Terry Pratchett's Hogfather: Difference between revisions

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Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather (aka Hogfather^[1]) is a two-part 2006 television film adapting Hogfather. It was the first live-action adaptation of a Discworld novel, and the first of three Discworld adaptations produced by The Mob and broadcast on Sky One in the UK.

Taglines

To be added.

Creative Team

Crew

Screenplay by Vadim Jean
Mucked about by Terry Pratchett
Directed by Vadim Jean
Produced by Rod Brown

Cast

Ian Richardson as Death / Narrator (voice)
Michelle Dockery as Susan / Death of Rats
David Jason as Albert
Marc Warren as Mr. Teatime
David Warner as Lord Downey
Tony Robinson as Vernon Crumley
Nigel Planer as Mr. Sideney
Peter Guinness as Medium Dave
Stephen Marcus as Banjo
Craig Conway as Chickenwire
Rhodri Meilir as Bilious
Sinead Matthews as Violet
Neil Pearson as Quoth the Raven (voice)

Supporting Cast

Nicolas Tennant as Corporal Nobbs
Richard Katz as Constable Visit
Ed Coleman as Ponder Stibbons
Geoffrey Hutchings as Mr. Brown
John Franklyn-Robbins as The Dean
Roger Frost as The Bursar
Timothy Bateson as Lecturer in Recent Runes
John Boswall as Chair of Indefinite Studies
Marnix Van Den Broeke as Death (body)
Arthur White as Ernie the Cart Driver
Robert Portal as Mr. Gaiter
Deborah Winckles as Mrs. Gaiter
Madeleine Rakic-Platt as Twyla
Hugo Altman as Gawain
Bridget Turner as Tooth Fairy / Bogey Man
Gregor Henderson-Begg as Pixie Helper
Trevor Jones as Modo
James Mellor as Student Wizard
Martha Katz as Bobble Hat Child
Rachel Edward as Bobble Hat Child's Mother
Dominic Borrelli as Grotto Hogfather
Jon Ridgeon as Guest 1
Shend as Hogfather
Fox Jackson-Keen as Young Albert
Don Wetherhead as Slimazel the Bogeyman
John Cartier as Carter
John Warman as Toothguard 1
Tim Plester as Toothguard 7
Peter Holdway as Auditor 1
Andre LaMotte as Auditor 2
Adam Marvel as Auditor 3
Andrew Swain as Auditor 4
Andy Robb as Additional Voices
Danny Da Costa as Verruca Gnome / Hair Loss Fairy
Maggie McCarthy as Ma Lillywhite
Aaron Barker as Small Boy
Lydia Altman as Small Boy's Sister
Terry Pratchett as The Toymaker
Joss Ackland as Mustrum Ridcully^[2]

Episodes

Hogfather consists of two parts. Note that the synopses below will contain spoilers.

#	Broadcast Date^[3]	Episode Title	Synopsis
1	2006-12-17	“Night 1”	In Ankh-Morpork, the Assassin’s Guild is contracted by mysterious spectral figures to kill “the Fat Man”. The job is assigned to Mr Teatime, who recruits some petty thugs (including the child-like giant Banjo), a wizard and a locksmith. They highjack an unusual cart, killing the driver and driving it to another world. Death observes the murder and abandons his usual duties to dress up as the Hogfather (with Albert as an elf) and deliver presents. This brings him to the home where his granddaughter Susan is working as a governess, and she is appalled. Death tells her not to get involved, so she investigates. In Death’s house she learns the Hogfather is the modern incarnation of an ancient deity; if he dies, the Sun might not rise tomorrow. In a strange white castle, Teatime gathers together a pile of teeth and had his wizard cast a spell over them. He then loots the place, the thugs finding money and title deeds. On the Disc, Death decides he needs to be more visible. He replaces a store Hogfather in Ankh-Morpork and gives away toys, upsetting the manager. At Unseen University, the Arch-Chancellor is enjoying a long-sealed bathroom, but catches a “veruca gnome” while cutting his toenails. Susan goes to the Hogfather's Castle of Bones looking for clues, but it crumbles around her. Teatime laughs and wishes everyone a “happy Hogswatch”...^[4]
2	2006-12-18	“Night 2”	Susan finds a very ill man in the Castle and escapes before it's totally destroyed. She takes him to the University, where the wizards revive him enough to discover he is the “Ohgod of Hangovers”. Their magical computer Hex theorises that there is a surplus of belief, causing minor superstitions like the Ohgod and the Veruca Gnome to become real. Teatime kills the last guards in the castle, who disappear and fall onto the roof of the University. Following several clues, Susan goes to the home of the Tooth Fairy - the Castle where Teatime is, and where there can be no death (so anyone who would die goes elsewhere to do it). While childhood fears come to life and kill off the thugs, Susan confronts Teatime, who takes Death’s sword from her, but she pushes him to his death into the pile of teeth, disrupting the sympathetic spell causing the Disc’s children stop believing in the Hogfather. Susan meets the Tooth Fairy, who is actually the first Boogey Man; he decided to protect the children he was meant to scare by hiding their teeth away where they couldn’t be used for evil magic. He dies, and Susan makes Banjo the new Tooth Fairy. She leaves and meets Death, who explains that it was the Auditors of Reality who set this all in motion, but he kept belief in the Hogfather alive long enough for her to save him. The Auditors get desperate and go back in time to kill the original animal sacrifice that would become the Hogfather, but they are stopped by Susan and Death, and the Sun rises. Back at Susan’s house they find Teatime, who was brought back to life by the wizards when his body appeared in the University. Deprived of killing the Hogfather, he wants to kill Death instead, but is instead killed by Susan. Death goes home, stopping on the way to buy a rocking horse that was coveted by the young Albert.

Podcast episodes

Major appearances

These are episodes primarily devoted to discussing this film.

Date	Show	Episode	External link
2011-12-27	The Pratchett Podcast	TPP 03	wordpress.com
2019-12-24	No Deodorant in Outer Space	“Hogfather (Vadim Jean)”^[5]	libsyn.com
2021-12-24	The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret	“Hogfather, Your Cleavage!”	thetruthshallmakeyefret.com
2021-10-10	Who Watches the Watch	“Die Künstliche”	pinecast.co
2022-01-09	British Invaders	“Hogfather (Part 1)” (1/2)	britishinvaders.com
2022-01-23	British Invaders	“Hogfather (Part 2)” (2/2)	britishinvaders.com
2023-05-26	Faith in Focus	“Listener's Choice // Hogfather (via Maria Hearing)”	buzzsprout.com
2023-12-16	The Cinema Catch-Up Club	“Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather”	soundcloud.com

Other appearances

Episodes where the film is discussed, but not as the main topic.

Date	Show	Episode	External link
2023-01-20	The Turtle Reads	“Christmas Movies: Hogfather > Die Hard?”	captivate.fm^[6]

External links

Hogfather’’ (TV Movie 2006) at the Internet Movie Database
Hogfather at the L-Space wiki

Footnotes

↑ There’s an argument to be made that the shorter title is more official, but using the longer one makes it easier to have a separate entry in the wiki, so.
↑ Given he’s arguably one of the bigger names in the cast, its a bit weird Ackland is credited last, but perhaps he asked for it to be that way. He doesn’t always like doing fantasy - he’s on record as regretting doing Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey.
↑ This is the original broadcast date on Sky One.
↑ Actually it sounds very much like Marc Warren says “Happy Hogwash, everybody!”, but that seems in keeping with the character.
↑ A follow up to their episode about Hogfather, this is the show's penultimate episode. In previous episodes they had combined discussions of books and adaptations: one about Going Postal and Going Postal, and another about The Colour of Magic and Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic.
↑ Direct link to the audio file, as The Turtle Reads doesn’t have a website with episode details.

[1] There’s an argument to be made that the shorter title is more official, but using the longer one makes it easier to have a separate entry in the wiki, so.

[2] Given he’s arguably one of the bigger names in the cast, its a bit weird Ackland is credited last, but perhaps he asked for it to be that way. He doesn’t always like doing fantasy - he’s on record as regretting doing Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey.

[3] This is the original broadcast date on Sky One.

[4] Actually it sounds very much like Marc Warren says “Happy Hogwash, everybody!”, but that seems in keeping with the character.

[5] A follow up to their episode about Hogfather, this is the show's penultimate episode. In previous episodes they had combined discussions of books and adaptations: one about Going Postal and Going Postal, and another about The Colour of Magic and Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic.

[6] Direct link to the audio file, as The Turtle Reads doesn’t have a website with episode details.

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@@ Line 87: / Line 87: @@
 |-
 | 2011-12-27 || {{TPP}} || TPP 03 || [https://thepratchettpodcast.wordpress.com/2011/12/27/the-pratchett-podcast-episode-3/ wordpress.com]
+|-
+| 2019-12-24 || ''[http://nodeodorantinouterspace.wordpress.com/ No Deodorant in Outer Space]'' || “Hogfather (Vadim Jean)”<ref>A follow up to their episode about {{H}}, this is the show's penultimate episode. In previous episodes they had combined discussions of books and adaptations: one about {{GP}} and {{GPTV}}, and another about {{COM}} and {{COMTV}}.</ref> || [https://nodeodorantinouterspace.libsyn.com/s4e12m-hogfather-vadim-jean libsyn.com]
 |-
 | 2021-12-24 || {{MYF}} || “Hogfather, Your Cleavage!” || [https://thetruthshallmakeyefret.com/2021/12/24/hogswatch-2021-hogfather-your-cleavage/ thetruthshallmakeyefret.com]
 |-
 | 2021-10-10 || {{WWTW}} || “Die Künstliche” || [https://who-watches-the-watch.pinecast.co/episode/bcaa2762/die-k-nstliche-hogfather-tv-movie-2006- pinecast.co]
+|-
+| 2022-01-09 || ''[http://britishinvaders.com/ British Invaders]'' || “Hogfather (Part 1)” (1/2) || [http://britishinvaders.com/2022/01/09/british-invaders-387-hogfather-part-1/ britishinvaders.com]
+|-
+| 2022-01-23 || ''[http://britishinvaders.com/ British Invaders]'' || “Hogfather (Part 2)” (2/2) || [http://britishinvaders.com/2022/01/23/british-invaders-388-hogfather-part-2/ britishinvaders.com]
 |-
 | 2023-05-26 || ''[https://www.buzzsprout.com/273576 Faith in Focus]'' || “Listener's Choice // Hogfather (via Maria Hearing)” || [https://www.buzzsprout.com/273576/12928655-listener-s-choice-hogfather-via-maria-hearing buzzsprout.com]
+|-
+| 2023-12-16 || ''[https://www.thoughtjarproductions.com/podcast-ccuc The Cinema Catch-Up Club]'' || “Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather” || [https://soundcloud.com/user-107736055/ccuc-episode-328-terry-pratchetts-hogfather soundcloud.com]
 |}