Headline acquires two tie-in books for Gaiman's Good Omens TV series

Headline has acquired two books to tie-in with a new TV series based on Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens.

The deal between Headline and BBC Studios Productions was negotiated by Neil Gaiman’s agent Merrilee Heifetz at Writers House. Gaiman wrote the programme and is its showrunner. Produced by BBC Studios Productions in association with Narrativia and the Blank Corporation, it will air on Amazon Prime Video on 31st May 2019 and appear later on the BBC.

Headline will publish Gaiman’s screenplay, The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book, which will feature a foreword and commentary by him, including deleted scenes. Headline is planning a major, multi-platform campaign to support its release.

It will also publish the fully illustrated making-of book, The Nice and Accurate Good Omens TV Companion, which provides behind-the-scenes insight into the making of the show, in-depth interviews, photographs, costume boards and set designs. Writer Matt Whyman had extensive access to the TV set and the people who worked on the show. Both books will be published on 31st May.

Mari Evans, Headline managing director, said: “It is our absolute privilege to be a part of the extraordinary production that Neil and the Good Omens cast and crew have made a reality. Neil’s reinvention of the novel he wrote with Terry Pratchett is nothing short of magical and is sure to delight old fans and bring in hordes of new ones. Readers and viewers are going to be amazed by the scope of the production and by the insight into it these two books are going to give them.”

The six-part programme is based on Pratchett and Gaiman’s hit 1990 novel Good Omens (Corgi). It will be directed by Douglas Mackinnon, whose credits include "Doctor Who", "Sherlock" and "Line of Duty", with a cast including David Tennant, Michael Sheen, Jon Hamm, Miranda Richardson, Derek Jacobi, Nick Offerman, Adria Arjona, and Frances McDormand as the voice of God.

Gaiman said: “Making Good Omens, Terry Pratchett’s and my novel, into a television series was an extraordinary undertaking – one that requires hundreds of actors and crew and assorted people of amazing talents. I’m thrilled that Headline will be helping bring people behind the scenes, to see how the magic was made. They’ll read a story that’s familiar and also new, and learn how we did it.”

Rob Wilkins, of the Pratchett estate and Narrativia’s executive producer, added: “Terry Pratchett always made it clear that whoever adapted Good Omens for the screen would have to be filled with the same passion for their novel as he and Neil Gaiman.  Over the years it became abundantly clear that the only person who could possibly share his passion was, in fact, Neil and here you will find the story of how he undertook the huge responsibility of levering their words from the page.”