising the company for using fans as unpaid extras, and others questioning how much quality control would go into the costumes used. In the wake of this unexpected criticism, the opportunity was withdrawn.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Statements by Pearson at Discworld Convention 2006

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
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Terry Pratchett's Discworld (Portal)
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