Aziraphale, now Supreme Archangel, seeks Crowley’s help as plans for the Second Coming take a surprising yet dangerous turn.

The final instalment of the fantasy comedy based on Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s popular 1990 novel limps onto Prime as a sad impression of what it might have been.

Much has been written and speculated as to why the planned six-part third season of the show was condensed to a single 100-minute feature, and if you don’t know, the internet is your friend. My intention here is to judge what has been released, rather than dwell on what should or might have been.

Season 2, released in July 2023, ended with Crowley (David Tennant) and Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) going their own separate ways, which demanded a conclusion… how could it all end like that? And this final chapter essentially picks up the threads, throws in a rather jumbled set of ideas and ends things in a more satisfactory place.

Aziraphale is struggling in his new role as Supreme Archangel and Crowley is down and out and in a state of misery, so maybe they will both benefit in joining forces again to address the Second Coming and avert the apocalypse? Familiar characters come and go, everything gets resolved very quickly, and before you know it, it’s all over. There are characters and threads that disappear with no resolution, and Toby Jones has very little to do as Satan.

Readers may recall that I wasn’t that impressed with Season 2, which I felt took a long time to get anywhere. Well, maybe I should have been more careful what I wished for, because this instalment has a bit too much going on (six episodes’ worth, no doubt) in its teleplay by Neil Gaiman, Michael Marshall Smith and Peter Atkins from a television story by Gaiman.

Director Rachel Talalay is a safe pair of hands, as witnessed by her many excellent Doctor Who episodes, replacing Season 1 and 2 director Douglas Mackinnon, and she does what she can with a thankless script. Looking at this with a ‘glass half full’ mentality, at least there’s a definite ending in some trying circumstances, but the show deserved better.

Verdict: It’s a bit of a mess, with the witty dynamic of the two leads being the only saving grace. 5/10

Nick Joy