Terry Pratchett's Hogfather
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 |
| 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 |
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[5] |
External links
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.
- ↑ Direct link to the audio file, as The Turtle Reads doesn’t have a website with episode details.