TV and Film:Good Omens

Good Omens
DVD Cover
ASIN	[1]
IMDB	1869454
First Broadcast	31st May 2019
Broadcast Channel	Amazon Prime, BBC Two
Director(s)	Douglas Mackinnon
Producer(s)	Neil Gaiman, Caroline Skinner, Chris Sussman, Rob Wilkins, Rod Brown
Writer(s)	Neil Gaiman
Starring	Michael Sheen, David Tennant, Sam Taylor Buck
Duration	360 minutes
Episodes	6
Series	Good Omens
Annotations	Annotations for TV and Film:Good Omens
Notes
Preceded by	Troll Bridge
Followed by	The Watch
All data relates to the UK home release.

Good Omens is a tv series adaptation of the novel Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, created from a joint venture between Amazon.com, the BBC, Narrativia and The Blank Corporation. There were some other previous attempts to adapt Good Omens including a film that was to be directed by Terry Gilliam and a screenplay written by Neil Gaiman; however the series finally came about as a request from Terry to Neil soon before his passing, as it was a project that the two had wanted to see for a long time. The series also includes extra material added to the story from ideas that the authors had that did not make it into the book as well as ideas that could have been in a possible sequel.

On 29th June 2021 Neil Gaiman and Amazon Prime announced that a second season of Good Omens was in production. Early comments from Gaiman were that the new season would be based on the notes for a possible sequel planned by Gaiman and Pratchett during the promotional tour for the original novel. In early July 2023, Gaiman revealed in an interview with SFX that this was no longer the case; he felt he couldn’t jump straight into that story, and so came up with a new one to connect the first season to the original sequel’s plot. He said in the same interview that a third season would be based on the sequel idea, if one is made. The second season is co-written by Gaiman and John Finnemore, best known for the BBC radio sitcom Cabin Pressure starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

On 10 May 2023, it was announced via an elaborate parody video by The Hillywood Show (featuring Neil Gaiman and cast from the show itself) that the second season of six episodes would be released on 23 July 2023. This was followed by new promotional artwork for the new season, featuring the tagline "Everyday its a-getting closer".

Blurb

Season One

The End of the World is coming, which means a fussy Angel and a loose-living Demon who've become overly fond of life on Earth are forced to form an unlikely alliance to stop Armageddon. But they have lost the Antichrist, an 11-year-old boy unaware he's meant to bring upon the end of days, forcing them to embark on an adventure to find him and save the world before it's too late.

Season Two

A naked archangel turns up at the door to renegade angel Aziraphale's bookshop, with no memory of who he is or how he got there, and Aziraphale and retired demon Crowley's lives become extremely complicated. Heaven and Hell are both desperate to find the runaway. As Crowley and Aziraphale attempt to fix a human romance, things become increasingly unsafe for them, in the past and the present.

Cast

Main

Aziraphale: Michael Sheen
Crowley: David Tennant

Season One

Anathema Device: Adria Arjona
Adam Young: Sam Taylor Buck
Brian: Ian Galkoff
Wensleydale: Alfie Taylor
Pepper: Amma Ris
Dog: Ollie
Sister Mary Loquacious: Nina Sosanya
Ligur: Ariyon Bakare
Hastur: Ned Dennehy
Newton Pulsifer: Jack Whitehall
Shadwell: Michael McKean
Madame Tracy: Miranda Richardson
Agnes Nutter: Josie Lawrence
Death: Brian Cox (Voice), Jamie Hill (Body)
War: Mireille Enos
Pollution: Lourdes Faberes
Famine: Yusuf Gatewood
Archangel Gabriel: Jon Hamm
Archangel Uriel: Gloria Obianyo
Archangel Michael: Doon Mackichan
Sandalphon: Paul Chahidi
Metatron: Derek Jacobi
Beelzebub: Anna Maxwell Martin
Dagon: Elizabeth Berrington
Thaddeus J. Dowling-U.S. Ambassador: Nick Offerman
Harriet Dowling: Jill Winternitz
Warlock Dowling: Samson Marraccino
Deirdre Young: Sian Brooke
Arthur Young: Daniel Mays
The International Express Man: Simon Merrells
R. P. Tyler/Tadfield Neighbourhood Watch: Bill Paterson
Anathema's Mother: Gabriella Cirillo
William Shakespeare: Reece Shearsmith
Mr. Harmony: Mark Gatiss
Mr Glozier: Steve Pemberton
Rose Montgomery: Niamh Walsh
God: Frances McDormand
Satan: Benedict Cumberbatch
Neil Gaiman: Sleeping Movie Theater Patron (uncredited)

Supplementary Books

Two additional companion books were produced alongside the series:

Also The Definitive Good Omens contains some artwork inspired by the series.

The Chattering Order of St. Beryl

As a part of an advertising campaign for the series, The Chattering Order of St. Beryl launched a website and several social media accounts in order to count down to the Apocalypse.

Differences Between The Book And Series

Spoiler Warning

Some of the differences between the series and its source material include:

The episodes have narration provided by God.
Greasy Johnson and the Johnsonites are not mentioned.
The Four Other Riders Of The Apocalypse have been omitted.*
Anathema Device is American and from a wealthy family (thanks to her ancestors prophecies).
Aziraphale and Crowley appear to the Dowlings as a nanny and gardener but not as tutors in later years.
Warlock Dowling's birthday scene was shortened without the jelly/gun incident.
The Them do not use a dunking stool when pretending to be inquisitors, a tyre swing is used instead and Wensleydale replaces Pepper's sister.
The third episode contains a segment that gives greater detail to Aziraphale and Crowley's past, showing them meeting at various points of history and in different areas of the world.
The rain of fish is absent.
Additional characters that were not present in the book such as the angels and historical figures have been added.
Crowley's Holy Water was given to him by Aziraphale.
Hastur personally meets Warlock Dowling on the Megiddo Plains where he discovers that he is not the Antichrist.
Some of Agnes Nutters prophecies have been updated to fit with the time period and some additional prophecies have been added.
In the final episode there is an additional sequence which shows how Aziraphale and Crowley deal with their respective sides after averting the Apocalypse.
Inside Aziraphale's restored bookshop he finds several new Just William books, a nod to the inspiration for The Them.

*However a 'Regrettably Deleted Sequence' concerning these characters is present in the script book.

Good Omens: Lockdown

On May 1st 2020 a short voice-over vignette, 'Good Omens: Lockdown' was released on Terry Pratchett's Youtube Channel to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Good Omens, with David Tennant and Michael Sheen reprising their roles from the TV series. The short comprises of a phone-call between Aziraphale and Crowley who are isolating at home in accordance with government guidelines due to the coronavirus pandemic.