The Stage

Jason agrees to second Pratchett TV adaptation

Published Monday 23 April 2007 at 10:55 by Matthew Hemley

David Jason has signed up to play a failed wizard in an adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s The Colour of Magic on Sky One.

The move follows his success in Pratchett’s Hogfather, which aired on Sky One earlier this year and saw Jason play Death’s servant Albert.

In The Colour of Magic, he will play the lead character Rincewind.

Speaking to The Stage at the Bafta Craft Awards, Jason said: “We will start to shoot it in the summer and I think it will come out sometime next year.

“It will have a lot of visual effects and I am looking forward to playing the lead character. Sky One was delighted with Hogfather, but I think The Colour of Magic is actually a better story.”

Jason did not say who else was lined up to feature in the adaptation, but hinted that a big American actor could be selected to play alongside him in an attempt to increase its appeal internationally.

He said he would like to see all of Pratchett’s books in the Discworld series adapted, but added: “We will have to wait and see - at the end of the day we have got to be able to put bums on settees.”