What can I say? I became nervous about this show once the pre-release reviews started coming out, but thought as as fan of the Discworld novels since the very beginning, I really had to give it a chance.
BAD MISTAKE.
The show is Discworld adjacent at best, it utilizes some Pratchett characters from The Watch set of novels, ignores some of the most important and plays around with the sex and sexual orientation of some of those characters. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't care less if a book character is portrayed with a different sex, but why do it just for the sake of things? It hasn't made the material any funnier, it hasn't improved the story line, which doesn't hold to any Discworld novel material, and it just wasn't necessary.
They've taken what is arguably the most evil wicked character in Discworld (Carcer) and turned him into some sort of bad guy from CSI NY. They also selected someone of African heritage, so is that racist that they make the bad guy black whilst Sam Vines is Caucasian, or is it a kick in the teeth of white supremacists by giving a lead role to a non-Caucasian? Who knows, and it doesn't matter, because it doesn't make the show any better or worse.
If they had used someone like Idris Elba as Sam Vimes, that would have been great. He's a fantastic actor and would be great in the role, just not in this show because the STORY is what let everything down here, not the actors. All of the actors are fine, there's no-one I could point at and say "they can't act", but if I ever see the person who decided to write a NEW story using some of Pratchett's best characters and turn them into such a damp squib, I will happily point at that person and shout "what a bloody idiot".
I can only hope that this is the one and only season of the show, and I can forget it quickly.