It is the official position of the Sci Fi Freak Site that Sir Terry Pratchett is a national treasure who ought to be preserved in carbonite at the earliest opportunity, something that he himself may have reservations about. The two previous attempts to dramatise his writings (HOGFATHER and THE COLOUR OF MAGIC) have both looked the part, but failed to capture the magic and humour of the great man's writing, mainly because it isn't necessarily in the plots or the characters, but more in wordplay and descriptions that are the first things that go in transferring something to the screen. The first half of GOING POSTAL seems to be following the same lines, although the book it is based on is more story driven than many of the others.

Richard Coyle (STRANGE) is an excellent choice for con artist von lipwig, proving to be charming enough to pull off the cons, but desperate enough to be at the mercy of Lord Vetinari. He is also not so handsome as to distract from the character. Charles Dance essays the sinister Lord Vetinari and whilst he could do this sort of thing in his sleep he is certainly a huge improvement of the inexplicable, silly-voiced Jeremy Irons in THE COLOUR OF MAGIC) and David Suchet makes for a delicious pantomime villain and ought to get lots more villainous parts on the back of this. Claire Foy only manages to the look the part as the love interest, but that is mainly because she isn't given very much to do.

The wonderful production design brings the world of Ankh-Morpork to life, but since much of the script is based inside the Post Office or the Patrician's office or any number of other small offices, the story doesn't seem to have the scope of the previous efforts. It also seems to be lacking in the magical elements since the spirit in the post office remains utterly hidden. The banshee that attacks Von Lipwig and provides the fiery climax just doesn't work very well. Neither does the golem suit that provides one of the major characters. Whilst the suit itself isn't a disaster, the head fails to provide the range of movement required. Certainly, a golem is made of clay and so you shouldn't expect to get a fully emotive face, but the mouth should at least move in time with the words, if it is going to move at all, that is. By contrast, the clacks system of communications towers is wonderfully created.

The resulting show once again looks the part, but doesn't really capture the magic of the story and ends up being nothing more than an acceptable fantasy.

Part Two first transmitted May 31st 2010