Michael Sheen and David Tennant are back as Heaven and Hell’s angels in Neil Gaiman’s sequel to a show Adam Fresco describes as “an apocalyptic British spoof of Biblical proportions”.
Good Omens: Season 2
While it was based on Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s novel and its comedic take on the Biblical Apocalypse, the secret sauce to the first season of Good Omens was the on-screen chemistry between its two leads, David Tennant and Michael Sheen. Their rapport shined brighter than even the most expensive ultra-HD TV pixels could reasonably handle, in a comedic double-act reminiscent of The Odd Couple’s Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, or The Other Guys’ Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell—only with both Tennant and Sheen being heartthrobs in their own right.
The first season of Good Omens introduced us to Sheen’s angel Aziraphale, and Tennant’s demon Crowley. After centuries of assumed enmity, the two supposed adversaries learned to get along and enjoy life on Earth. Escaping Heavenly and Hellish bureaucracy, the two Earthly ambassadors for the afterlife indulged in all-too-human pleasures. Crowley luxuriated in driving his classic Bentley motorcar hellishly fast, listening to Queen’s Greatest Hits with the volume turned up to eleven, whilst Aziraphale delighted in running a London bookshop and playing his heavenly collection of classic 78 RPM records.
The only fly in the ointment in season one was the coming Apocalypse, heralded by the advent of the Antichrist on Earth, which the two angels saw off by teaming up, misleading their respective bosses, and generally doing all it takes to secure their cosy lives amid us mere mortals. True to the original book, the first season was basically Monty Python’s The Omen. A family-friendly, knockabout romp, asking: “What if The Bible was real, but with a Heaven and Hell run by incompetent, 1950s-style British bureaucrats, wading through tiresome red-tape, redundant rules, and ludicrous legislation, in order to fulfil The Creator’s Great Plan?”
But before you can say Life of Brian, it’s all done with a devilish tongue firmly in cheek, in an ever-so-nice way. In fact, it’s so jolly nice in its all-round niceness that the resultant show feels like Paddington, only with more overt religious references.
In other words, Good Omens really is that rare thing—a family show (for anyone but the most fundamental of religious fundamentalists). There’s something for practically everyone, of all ages, and whilst it may not be gut-churningly funny, or sharply satirical in scope, it is wonderfully whimsical, consistently amusing, and, ultimately, a charming apocalyptic British spoof of Biblical proportions.
Now Tennant and Sheen are back, wings re-affixed, and ready to save the planet (and their comfortable lives) all over again in season two. Only, this time, there is no novel on which to base the plot. Nonetheless—and without his late co-author Terry Pratchett (of Discworld fame) to assist—Neil Gaiman (of Sandman and American Gods renown), has continued the tale.
Gaiman has been quick to assure fans that he and Pratchett had ideas for a Good Omens sequel, but in practice it seems more likely that the real incentive behind this second outing was the success of the first season, and that, according to all sources, stars Sheen and Tennant got along like a proverbial house on fire.
In fact, judging by their interviews, Tennant and Sheen got on so well that they have since become BFFs to an almost sickening degree, in the sort of way that really annoys entertainment journalists because, instead of their friendship being a PR front to them hating each other, it seems they really are actually good friends. Successful, rich, and handsome, the two actors should, by Hollywood standards, loathe and despise one another, but instead, in a British satire of conventional competition between leading men, they seem to get along in a frightfully nice sort of way that makes the rest of us less genetically gifted folk feel rather queasy, if not downright green with envy.
But then, these were two hugely popular actors in their own right. Scottish actor Tennant shot to fame in the BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who, as the tenth incarnation of the titular Doctor. Welsh actor Sheen burst onto British TV screens as UK Prime Minister Tony Blair in three feature-length dramas—The Deal, The Queen and The Special Relationship—before a stint in the Underworld movies as Lucian the werewolf and an appearance as Aro the vampire in Twilight: New Moon.
The two actors apparently hit it off so well on the first series of Good Omens that they couldn’t wait for the second, opting to get together during lockdown for the quarantine comedy Staged, a low-budget affair in which the two play caricatured versions of themselves, bickering by way of video conference calls over play rehearsals during lockdown.
Reunited for the new season of Good Omens, Sheen and Tennant seem as comfortable in their respective characters as they do with one another. Episode one kicks off with a flashback to end all flashbacks, in that it flashes back about as far as you can go. Aziraphale and Crowley stand at the very dawn of time itself. Gazing on as the universe is born and the stars burst into life, the two angels chat, wings flapping, as they take in the beauty of creation. But as Aziraphale wonders at the enchanting colours, (especially the pinky-blue bits at the corners of a newly-forming galaxy), Crowley starts to ask questions. Aziraphale tries to warn him that questioning the Supreme Being is not a good idea, but of course Crowley ignores his fellow angel’s advice.
The backstory to Crowley’s fall from grace established, the story leaps forward to London, England, today. Aziraphale is once more pottering around his bookshop, whilst Crowley burns up the cobbled streets in his Bentley as Freddie Mercury blasts from his stereo. Londoners scatter in shock, not at the blasting Bentley, but at the sight of a stark naked Jon Hamm, buttocks on display, a cardboard box clutched around his front. Good Omens fans will remember Mad Men star Hamm as Heaven’s number two, The Archangel Gabriel, only the twist here is that he is suffering from amnesia and has no idea who he is, or why he needs to see Aziraphale and warn him of a coming catastrophe, the nature of which he can’t recall…
The stage is set, and whilst I promise no spoilers, suffice it to say that our angelic odd couple are once again the only thing standing between Earth and oblivion. Fans of the first season rallied online demanding the bromance between Sheen and Tennant be sealed this time around with a literal kiss—whether this fan wish comes true shouldn’t matter, because over the course of this second season, the leads manage a marriage of actors so perfectly cast they may as well be a couple, so comfortable is their on-screen chemistry.
Joining Tennant and Sheen on their adventures are a supporting cast to die for. In addition to Jon Hamm, the host of famous faces and voices include British thespian Derek Jacobi as Metatron and Miranda Richardson as a devilish ambassador for Hell. Nina Sosanya is back, only this time no longer a Chattering Nun, but as the owner of a London coffee shop. Elizabeth Berrington plays Dagon, Shelley Conn assumes the role of Beelzebub, Liz Carr and Quelin Sepulveda play two new angels, and Welsh stage great Siân Phillips adds to the fun, as do some members of David Tennant’s actual family, including his real-life son Ty Tennant, and father-in-law, Peter Davison.
As in the first series, the acting is as over the top as the humour, the direction bold and zippy, the cinematography bright, the music grand, and the special effects, make-up, and CGI just wobbly enough to sit somewhere between silly and not so convincing as to scare little ones away. Over the course of the action, viewers are transported from the Dawn of Creation, to modern day Earth, via both the white-walled, brightly lit offices of Heaven, and the flame-licked denizens of Hell. In other words, Good Omens returns as big, bold, and broad in humour as before.
All told, it’s a good omen indeed when the End Times seem far less daunting because David Tennant and Michael Sheen are there to soften the Apocalypse with some gentle humour, some friendly banter, a Queen song or three, an Eccles cake, and a cup of tea.
