60 Fun Facts About Good Omens

While co-writing Good Omens, Neil Gaiman also had to keep which monthly comic going?

The Sandman kept Gaiman on deadline, which is one reason Pratchett did most of the physical writing and looked after the master copy.

At which London hotel do Aziraphale and Crowley dine once the world is saved?

The Ritz: as they dine, a nightingale sings in Berkeley Square for the first time ever, a nod to the old song in which angels dine at the Ritz.

'The Nice and ___ Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch' — which word completes the title?

Her prophecies are indeed perfectly accurate, but so cryptic and specific that they are almost useless to anyone but the person they were meant for.

Per Gaiman, Good Omens began as a parody of Richmal Crompton's stories under what working title?

The working title was William the Antichrist. It outgrew the parody, but Adam and his gang remain recognisably William Brown and the Outlaws in a village at the end of the world.

How did Gaiman and Pratchett physically exchange drafts while writing Good Omens in 1988?

Posting floppy disks: Gaiman noted that in 1988 they 'really were pretty darn floppy', and the pair also talked the plot through by phone every day.

Which part of Good Omens did Pratchett say was 'completely and utterly' his alone?

Agnes Nutter's life and death was, in the authors' own account, 'completely and utterly' Terry's; Neil, meanwhile, 'proudly claims responsibility for the maggots'.

How do Aziraphale and Crowley survive their executions by Heaven and Hell in series 1?

They swap bodies: hellfire cannot hurt a demon and holy water cannot hurt an angel, a trick they take from Agnes Nutter's final prophecy.

In which Oxfordshire village does the Antichrist grow up?

Adam grows up in Lower Tadfield. His reality-warping powers give the village perfect weather all year and, when the end nears, rather more than that.

What is the collective name for Adam's gang of friends?

They are the Them: Pepper, Wensleydale and Brian follow Adam everywhere, and their horror at what he is becoming is what pulls him back at the end.

What is Pepper's full given name?

Pippin Galadriel Moonchild: two of the names come from The Lord of the Rings, and Pratchett called it observation, not parody, having signed books for real Galadriels.

Which lost continent does Adam accidentally raise after reading about it in a conspiracy magazine?

Atlantis rises after Adam reads about it in the New Aquarian Digest. He also summons UFOs and has the Amazon rainforest reclaim land, all without realising he is doing it.

Before the events of Good Omens, what was Aziraphale's original job?

Guardian of the Eastern Gate of Eden: he gave his flaming sword to Adam and Eve as they left, out of concern for them, which is how a weapon of Heaven got loose in the world.

Good Omens says Crowley did not so much Fall as what?

Sauntered vaguely downwards: Crowley was the serpent who tempted Eve, yet after 6,000 years he likes Earth too much to want it ended.

In which London park do Aziraphale and Crowley meet to feed the ducks?

St James's Park: here the two talk over the coming Armageddon, and later, after a long drinking session, Crowley persuades Aziraphale to help him prevent it.

Which modern menace replaced Pestilence among the Four Horsemen of Good Omens?

Pollution took over after Pestilence retired in 1936, muttering about penicillin; the newcomer's silver crown turns black at a touch.

Which Horseman wields the flaming sword that God originally gave to Aziraphale?

War carries it. She poses as a war correspondent named Carmine Zuigiber, and when the Them disarm her Aziraphale recognises the blade as the one he gave away in Eden.

What is Famine's cover identity in the modern world?

As Dr Raven Sable, Famine is a diet-book dietician and fast-food tycoon who sells food with no nourishment in it at all; his item of power is a pair of scales.

Which Duke of Hell is destroyed by a bucket of holy water rigged above Crowley's door?

Ligur dies in the holy water. His partner Hastur escapes, ends up trapped in Crowley's answering machine and later bursts out in a wave of maggots.

What is the forename of Newton Pulsifer's witchfinder ancestor, who burned Agnes Nutter at the stake?

Thou-Shalt-Not-Commit-Adultery Pulsifer lit the fire. Agnes had packed her petticoats with gunpowder and roofing nails, so the burning did not go the way he planned.

Which Witchfinder Sergeant recruits Newt as the Army's only other member?

Sergeant Shadwell recruits Newt. He ends the story going off to share a home with his medium neighbour Madame Tracy, which winds up the Witchfinder Army for good.

The satanic nuns who botch the baby swap belong to the Chattering Order of which saint?

They are the Chattering Order of St Beryl. Sister Mary Loquacious does the fumbling; in the TV series she later runs a corporate training centre on the same site.

In the Good Omens TV series, what does Anathema do with Agnes's second book of prophecies?

She burns it unread, after Newt asks whether she wants to be a descendant all her life.

Agnes Nutter and Anathema Device take their surnames from victims of which real English witch trials?

Pendle, Lancashire, 1612: Alice Nutter and Elizabeth Device were among those hanged, convicted with help from the evidence of Device's nine-year-old daughter Jennet.

What title was planned for the Good Omens sequel plotted in Seattle in 1989?

It was 668 – The Neighbour of the Beast. The jet-lagged pair plotted it while sharing a Seattle hotel room; an archangel barely mentioned in the book was to be a much bigger character.

Which London road did Crowley help design in the shape of a demonic sigil?

The M25: the novel calls the orbital motorway prime evidence for the hidden hand of Satan, and when the end comes it turns into a ring of fire around London.

Which director spent years trying to make a Good Omens film with a completed script?

Terry Gilliam spent years on it with a finished script. Most of the money was in place by 2002, but the funding to start shooting never came and he moved on.

Rumoured casting for the abandoned film paired Johnny Depp as Crowley with which actor as Aziraphale?

Robin Williams and Depp were reported in talks for the two leads in February 2002, but the money to shoot never arrived and the casting stayed a rumour.

In the 2014 BBC Radio 4 adaptation, the two authors cameoed as what?

A pair of traffic cops, who get more than they bargain for when they try to stop Crowley's speeding car; the cast list credits each simply as Policeman.

Which actress plays both the medium Madame Tracy and, in series 2, the demon Shax?

Miranda Richardson plays both: Madame Tracy lends her body to a bodiless Aziraphale at a seance, and Shax later leads Hell's assault on his bookshop.

Which two actors were cast in August 2017 as Aziraphale and Crowley?

Michael Sheen and David Tennant were announced in August 2017. They reprised the roles in voice-only form for a three-minute lockdown short released on YouTube in May 2020.

In series 1, Crowley poses as what in the Dowling household to steer young Warlock towards evil?

A nanny: as Nanny Ashtoreth, Crowley teaches Warlock to be wicked while Aziraphale, the gardener, teaches kindness, hoping the two cancel out. They had the wrong boy.

Jon Hamm plays which archangel, the business-minded boss of Heaven in Good Omens?

Gabriel. The novel barely mentions him and lets the Metatron speak for Heaven; his screen role grew out of the sequel the authors plotted but never wrote.

Which actress narrates Good Omens series 1 as the voice of God?

Frances McDormand narrates as God, a choice that a petition against the show singled out, objecting that God was voiced by a woman.

Who voices the CGI Satan in Good Omens series 1?

Benedict Cumberbatch voices him. Gaiman steered the giant Satan away from hellfire spectacle, playing the scene as a rebellious son rejecting his absentee father.

Which veteran actor plays the Metatron, the spokesperson for God, in Good Omens?

Derek Jacobi plays the Metatron. In series 2 he turns up in person with an oat-milk latte and a job offer that parts Aziraphale from Crowley.

Which actor provides the voice of Death in Good Omens series 1?

Brian Cox voices Death while Jamie Hill performs the body. He is the one Horseman the children cannot destroy: he concedes the day and simply takes his leave.

Which comedian plays Newton Pulsifer, the struggling computer engineer turned witchfinder?

Jack Whitehall plays Newt, and doubles as his 17th-century witchfinder ancestor in the scene where Agnes Nutter is burned.

What is the job of Nick Offerman's character, father of the boy mistaken for the Antichrist?

Thaddeus Dowling is the US Ambassador to the UK. The swap was meant to give Hell's child a diplomat's upbringing; the nuns handed the baby to the wrong family instead.

Reece Shearsmith plays which historical figure in Good Omens series 1?

William Shakespeare, seen at the Globe. Shearsmith came back in series 2 as the demon Furfur, who raises three dead Nazi spies as zombies to gather dirt on Crowley.

During which historical event do Aziraphale and Crowley encounter the Nazi agents Harmony and Glozier?

It is the London Blitz: in 1941 Crowley arranges for a bomb to land on the church where the agents hold Aziraphale, and they come back as zombies in series 2.

What make of car does Crowley drive?

Bentley: Crowley says he has had the car from new, and when it catches fire on his dash to stop Armageddon he keeps it going by sheer force of imagination.

How does Crowley keep his houseplants the lushest in London?

He terrifies them: any plant showing a leaf spot is carried off as a warning to the rest, which are the most luxuriant, and most frightened, in London.

Every cassette left in Crowley's car eventually turns into an album by which band?

Queen: any tape left in the car for about a fortnight turns into a Best of Queen album, so Crowley can never hear anything else; the series plays the band's hits to match.

Which composer wrote the Good Omens score and its devilish waltz of a title theme?

David Arnold, the Bond composer, wrote it; he re-arranged the main theme for the end credits of every episode to reflect what had just happened.

Crowley's all-black costumes always carry a hint of which colour, representing his serpent's belly?

Red, on his shoe soles, glove piping and under his collars. The dark glasses have a reason too: they hide the snake eyes he has kept since Eden.

What colour contact lenses did Jon Hamm wear to match his 'pearl gray' suits?

Lilac contact lenses gave the archangel his unearthly violet eyes, set off by pearl-grey suits chosen by costume designer Claire Anderson so he would simply look perfect.

Which chocolate-box English village near Henley-on-Thames played Adam Young's home on screen?

Hambleden played it. Adam's unwitting powers keep his home idyllic, with ideal weather in every season, so the crew wanted the most perfect English village they could find.

Where was the full-size Soho street set, with Aziraphale's bookshop, built for series 1?

Bovingdon Airbase, Hertfordshire, hosted the whole street, and the bookshop on it was burned down for the cameras; series 2 had to rebuild the set in Scotland.

What breed of dog was the model for the hellhound before it turns into a small dog?

A Great Dane played the hellhound against a blue screen; artists then replaced its head and neck digitally, with bigger teeth, to make the monster.

Which old-fashioned technique provided the scenery behind Crowley's driving scenes?

Rear projection: footage shot from a moving vehicle was projected onto screens around the set, so reflections on the glass and the driver's face were real.

How does Neil Gaiman cameo in Good Omens series 1?

As a sleeping man in a cinema. Terry Pratchett is there in spirit as well: his trademark hat and scarf hang in Aziraphale's bookshop, never singled out by the camera.

What persuaded Gaiman to write the TV adaptation without his co-author?

A letter from Pratchett asking him to do it: Gaiman had always refused to adapt their book alone, and he announced his change of heart at his friend's memorial.

Which Buddy Holly song keeps turning up on a pub jukebox in Good Omens series 2?

Everyday is the song a lovestruck archangel fixed on the jukebox of the Edinburgh pub where he kept meeting Beelzebub, so it follows him even after his memory is wiped.

In series 2, what is Nina's café opposite the bookshop called?

Nina runs Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death. Maggie, Aziraphale's tenant, runs a record shop on the same street, and the angel and demon set about matchmaking the pair.

Which former Doctor Who lead, father-in-law of the actor playing Crowley, plays Job in series 2?

Peter Davison plays Job, and his real-life grandson Ty plays Job's son Ennon in the same story.

After Gaiman left Good Omens in 2024, the third and final series was cut down to what?

A single 90-minute episode: the planned series was dropped after sexual assault allegations against Gaiman, and the finale was shot without him in five weeks in early 2025.

A petition to cancel Good Omens was famously addressed to which wrong company?

It named Netflix, which had nothing to do with the show; the organisers later blamed a staff oversight and corrected the petition.

Which artist signed on to draw the Good Omens graphic novel, a £2.4M 2023 Kickstarter?

Colleen Doran, a frequent Gaiman collaborator, signed on to adapt and draw it; the Pratchett estate ran the campaign and published the book through its own imprint.

In series 1, Adam's dreams make a nuclear reactor's core vanish, leaving what in its place?

A sherbet lemon is all the engineers find: the first sign that a sleeping Adam, fresh from a stack of occult magazines, is remaking the world without knowing it.

Who directed every episode of Good Omens' first two series?

Douglas Mackinnon directed all twelve episodes of the first two series and served as co-showrunner, then left before the finale, which Rachel Talalay directed.