Night Watch

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Night Watch
Night Watch cover
2012 paperback cover; art by Paul Kidby
AuthorTerry Pratchett
Audio read byTony Robinson (Corgi);
Stephen Briggs (Isis)
Unconfirmed (new)
Cover artistPaul Kidby
CountryUK
LanguageEnglish
SeriesDiscworld
Release number
29
Sub-seriesThe Watch
GenreFantasy
PublisherDoubleday
Publication date
2002-11-05
Preceded byThe Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents 
Followed byThe Wee Free Men 

Night Watch is the twenty-ninth Discworld book, and the sixth focussing on the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. Its major plot involves Sam Vimes being sent back thirty years in time where we meet younger versions of many of the present-day Discworld characters. Characters and plot elements from the novel were major inspirations for the BBC America series The Watch.

Blurb

For a policeman, there can be few things worse than a serial killer loose in your city. Except, perhaps, a serial killer who targets coppers, and a city on the brink of bloody revolution. For Commander Sam Vimes, it all feels horribly familiar. He s back in his own rough, tough past without even the clothes he was standing up in when the lightning struck. Living in the past is hard. But he must survive, because he has a job to do. He must track down the murderer and change the outcome of the rebellion. The problem is - if he wins, he's got no wife, no child, no future...

A Discworld Tale of One City, with a full chorus of street urchins, ladies of negotiable affection, rebels, secret policemen and other children of the revolution.

Podcast episodes

Major appearances

These are episodes primarily devoted to discussing this book.

Date Show Episode External link
2008?[1] The Turtle Moves Unknown (episode 2) N/A
2019-10-15 Radio Morpork “Mid Life Time Crisis” radiomorpork.wordpress.com
2020-04-19 Desert Island Discworld “Alex Hern and Night Watch” desertislanddiscworld.com
2021-01-15 The Death of Podcasts “Night Watch” aalgar.com
2021-07-28 Wyrd Sisters “Night Watch” wyrdsisters.podbean.com
2022-04-08 Pratchat “The Land Before Vimes” pratchatpodcast.com
2022-05-25 The Compleat Discography “Night Watch” compleatdiscography.page
2022-05-25 Fiction Fans “Night Watch by Terry Pratchett” fictionfanspodcast.com
2023-01-09 The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret “Foreshadow and Backshadow” (1/4) thetruthshallmakeyefret.com
2023-01-16 The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret “Notably Damper” (2/4) thetruthshallmakeyefret.com
2023-01-23 The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret “The Frilly Shirt of the Revolutionary” (3/4) thetruthshallmakeyefret.com
2023-01-30 The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret “Rhapsody on Barricades” (4/4) thetruthshallmakeyefret.com
2023-06-30 Nanny Ogg's Book Club “Night Watch” fireside.fm
2023-07-22 Who Watches the Watch “Les Vimesrables” (1/3) pinecast.co
2023-08-11 Who Watches the Watch “Straight Pride Special” (2/3) pincecast.co
2023-08-20 Who Watches the Watch “Anne Hedonia” (3/3) pincecast.co
2023-11-05 Kendall Bookworms “Night Watch Book Discussion” podbean.com
2024-01-31 Fiction Fans “Night Watch by Terry Pratchett, feat. Kat Day fictionfanspodcast.com

Other appearances

Episodes where there's significant discussion of the book, but it's not the focus of the episode.

Date Show Episode External link
2017-03-28 The Pratchett Podcast “EPISODE50” app.talkshoe.com
2023-03-09 Intentionally Blank “In Defiance of Logic and Facts” buzzsprout.com[2]
2024-03-20 Fiction Fans “Interview: Translations with Nevena Andrić”[3] fictionfanspodcast.com

Adaptations

  • There are four audiobook versions of Night Watch. The abridged Corgi edition read by Tony Robinson and unabridged Isis edition read by Stephen Briggs were both released in 2002. In 2003 Fantastic Audio released an unabridged audiobook read by Stefan Rudnicki, with a guest appearance by Harlan Ellison! (It was one of only two Discworld audiobooks produced by the company.) In 2023, Penguin released their new unabridged audiobook of Night Watch alongside all the other Watch books, read by Jon Culshaw with Bill Nighy reading the footnotes, and Peter Serafinowicz as the voice of Death.
  • While not a direct adaptation, Night Watch was, along with Guards! Guards!, the major inspiration for the BBC America series The Watch.

External links

Footnotes

  1. Guess based on Tweets and dates for preceding and later episodes. This is episode two of the podcast, which seems to have been reposted on 12 November 2011, judging from link shared here: https://twitter.com/turtlemoves/status/338337618406305792?s=20
  2. This episode of Brandon Sanderson’s chat podcast with fellow author Dan Wells features discussion of some one-star Goodreads reviews of Night Watch at about 31m25s (around 34m in the YouTube version).
  3. Andrić discusses her work translating novels in Serbian, including Night Watch and much of the Discworld series.