Now that Hogfather is almost finished, what are your thoughts on the production (beyond, presumably, exhaustion with it)?
“I’m exhausted but not with the film, which when the dust settles I hope and believe will turn out to be the best work I’ve ever done. So much of what’s on the screen is exactly as I saw it in my imagination when I read the book, I’ve even surprised myself, as that is what I set out to do.

“Above all I think I may have captured the balance of wit, satire, drama and maybe even some magic that is the reason I love Terry’s work so much.”

Have you a favourite anecdote from the production?
"It has to be the moment when, trying to work out how to deliver Terry’s fantastical vision from the book of the Tooth Fairy’s Castle, in the realms of the possible, Ricky Eyres our production designer said, ‘I’m not sure if half a million teeth’s going to be enough...’

“In the end we injection moulded a million, in Essex.”

How has it been dealing with Discworld fans? (Fans can be a hyper-critical lot...)
“I’m a fan of the Discworld books. I don’t go in for wearing the costumes (though there is a vicious rumour going about that I once dressed up as the Oh God of Hangovers). It’s hard enough to get me to wear a tie, never mind a wizard’s hat but I do go onto IMDB to answer questions when I can.

“A short trailer we made for the Discworld convention got only the second-ever standing ovation (TP’s first appearance was obviously the first) so I think we’re heading in the right direction from the fan’s point of view.

“Above all I want the films to be faithful to the book and to Discworld. I’m immensely proud of an email from Stephen Briggs (author of the Discworld Companion) congratulating us on being the people who finally got it right.

“There are some mistakes (I’m still kicking myself about the Dean’s jacket) but in the end I hope the fans know that I love the books and want them to enjoy the films in spite of anything I’ve got wrong – and that I think Harry Potter is just a series of hackneyed, middle class, public school stories with a load of unimaginative, derivative magical stuff bolted on/borrowed from other sources... which definitely counts me as a Pratchett fan.

“All I’m saying is, is Hogwarts a typo?

“But it was very nice of the Potter film people to fly a special helicopter camera mount to Scotland and unfortunately not be able to use it (so we could!).”

What do you want for Hogswatch?
“1. Terry Pratchett to be so happy with what I’ve done on Hogfather that one day I’ll get to make a Discworld feature film.

“2. All my heads of dept (Gavin Finney, DOP; Ricky Eyres, designer; Jane Spicer, costume; Ros Peat, make up; Joe McNally, editor; David Hughes, composer; Chris McClean, sound, MPC, VFX) to get BAFTA nominations and ideally to win. The quality of their work on Hogfather is absolutely astounding and exceptional.

“3. A pair of trousers I don’t have to share, a meat pie, a puppy called Scruff and failing that... a little wooden toy and an apple. (You’ll have to watch the film for this one.)”

Writer: Jonathan Wright