The Watch
Category
TV DramaAbout This Project
Overview
The Watch – 8 x 1-hour series for BBC Studios / BBC America
Transmission Date: 3rd January 2021
Lola delivered over 650 shots as the VFX main vendor The Watch inspired by Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novel.
The Watch is an 8 episode fantasy police procedural drama set in the fictional city of Ankh-Morpork, where crime has been legalised and features a world full of colourful characters, landscapes and creatures.
The show follows the cops of the City Watch as they rise from decades of helplessness to save their corrupt city from catastrophe.
BBC Studios said that the show “gleefully rips up the genre rulebook, [and] follows several of Terry Pratchett’s best-loved creations on a riotous and emotional odyssey”.
Lola’s VFX Supervisor Richard Reed (Black Mirror, Britannia 3) was on-set with Production in Cape Town and London and has overseen the team working remotely during the pandemic lock down, working closely with Production VFX Producer Angie Wills and Lola’s VFX Producer Rebecca Kelly and Junior Producer Rebecca Eglinton.
Lola’s CG team led by Ross Wilkinson built the CG City of Ankh Morpork and detailed builds of the city’s landmark buildings, including the Patrician’s Palace, Unseen University, Sybil’s Mansion and the University Library. These were used across over 100 city and environment extensions. In addition, the team created CG landscapes, weather and lightning bolts and many other weird and wonderful magical effects.
The cast includes Game of Thrones’ Richard Dormer as Captain Sam Vimes, Adam Hugill (1917, World on Fire) as Constable Carrot, Jo Eaton-Kent (Don’t Forget The Driver), as Constable Cheery, Marama Corlett (Blood Drive, Sick Note) as Corporal Angua, Lara Rossi (Crossing Lines, Cheat) as Lady Sybil Ramkin and Sam Adewunmi (The Last Tree, Stan Lee’s Lucky Man) as Carcer Dun.
The series is Executive Produced for BBC Studios by Richard Stokes ( Silk , Broadchurch, Silent Witness) and Produced by Johann Knobel (Shadow Line , Noughts & Crosses ).
Directors are Craig Viveiros (And Then There Were None, The War of The Worlds), Brian Kelly (Outlander, Poldark) and Emma Sullivan (Silent Witness, Doctor Who). Showrunner and the show’s lead writer is Simon Allen (The Musketeers, Das Boot).
Joining Allen is a team of writers including, Joy Wilkinson (Nick Nickleby, Doctor Who), Catherine Tregenna (Torchwood, Stan Lee’s Lucky Man), Amrou Al-Kadhi (Hollyoaks, Little America) and Ed Hime (Skins, Doctor Who).
The Watch was commissioned for BBC AMERICA
Comixify VFX Platform & Style Transfer used in “The Watch” produced by BBC America –