Comedian and quizmaster Richard McKenzie returns to vie with Liz and Ben for control of the most odorous city on the Disc, as they discuss Martin Wallace’s 2011 board game Discworld: Ankh-Morpork. The Patrician has gone missing! This leaves a huge power vacuum in Ankh-Morpork, and several of the most powerful figures in the city immediately start jostling for control. Lords, criminals and vampires position their minions in every district, each on their own path to power - and getting in each oth...
Jul 07, 2025•1 hr 40 min•Season 1Ep. 87
Liz and Ben are joined by Pratchett academic and cosplayer Freyja Stokes as they head out to the Discworld countryside for a bit of peace, quiet and definitely no murders, in Terry Pratchett’s final City Watch book, 2011’s Snuff. Sam Vimes is facing his ultimate ordeal: a holiday. But no sooner has he made a mess of meeting the staff at Crundles, the Ramkin country estate, than he smells something rotten in the Shires. When the local blacksmith offers to meet him at midnight, he and his trusty v...
Jun 08, 2025•2 hr 58 min•Season 1Ep. 86
A very brief little episode to say that we won’t have any episodes in May. We didn’t want to leave you without anything at all! As Ben suggests, why not listen to The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret’s special 25th of May episode, “Gender on the Discworld”, released today? You can find it in all major podcast directories, at thetruthshallmakeyefret.com, and there’s even a video version on YouTube. Or you could listen to #Pratchat54, “The Land Before Vimes”, our 2022 episode about Night Watch. We’ll be b...
May 25, 2025•3 min
Liz and Ben delve deep into the archives and come back with some highlights from the collected Discworld Diaries from Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs' The Ankh-Morpork Archives Volumes I (2019) and II (2020), plus Terry's 2004 collaboration with Bernard Pearson, The Discworld Alamak. Between 1998 and 2003, Discworld fans got an extra little treat: an in-universe diary themed around one of the Guilds or other major institutions of the Disc, full of new Discworld history and gags penned by Prat...
Apr 07, 2025•1 hr 52 min•Season 1Ep. 84
To mark ten years since Terry Pratchett's death, Liz, Ben and guest Myfanwy Coghill discuss his 2010 Richard Dimbleby lecture, “Shaking Hands with Death”. Please note that this episode includes discussions of death, terminal illness, assisted dying and suicide. Pratchett was the first novelist to give the Richard Dimbleby Lecture, an annual talk broadcast on the BBC in memory of Dimbleby, a BBC broadcaster who died in 1965. His subject was a turning point in his activism: from raising awareness ...
Mar 07, 2025•1 hr 54 min•Season 1Ep. 85
Our recording of #Pratchat83 was delayed at the last minute, so our discussion of The Ankh-Morpork Archives and The Discworld Almanak will have to wait until later in the month - hopefully around the 25th February. But subscriber Molokov suggested it might be fun to discuss some of the other, less book-like Discworld merchandise available, so in this shorter bonus episode, Ben does just that! We’d love to hear about your favourite merch, official or fan-made! Drop us a line and/or a photograph u...
Feb 07, 2025•25 min
Liz and Ben are joined by guest Dr Tansy Rayner Roberts PhD (Classics) to chat about fashion, faith, food...oh, and football. Yes, join us for an episode that goes well into extra time (i.e. it’s over 3 hours long) as we discuss Terry Pratchett's 37th Discworld novel, Unseen Academicals. The Wizards of Unseen University are still recovering from the Dean’s defection to become Archchancellor of rival Brazeneck College, but they have a bigger problem: if they don’t field a foot-the-ball team, they...
Jan 07, 2025•3 hr 17 min•Season 1Ep. 83
Puzzlers and previous guests Nicholas J Johnson and Lawrence Leung return to play and discuss Leonard Boyd and David Brashaw's 2015 board game Clacks, based on Terry Pratchett's 33rd Discworld novel, Going Postal. Postmaster General Moist von Lipwig has come up with a plan to prove the Ankh-Morpork postal service is still relevant - a race against the Grand Trunk Semaphore Company! The Grand Trunk has a monopoly on the “Clacks”, a system of optical telegraph towers which transmit messages using ...
Dec 07, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Season 1Ep. 82
Author and poet* Dr Laura Jean McKay joins Liz and Ben for two of Terry Pratchett’s short stories about intelligent animals: “Hollywood Chickens” (1990) and “From the Horse’s Mouth” (1972). In 1973 Hollywood, a truck full of chickens overturned on a busy highway, depositing a population of chickens on the verge. A decade and a half later, scientists try to piece together the story of how they developed and evolved in pursuit of a very specific goal... In the town of Blackbury, rag and bone man R...
Nov 07, 2024•1 hr 57 min•Season 1Ep. 81
Inequality reporter Stephanie Convery returns on a trip with Liz and Ben into the world of banking, high finance and monetary theory in Terry Pratchett's thirty-sixth Discworld novel, 2007’s Making Money. The Ankh-Morpork Post Office is running very smoothly - which has left Moist von Lipwig, reformed con-man and Postmaster General, at a loose end. But he resists the Patrician's offer of a new job revitalising the Royal Mint and Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork. The bank’s current owner is a Mark 1 Fe...
Oct 07, 2024•2 hr 39 min•Season 1Ep. 80
Scheduling issues pushed back our recording of #Pratchat80, so unfortunately we aren’t going to be able to bring you that discussion of Making Money until October. But it has been a very long time since we talked about Going Postal, so Ben thought you might like a recap to tide you over - plus a discussion of some of his favourite Discworld book covers, prompted by subscriber Ian! We’d love to hear about your favourite covers, from any of the various editions of Pratchett’s works! Let us know ab...
Sep 07, 2024•15 min
Recorded live at the Australian Discworld Convention in Tarntanyangga (Adelaide), Karen J Carlisle and Tansy Rayner Roberts join us on stage to discuss short fiction, Death and the (sort of) last of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld short stories, 2004’s “Death and What Comes Next”. Somewhere in time and space, a philosopher lies on his deathbed...and Death has come to collect. Only the philosopher isn’t convinced he’s real, or that any of this is even happening. Will “quantum” and cats in boxes be en...
Aug 07, 2024•1 hr 28 min•Season 1Ep. 79
It’s the final leg of the Long Journey as Joel Martin and Deanne Sheldon-Collins answer our Invitation! Both previous Long Earth guests return to discuss the fifth and final of Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter's collaborations, the 2016 novel The Long Cosmos. It’s 2070, and a message has been received across the Long Earth: “JOIN US.” Joshua Valienté hears it and gets one of his headaches, but he’s still mourning the death of his ex-wife Helen, so he rejects the call to adventure. He goes off ...
Jul 07, 2024•2 hr 47 min•Season 1Ep. 78
Our July episode about The Long Cosmos, fifth and final of the Long Earth series, is arriving on time! But we still thought you might appreciate a recap and reminder of what happened in the previous four novels. Was this helpful? Were you annoyed by the slight inaccuracies made for brevity? Do you double-dare us to do this for the Discworld series as whole? (Please don’t...) Let us know what you think, using the hashtag #PratchatPreviously2 on social media, or get in touch via email or our subsc...
Jul 07, 2024•13 min
Writer, filmmaker and creative director Lucas Testro joins Liz and Ben on a trip down under to the Other Place as we discuss Terry Pratchett's first ever published short story, 1963’s “The Hades Business”. Shady advertising man Crucible arrives home to find none other than old Nicholas Lucifer waiting for him in his study. But he hasn’t come to take him to eternal damnation. Instead, the Devil has a business proposition for Crucible: he want to make the public conscious, Hell-wise... At age thir...
Jun 07, 2024•Season 1Ep. 77
It’s the 25th of May, which can only mean one thing: Geek Pride Day! Or Towel Day. Or the Glorious 25th of May and the Battle of Treacle Mine Road...okay, that's three things. Why not add one more? This is the Pratchat Eeek Club: a bonus episode discussing Terry Pratchett-related topics selected by our "Eeek" tier subscribers. This year, the topics are: So it's been a few years of the Podcast. How are you guys holding up? How could one Discworld character use their skills and influence to change...
May 24, 2024
The scheduling goblins got us this month, and we’ve had to delay our planned short story episode. But while we get that sorted out, Ben’s embracing the chaos - and the theme of Terry Pratchett Day 2024, “Start in the Wrong Place”! Join him as he shares some of your stories of unusual places to start reading Pratchett. If you’d like to honour Terry, you can find a list of his preferred charities (and a recipe for banana daiquiris) at the Terry Pratchett Day page at terrypratchettbooks.com. If you...
May 07, 2024•1 hr 1 min
Kiwi writer and poet Freya Daly Sadgrove joins Liz and Ben from Sydney as we adjust our uniforms and march into the horrible realities of war (class, gender and literal) to discuss Terry Pratchett's thirty-first Discworld novel, 2003’s Monstrous Regiment. Polly Perks has cut off her hair, put on some trousers and joined the army under the name of Oliver, all so she can find her strong but gentle-minded brother, Paul. Is soon turns out that her regiment, led by the infamous Sergeant Jackrum who s...
Apr 08, 2024•2 hr 47 min•Season 1Ep. 76
Our Monstrous Regiment episode still isn’t quite ready, so we’ve had to push it to April. In the meantime, Ben gets nerdy about some recent Discworld and Pratchett news about books and roleplaying games. A few brief notes: “50 Years of Terry Pratchett” was actually announced in November 2021, marking fifty years since the publication of The Carpet People in 1971. (In Ben’s defence, those early pandemic years all blur into one.) It kicked off with a new print and audiobook edition of that book; t...
Mar 24, 2024•26 min
Our Monstrous Regiment episode won’t be ready until later in the month, but we didn’t want to let International Women’s Day pass without some kind of comment. So here’s a mini episode in your feed recommending some other Pratchett and Discworld podcasts hosted by women and non-binary folks. Here’s a list of the Discworld podcasts Ben mentioned: The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret, hosted by Francine Carrel and Joanna Hagan. They covered Monstrous Regiment over three episodes in April 2023: “[REDACTED]”...
Mar 07, 2024•6 min
In this very three-quarters-of-a-century episode, Liz, Ben and guest Dr Melissa Rogerson get out the eight-sided dice and roll for initative - or at least cunning - as we play the 2011 board game, Guards! Guards!, designed by Leonard Boyd and David Brashaw, and based on the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. The eight great spells have escaped from Unseen University's library, ready to unleash chaos on Ankh-Morpork! Thankfully Commander Vimes has taken charge. He's assigned members of the Watc...
Feb 07, 2024•1 hr 37 min•Season 1Ep. 75
In this very special Hogswatch-adjacent episode of Pratchat, Liz and Ben don’t discuss a Terry Pratchett book! Instead, they interview Rhianna Pratchett and Gabrielle Kent, authors of Tiffany Aching’s Guide to Being a Witch. Tiffany Aching’s Guide to Being a Witch is a new lavishly illustrated guidebook to witchcraft, compiled by the famous young witch of the Chalk - with a little help from her friends, of course. Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Miss Tick, Mrs Letice Earwig and more have all annot...
Jan 07, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 74
In this very special Christmas episode, Liz and Ben fly without a guest as they turn the seasonal silliness up to maximum and discuss all eleven stories in Terry Pratchett’s 2017 collection of short Christmas stories, Father Christmas’s Fake Beard. It’s not always easy being Father Christmas. You might be forced out of home by a rogue submarine or the harsh reality of a job where you only work one day a year; you might be sent fifty thousand identical letters by a computer or put on trial for th...
Dec 07, 2023•1 hr 43 min•Season 1Ep. 73
24 November 2023 marks forty years since Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic was first published. That's right - it's Discworld's fortieth birthday! To celebrate, join Pratchat producer and co-host Ben McKenzie as he - and a bunch of special guests - try to figure out why that book, and moreso the Discworld series it started, have endured for so long. This episode is something of an experiment for Pratchat, and as Ben says during the episode, this can't possibly cover all the reasons why the s...
Nov 23, 2023•43 min
Unlike some DJs, Liz and Ben do take requests - like this month’s short story! They're joined by comedian and DJ Andrew McClelland to spin discs with the soul collector, as they discuss Terry Pratchett's 1989 short story “Turntables of the Night”. John, one half of the “Hellfire Disco” mobile DJ business, is helping the police with their enquiries. His latest gig, a fairly sedate Halloween party, did not go smoothly - and it all revolves around a mysterious visitor to the dancefloor, who had an ...
Nov 07, 2023•1 hr 45 min•Season 1Ep. 72
Liz and Ben are blessed by two returning guests, the Rev Dr Avril Hannah-Jones and Dr Charlotte Pezaro, as they go on one last visit to Roundworld - this time as clerics, wizards and librarians clash over who should take ownership. It’s Terry Pratchett's fourth and final collaboration with Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen, 2013's The Science of Discworld IV: Judgement Day. Ponder Stibbons has just activated Unseen University's latest “Great Big Thing”, the culmination of six years’ research (and spend...
Oct 07, 2023•2 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 71
Liz and Ben are joined by guest author Caimh “C. K.” McDonnell as they read a very early and very short chapter in the history of the Watch: Terry Pratchett’s 1993 short Discworld story, “Theatre of Cruelty”. When the Watch discover a murdered entertainer with pockets full of change, a string of sausages round his neck, and no witnesses to the crime, the Clues are very unhelpful. But Corporal Carrot is on the case - and when it comes to solving the crime, he knows the way to do it... Written for...
Sep 07, 2023•1 hr 50 min•Season 1Ep. 70
We engage the matrix drive and set course for the Discworld that might have been, as EJ Mann joins us to discuss Terry Pratchett’s first attempt at writing a flat Earth, 1981’s Strata. 200-year-old human Kin Arad works for the Company building planets - the traditional, oblate spheroid kind. So when deep space pioneer Jago Jalo shows up wearing an invisibility cloak, and says he’s discovered a flat Earth full of advanced technology, she can’t resist. She’s joined by Marco, a four-armed paranoid ...
Aug 07, 2023•2 hr 22 min•Season 1Ep. 69
We travel from Victorian London to the ends of an Earth as Deanne Sheldon-Collins returns to the podcast to face the consequences of three books' worth of bad decisions in the fourth Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter Long Earth novel, The Long Utopia. It’s 2052. Datum Earth is dying a slow death in the wake of the Yellowstone eruption. The Earths next door are building space elevators, while a new way of living emerges in the high meggers. Lobsang has died, Maggie Kaufman has retired, Sally Lin...
Jul 22, 2023•2 hr 49 min•Season 1Ep. 69
Our July episode about The Long Utopia, fourth of the Long Earth series, is going to be late! To tide you over for the next week or so, here’s a long footnote of a bonus episode presenting a quick recap of the Long Earth so far. Was this helpful? Would you like a recap like this for any of the other series we cover? Do you dare us to do this for the Discworld series as whole? (Please don’t...) Let us know what you think, using the hashtag #PratchatPreviously on social media, or get in touch via ...
Jul 07, 2023•13 min
