Greek Street, Soho

To celebrate today’s worldwide release of Amazon Prime’s TV adaptation of Good Omens, for a few days only a new bookshop has opened in Greek Street, Soho, by the name of A Z Fell & Co. Greg D Smith went to see if there were any especially rare books there to tickle his fancy.

What more can one possibly say about Good Omens that hasn’t been said by a million people already since its first publication twenty-nine years ago? Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s unique tale of an antichrist gone not entirely bad enough is one that has captivated readers and produced a well-received audio drama and now we have televisual adaptation as well, overseen by none other than Gaiman himself.

As someone who only recently read the novel (in preparation for the TV series) I was looking forward to this experience and I’m happy to say that it didn’t disappoint. The building, which is several storeys tall, plays host to an escape room experience spread across the basement and first floor, and then a pair of exhibits on the second and third floors.

The second floor contains an art exhibition by Lorna May Wadsworth, displaying several pictures of both David Tennant and Michael Sheen in their respective characters as well as several impressive portraits of Gaiman himself. One of these is painted on bog oak – prehistoric wood dug up and sculpted into the shape of a book, with Gaiman’s face on the front cover and the back of his head, appropriately enough, on the back. Another is a massive canvas painting. All showcase a wonderful eye for detail and capture the essence of their subjects perfectly.

Also on the second floor amongst this exquisite art are various sketches and notes from the production itself. These give a real sense of how much love and attention has gone into adapting the book to the screen, and if the trailers are anything to go by, the budget has been well-spent.

The third floor contained a small exhibit of various props and costumes from the show. From Crowley’s immaculate tailoring to Madame Tracy’s eclectic outfit, there’s quite the display here. The props too are interesting – a newspaper with the fateful advert for a witch hunter apprentice circled, and a home made flag for The Them being particular highlights. It all spoke to an attention to detail which promises that even the most hardened fan of the novel will find everything where they expect it to be.

The escape room itself was overseen by a delightfully snarky ‘angel’ who was only too happy to help myself and my partner in crime as we attempted to decipher the clues left behind to us on Anathema Device’s painstakingly annotated file cards in the words of Agnes Nutter herself, and the final solution was a delight to behold – if you get the chance to attend this in the next few days I can heartily recommend it to fans.