Television series

Good Omens

An angel and a demon who've grown rather fond of Earth team up to stop the apocalypse, because ineffable plans are all very well but they do like it here. Adapted from Pratchett and Gaiman's novel, it's whimsical, verbally dazzling British fantasy-comedy, anchored by Sheen and Tennant's genuinely lovely double act. Cosy apocalypse viewing for people who like their theology with jokes.

TVMaze rating7.8

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The Good Place2016

Afterlife bureaucracy, moral philosophy disguised as sitcom, and a twist structure that rewards patience. Same warmth, same interest in what goodness actually means, same refusal to be cynical about any of it.

But Its philosophical ambitions occasionally outrun the jokes, and the early seasons play coyer with their premise than you might want.

The Good Place poster

Miracle Workers2019no page yet

Heaven as a crumbling corporate office, God as a bored middle manager, angels doing tedious admin to keep the world turning. Daniel Radcliffe and Steve Buscemi make bureaucratic apocalypse very funny indeed.

But Scrappier and cheaper-looking than Good Omens, with a sketchier, more anthology-ish structure each season.

Lucifer2016

The Devil moves to LA, opens a nightclub, and solves crimes with a detective while dodging his own family issues. Glossy, romantic, and far sillier than the source comic ever was.

But It's a network procedural at heart, so expect a murder-of-the-week formula wrapped around the celestial soap opera.

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Something you would not have found on your own.

Heaven Can Wait1943

Same comic engine as Good Omens — Heaven and Hell run like indifferent civil services, and human souls get processed with baffled bureaucratic mercy — just decades before Pratchett and Gaiman got there.

A man arrives at the gates of Hell convinced he belongs there, only to have his whole life reviewed by exasperated celestial bureaucrats. Lubitsch's afterlife comedy is impossibly charming and eight decades ahead of its time.

But Black-and-white studio-era pacing and a much gentler, more genteel style of joke than modern audiences expect.

Heaven Can Wait poster
More like this (8)

Pushing Daisies2007

A pie-maker who can raise the dead with a touch, told in candy-coloured storybook whimsy with narration as lovingly ornate as anything Pratchett wrote. Pure, strange, big-hearted delight.

But The tone is even more sugary and mannered than Good Omens — some find it charming, others find it exhausting.

Pushing Daisies poster

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency2016no page yet

Douglas Adams's cosmically incompetent detective bumbles through interdimensional chaos with the same fondness for absurd apocalyptic stakes played for comedy and genuine feeling.

But Considerably more frantic and violent, with a plot that deliberately refuses to make sense until very late.

His Dark Materials2019

Angels, armoured bears, and a multiverse-spanning war on Heaven itself, told with real visual splendour and a child protagonist who questions authority at every turn.

But Plays its theology and politics dead straight rather than for laughs — this is epic fantasy, not comedy.

His Dark Materials poster

The Sandman2022no page yet

Gaiman's other great cosmic ensemble, with Lucifer, angels, and personified abstractions wandering a richly imagined mythological universe. Same authorial voice, much moodier register.

But Far more melancholy and violent than Good Omens — this is Gaiman in Gothic mode, not comic mode.

A Discovery of Witches2018no page yet

Witches, vampires, and ancient supernatural politics collide in a slow-burn romance with real gothic atmosphere and a fair bit of British wit tucked into the world-building.

But Takes itself more seriously as romance than comedy, and the pacing is considerably more languid.

Wynonna Earp2016no page yet

A demon-hunting descendant of Wyatt Earp battles resurrected outlaws with a gun, a sister, and a cast that clearly knows exactly how ridiculous and fun this all is.

But Much pulpier and lower-budget, with a monster-of-the-week structure that leans hard into camp.

Terry Pratchett's Hogfather2006no page yet

Written by Pratchett alone, this shows you the flavour of his half of Good Omens — the same fondness for cosmic institutions run by exhausted functionaries, minus Gaiman's mythic sweep.

Terry Pratchett's own Discworld, unfiltered through Gaiman: Death himself fills in for a missing Hogfather (Discworld's Santa) while belief itself hangs in the balance, in a two-part TV movie thick with the same aphoristic wit.

But Cheaper effects and a stagier feel than Good Omens' Amazon budget, and it stands entirely alone from the show's story.

Preacher2016

Both ask what happens when Heaven's plan is a mess and someone has to go fix God's absenteeism personally — Preacher just answers with shotguns instead of scones.

A preacher possessed by a rogue angelic power sets off on a blood-soaked road trip to find God, who's gone missing. Same theological cosmic-buddy-road-trip shape, filtered through ultraviolent, blasphemous black comedy.

But Genuinely graphic and grotesque in ways Good Omens never approaches — this is the R-rated, deeply irreverent cousin.

Preacher poster

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