“It was a con where everyone would win.”
Justin’s rating: You’ll need a 4-penny stamp to mail this review to a friend
Justin’s review: It’s to my slight shame that I came to Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels later in life. But at least I did discover these books, and fell in love with many of them, including a clever twist on the establishment of a post office in a fantasy realm that went by the name of Going Postal.
And hey, look at that, Sky1 made a two-part miniseries out of that novel in 2010! This, I had to see, especially once I heard that Charles Dance (Last Action Hero) played the Patrician, Lord Vetinari.
Our protagonist is the infamous scoundrel Moist von Lipwig (Richard Coyle, The Secrets of Dumbledore), a con artist whose past caught up to him at last. Given the choice between the gallows and public service, Moist takes the Patrician’s offer to run the greatly neglected post office of the city of Ankh-Morpork.
It seems like an impossible task for many reasons. For starters, the postal service hasn’t been needed as much since the clacks towers became popular — but now those are too expensive and on the fritz. Not to mention that there are only a couple daft employees, a messy building stuffed with undelivered mail and a ghost, and a sinister force that doesn’t want this project to succeed. Oh, plus that fact that all four of his predecessors died in office.
There’s no escaping his destiny anyway, since his parole officer is an unstoppable golem who will chase him down without sleeping. While Moist is understandably dismayed at the daunting task ahead, he begins to apply his considerable skills to transforming the place into a renaissance of mail delivery.
He also bumps into a hard-smoking, sarcastic woman named Adora Dearheart (Claire Foy, Season of the Witch) who is something of a golem expert. The two strike up an unconventional romance while Moist gradually atones for his crimes (and attempt to line his pockets once more). If I wasn’t a married man, Foy’s Dearheart might make a play for my heart, goth makeup and all.
What is necessary for a well-received adaptation of a popular book? I don’t think it’s too complicated. You need faithfulness to the source, good casting, writers who know how best to translate the material to the screen, and a decent enough budget so the end product isn’t embarrassing.
In all four quadrants here, Going Postal succeeds. And that’s not a given for a Terry Pratchett adaptation, considering how much of his stories are couched in wordplay and extreme quirkiness. But they didn’t skimp on the production values, creating a fantasy world that has its own Hogwarts-like feel to it. My only complaint, and it’s a minor one, is that the golem design looks a little too cheesy and… “BBC,” if that makes sense.
Despite this being a three-hour affair, I found that this miniseries positively breezed by — just as enjoyable as the book in its own way. The sets, characters, and costumes does the book justice, and I absolutely reveled in its tone. Even the soundtrack was amazing.
This is so good, in fact, that it’s made me extremely leery of watching any other Pratchett adaptations, knowing they won’t live up to this excellence.
Intermission!
- The typewriter machine intro is really dang neat
- The City Watch werewolf! I love these guys, I really do. If you haven’t read the City Watch novels, you’re missing out in life.
- Digging yourself out of your cell is therapy
- Nooses are worth more signed. You learn something new every day.
- Don’t go through that door
- Stanley loves pins
- “He’s a bit return-to-sender, if you know what I mean.”
- “This wasn’t a post office, it was a lunatic asylum.”
- “Opportunity knocks.”
- Scavenger hunt for the missing letters
- Is that a vampire reporter?
- Claire Foy with a riding crop… oh my
- “Sometimes a slow delivery beats the express.”
- “It was the most wonderful kiss I never had.”
- When there’s a fire, make sure you go down the checklist before evacuating
- Angry dancing
- Who would have thought that this is even a bit of a hacker movie? ‘Cause it totally is.
- “This is no time for witty banter, we’re not on a date!”
- That’s the most cheerful executioner
Mutant Reviewers 
I hadn’t heard of this, or read any Discworld books; now I want to check it out. Bravo!
It’s also, somewhat confusingly, got me wanting to catch up on Red Dwarf. Bravo?
you must at least watch the sky version if anything it did so it justice. I love moist von lipwig and the other two books on his arc making money and raising steam are great books. Terry Pratchett isn’t the easiest to read but once you get the hang of his sarcasm and style it’s a joy. I also watched night watch TV series that’s loosely based on the book too and another sky TV from book is hogfather. The first Terry Pratchett book the colour of magic was also made into a sky film with David Jason.
I’ve watched (+ quite enjoyed) Hogfather.
“…where the falling angel meets the rising ape…” 🥲
Sky also did Hogfather which is great, and The Colour of Magic, which is slightly less good.
The best adaption is the fan made and funded, decade in the making, Troll Bridge, based on a Cohen the Barbarian short story, and is available in full from the producers on YouTube.
More recently The Amazing Maurice has had an animated adaption, with lots of big names doing the voices.
The Watch also exists. Avoid this at all costs.
I’ll look for Troll Bridge. Thanks.
I loved all three adaptions…
Having read all his books after falling in love with them in my back packing days (a TP book can get you throu any number of airport delays).
I hope they do more of them three just isn’t enough…
Ps.. Very happy Terry was able to play the part of a wizard before he died… Looked like he was really enjoying himself
I would love it if they were to start cové I’ll Ng the story of Sam Vimes and the city watch.
who would play Nobby Nobby and ,Fred Colon starting with Guards Guards and all the way through to Raising Steam where once again we meet Moist and his better half
I’m different to most Discworld fans – I’m not so keen on The Hogfather and I really love Colour of Magic/The Light Fantastic, books & mini-series
But they all have perfect casting and perfect performances – Colour of Magic is peak Tim Curry
There was also a couple of late 90’s kid cartoon adaptations from Cosgrove Hall – Soul Music worked better than Wyrd Sisters, but they really had something lacking
But it was really strange having the TV on in another room and hear a quote that I knew from somewhere and then realisation dawning that it was Discworld, before running into the loungeroom
They were okay, but they just don’t have what the mini-series have – I’d prefer to watch the Hogfather mini-series than the Soul Music cartoon series, even though Soul Music is one of my favourite books of all time and The Hogfather is one of my least favourite Discworld books
I’ll tell you what the CH cartoons have that the others don’t. Christopher Lee voicing Death.
I aam super happy someone covered this gem. I’ve been a fan of Sir Terry for decades, and while i do love a bit of bbc jank (as you alluded to), previous book adaptations have been a bit hit or miss (not to say i didnt enjoy hogfather and colour of magic. Still havent seen the newer animated amazing maurice or the abomination of the guards tv series)… I ran into this randomly on prime in the last couple years, and it bowled me over. Production values through the roof for the bbc, and at the high end of most anywhere. Scriptwriters clearly love discworld and understand Terry and his humor, and tried to keep as much of the book in as possible. Im betting the actors also were fans or at least had a passing knowledge with discworld. If the crew from this movie could have gotten their hands on thr Guards series (my personal favorite subgenre of discworld), i bet it would have been amazing.
For anyone who enjoyed this and wants more, while i always recommend starting at the beginning of discworld (really, start with strata, because it shows you where terry got discworld going from), Making Money and Raising Steam star Moist. The Truth introduces you to the (often somewhat similar to going postal) characters in the newspaper that show up (otto the vampire photographer for one). Feet of clay introduces Adora and the golem trust. The entire set of guards books (Guards, Guards, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo, Fifth Elephant, Nightwatch, Thud, Snuff) tend to heavily feature Vetinari.
I have never regretted sitting down to read any discworld novel, ever. Even the weaker ones are still fantastic works of imagination, social commentary, joy, and love. Terry Pratchett was an amazing man, who suffered a far too cruel fate. If there is a God, he should be ashamed of how he treated that one.
does
I am a big fan of his books, I have only seen part one of Going Postal, how can I find part two?