Comedy stars to record Good Omens series on Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 has today confirmed that it is collaborating with acclaimed authors Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (pictured with director Dirk Maggs) to create the first ever dramatisation of their co-penned cult-classic, Good Omens.
The audio drama, which begins recording today in a secret London location, will feature comic actors including Mark Heap (Friday Night Dinner), Peter Serafinowicz (Look Around You), Josie Lawrence (Whose Line), Clive Russell (Jam & Jerusalem), Paterson Joseph (Peep Show), Julia Deakin (Spaced), Simon Jones (Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy) and Mark Benton (Early Doors).
Published in 1990, 'Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch', is an acclaimed comedy novel about the birth of the son of Satan and the coming of the End Times. The BBC says: "It's the end of the world - just not quite how we might be expecting it - but then this is Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's version of Armageddon."
Mark Heap and Peter Serafinowicz will be taking the central roles of the angel and demon, Aziraphale and Crowley, respectively. Colin Morgan (Merlin) will play the character Newton Pulsifer, with Josie Lawrence as Agnes Nutter and Paterson Joseph as Famine.
Clive Russell, Julia Deakin, Simon Jones, Mark Benton, Sherlock star Louise Brealey, Whitechapel's Phil Davis and Arsher Ali (Four Lions) have also been announced on the cast list.
The BBC adds the series will also feature "a host of delightful cameos, from the Gardeners' Question Time team to Neil and Terry themselves. Other cameos are set to delight listeners, but they are under wraps for now. Probably in a dusty occult bookshop in Covent Garden, but no one is quite sure."
The premise of the series is described as follows: "According to the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday in fact. Just after Any Answers on Radio 4.
"Events have been set in motion to bring about the End of Days. The armies of Good and Evil are gathering and making their way towards the sleepy English village of Lower Tadfield. Atlantis is rising, fish are falling from the sky, the Four Horsepersons are assembling; everything seems to be going to the Divine Plan.
"Everything that is, but for the unlikely duo of an angel and a demon who are not all that keen on the prospect of the forthcoming Rapture. In fact the prospect of Armageddon is all really rather inconvenient for them actually. But if they are to stop it taking place they've got to find and kill the one who will bring about the Apocalypse: the Antichrist himself. There's just one small problem: someone seems to have mislaid him."
The six-part series is being overseen by Dirk Maggs, the director known for his work on The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. The production team have previously worked together to dramatise Gaiman's Neverwhere, which received 'a phenomenal critical and audience response' when it was broadcast last year.
The BBC explains: "Fans will have to wait excitedly to hear the final drama as it is currently scheduled to air in December. It will broadcast across a week in five half-hour episodes and culminate in an hour-long final apocalyptic showdown, on a Saturday, shortly before Woman's Hour, should the world not actually end."
Radio 4's Gwyneth Williams says: "I'm delighted to have Neil Gaiman back on Radio 4 - and this time with Terry Pratchett. I can't wait to hear what they will do with the Apocalypse. The Radio 4 audience loved Neverwhere and Good Omens will be a splendid Christmas treat."