There are few authors more beloved and iconic than Terry Pratchett. The prolific writer helped shape generations of audiences with his works, including his wildly popular 41-book series of Discworld fantasy novels, the acclaimed novel Good Omens (written with Neil Gaiman), and many, many, many more, including children’s books, short stories, and even parts of the dialogue of a mod for video games. Truly, there was nothing that Pratchett could not and did not do.
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With such an expansive bibliography and with much of it being in the fantasy genre, a great many of Pratchett’s works have been adapted over the years in many formats — including for the screen. However, not every adaptation is created equal. Some, like the recent Good Omens series, have thrilled and delighted fans while others have left them wondering what those behind the adaptation were thinking in the first place. Here is our ranking of the adaptations of Pratchett’s fantasy works. It’s important to note that we are just looking at the fantasy works — as there are a few adaptations out there of his works that we don’t think fall strictly into the “fantasy” genre, so they didn’t make the cut here.
Honorable Mention: Troll Bridge
Getting an honorable mention on this list is Troll Bridge. The 2019 film is a fan-made from Snowgum Films. The project, an adaptation of “Troll Bridge” a Discworld short story written by Pratchett for the collection After The King: Stories in Honour of J.R.R. Tolkien, is one of his few short stories set in Discworld and tells the tale of Cohen the Barbarian, who after a long life of adventure, is going through some tough times and decides to take on the one test of manhood he somehow never accomplished: kill a troll in single combat. That doesn’t really go as planned and he and the troll end up reminiscing about the old days as, it turns out, times have changed for trolls, too.
Troll Bridge is a beautifully done film and a genuine love letter to Pratchett’s work. The only reason we’re placing it in the “honorable mention” category here is that it is a fan-made film as opposed to a “major” adaptation, but don’t let that fool you. The film was officially endorsed by Pratchett before he died and was approved by his estate once the film was completed. The film also earned several festival awards since its release and is truly a gem of an adaptation of Pratchett’s work — and just a delight to watch. You can actually watch it for yourself on YouTube (and you should.)
8) The Watch
Easily the worst of the adaptations of Pratchett’s fantasy work, The Watch even seemed to be self-aware of its issues as each episode of the eight-episode, one season series was described as “inspired by” Pratchett’s work rather than being an actual adaptation. So, with that in mind, The Watch is “inspired by” the Ankh-Morpork City Watch from the Discworld novels but there’s really not a way to fully describe the show correctly in terms of Pratchett’s work because what The Watch did was took names and ideas from Discworld but completely changed them, often applying them to new or different characters.
Complicating this, The Watch still had to operate within the framework of the Discworld books and the universe they created. While the series was intended to have a sort of crime of the week format, it ended up being what was described as a “punk rock thriller”. And it didn’t work. There were too many changes from Pratchett’s work — which angered fans as well as Pratchett’s family — and the series didn’t fare well with critics either. It was a tonal mess and ultimately very boring.
7) Wyrd Sisters and Soul Music
In 1997, Cosgrove Hall did two animated Pratchett adaptations for the UK’s Channel 4, Wyrd Sisters and Soul Music, and while they are different adaptations — Wyrd Sisters adapts the sixth Discworld novel (and one of Pratchett’s best books) and Soul Music adapts the sixteenth — they are roughly the same in terms of quality of adaptation, which is why they are both taking the same spot on this ranking. Neither are bad adaptations, content-wise. Wyrd Sisters, which involves witches being dragged into politics by way of taxation, is probably the weaker of the two and Soul Music — which involves Death taking a holiday, his adopted granddaughter taking over for him but having no memory of said grandfather, and there being a song that threatens to destroy reality unless someone can kill the music has a pretty great chase scene.
The real issue here is that the animation for both adaptations is pretty rough and they both have issues with the timing of the voice acting. They just seem put together pretty badly and it takes away from the overall experience of two really clever and generally hilarious stories. Soul Music at least looks a little groovy.
6) Johnny and the Dead
Before we get too far into this one, yes, there are adaptations for two of the three books in Pratchett’s Johnny Maxwell series, this one and Johnny and the Bomb but we’re only putting Johnny and the Dead on this list because, it’s my opinion that Johnny and the Dead is the only book in the trilogy that is actually fantasy. The other two, Johnny and the Bomb and Only You Can Save Mankind, are sci-fi. Now that that is settled, released in four parts in 1995, Johnny and the Dead premiered on the UK’s ITV and follows Johnny Maxwell, a young boy who can see ghosts. Johnny befriends the ghosts he sees and these ghosts end up pretty upset when they find out that their cemetery is bought by a corporation that plans to build an office building on top of their graves. Seeing as how Johnny is, you know, a living person, he tries to help his ghostly pals.
While the series was a little slow in terms of its pacing even over just four episodes, it was actually very well done and pretty accurate to the novel. One of the particular strengths of the adaptation was the performances (Flash Gordon’s Brian Blessed played the ghost William Stickler and was just great). If the short series had had a higher budget and slightly better pacing, it probably would rate much higher on this list.
5) The Color of Magic
The first book of Pratchett’s Discworld series, The Color of Magic could be described as sort of the Blazing Saddles of fantasy (because that’s how Pratchett himself described it). It’s the story of Rincewind, the worst wizard on Discworld who ends up as a guide to the world’s first tourist, Twoflower, with the pair going on a journey that is as much magical as it is misadventure. The book his hilarious. The 2008, two-part television adaptation for Sky 1 has its charms but is only okay.
The biggest issues with the adaptation of The Color of Magic is that the adaptation removes or merges some characters and scenes from the book as well as some plotlines in order to make things work for the time allowed, but even in making some trims the finished product still doesn’t feel like it has much in the way of an overall plot. There are some pacing issues as well. It’s by no means bad, but it does feel a little hard to follow at times. There are simply better Pratchett adaptations.
4) Hogfather
If you wanted to think of Hogfather as the Christmas special of Discworld, you wouldn’t exactly be wrong — which makes the adaptation of the novel (the 20th of the Discworld series) a Christmas movie if you really want it to be one. Airing as a two-part television special in December 2006 on the UK’s Sky 1 and in 2007 on ION in the US, Hogfather follows the annual celebration of the coming of the titular Hogfather, a Santa Claus-esque figure who brings toys and sausages to the good children of the Disc for Hogwatch. Unfortunately, this holiday Hogfather has gone missing, leaving Death to have to step in along with his manservant Albert to make sure that the holiday goes off without a hitch while Death’s granddaughter Susan solves the mystery before an assassin, Mr. Teatime, kills the holiday spirit — literally.
The adaptation is charming and the only reason it is at roughly the middle of this list is because the adaptations beyond this point are all very, very good. Hogfather is pretty faithful to the book, though if you aren’t familiar with Pratchett going in you might be a little confused at times due to cameos by other characters from the Discworld universe. The special also features Michelle Dockery as Susan Sto Helit (Death’s granddaughter) before she starred in Downton Abbey which is kind of a neat little bonus.
3) Truckers
Released in 1992, Truckers is a 13 episode stop-motion adaptation of the first book in Pratchett’s The Nome Trilogy. In the story Masklin the Nome and his people leave from their no longer sustainable home and end up in a human department store that is set to be demolished, The Store. However, when they arrive, they discover that another group of Nomes already live there except for them, the outside world is a myth and The Store is the entire universe. With the store’s destruction imminent, Masklin must find a way to plan an escape and evacuate not only themselves but the store Nomes before The Store is destroyed.
Truckers is the first television adaptation of any of Pratchett’s works and it’s also done extremely well. It’s very accurate to the novel, the voice acting is superb, and while it may look a bit dated by 2025 standards, it’s some of the best stop-motion animation of its time.
2) Going Postal
Con artist Moist von Lipwig is, after years of crime, finally caught and sentenced to death. However, when that fails, he’s given a choice: become the new Postmaster or be executed in another, more gruesome-sounding way. Postmaster it is. But that’s not necessarily an easy position, since Moist has to deal with reviving the defunct service, battling corporate rivals, greed, and corruption in the process, something that might just make the conman an unlikely hero. It’s a slightly goofy sounding, but intriguing premise for a really good story and it makes for a solid adaptation.
Airing in 2010, Going Postal was the third of Sky 1’s two-part Pratchett adaptations (it would get a US DVD release in 2011) and is the best of the bunch. It boasts a fantastic cast — including Richard Coyle, who some fans will recognize as Father Faustus Blackwood from The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Claire Foy from The Crown. It is also one of Pratchett’s most accessible stories for those who are less familiar with his written work, making it almost the best overall adaptation. But there is one more that takes the title.
1) Good Omens
Based on Pratchett’s 1990 novel with Neil Gaiman, Good Omens debuted in 2019 and ran for two seasons on Prime Video on the US and BBC Two in the UK and is easily the best-known Pratchett adaptation. It is also the adaptation that has the distinction of probably being the one to breakthrough to the most mainstream audience as well. The story follows the fussy angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and loose-living demon Crowley (David Tennant) who, having become a bit attached to life on Earth, form an unlikely team up to find the missing Antichrist, who was switched at birth with a regular human child, and stop the imminent Armageddon.
Good Omens is very much a love letter to the original novel and is beautifully done, one of the Pratchett adaptations that is very faithful to the source material. The acting is superb and preserves the humor and humanity of the book itself. It stands not only as the best adaptation of Pratchett’s work, but possibly as one of the best book-to-television adaptations of any work to date. Everything about this adaptation is top notch and it sets the standard for any future Pratchett adaptation that dares follow.
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