Steve Schofield © BBC
“Arguably the only two actually evil characters in the whole thing are Hastur and Ligur,” observes Douglas Mackinnon.
If Good Omens is about blurring the boundaries between darkness and light, there is little such gray area for the two Dukes of Hell charged with delivering the Antichrist-in-a-basket to Crowley—and then hounding him when it all goes wrong. From the moment we meet them in a graveyard at night, preparing to hand over the goods, it’s clear this dastardly duo do not belong in this world. Surfacing throughout the series, tasked as they are with ensuring Armageddon kicks off without a hitch, they make every effort to appear as human and yet somehow their efforts to disguise their demonic origins always fall short.
Hastur and Ligur, played respectively by Ned Dennehy and Ariyon Bakare, are strong on menace but also responsible for moments of exquisite comedy. As Good Omens addresses the question of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, which sees the pair imagined in a surreal disco groove, their roles are both inventive and hugely original. In some ways, it’s a surprise and a delight when Ned claims to have a blueprint for his part.
“I see Hastur as a tired James Mason who has been in the pub for three days and is on his way home,” he jokes. “Though I’ve no idea if James Mason even went to the pub.” Nevertheless, it’s a fitting image for Ned’s take on his Duke of Hell. “He’s bitter and sarcastic, dry, smug and irritable, and with a total dislike of Crowley,” he adds.
Ned conjures an image of the qualities that embody his character while on a break from filming in London’s St. James’s Park. He’s here to shoot a sequence in which Crowley is literally snatched in broad daylight by Hastur and Ligur and dragged to Hell to answer questions about his allegiance. The actor recognizable for his role as Charlie Strong in the popular BBC twenties’ gangster drama Peaky Blinders is sitting in his production trailer with me, wearing a badly fitting dress and sporting what looks like flecks of mold on his face. It’s an image created for him by Claire Anderson and Nosh Oldham. Before he’s called on to set, it’ll be completed with the application of a prosthetic frog on his head.
The unholy handover scene, in which the Dukes of Hell present Crowley with the Antichrist child, was shot on location at night in the grounds of Holy Trinity Church near Amersham in Buckinghamshire.
Christopher Raphael © BBC
“I’m inhabiting a lady tourist’s body today,” he explains. “We do this whenever we rise up from Hell in an attempt to appear human. It’s just we’re not very good at disguises. So you always find us in various levels of disarray, but the purpose remains the same. That’s the hot pursuit of Crowley, and getting Armageddon back on track.”
Ned Dennehy is naturally funny. The Irishman’s humor is bone dry, and he’s unafraid to laugh at himself. He’s also well aware of the reason why he’s been cast on the side of evil. “The angels are whiter than white with clean American looks,” he says. “They’re manicured people, and it’s a great look, but I’m not one of those people. I’m straight out of the demon bag.”
Feathered wing stubs were considered for the Dukes of Hell at the costume design stage, before Claire Anderson chose to focus on making both characters look as if their clothing had been scorched from the ground up, inspired by a traditional vision of Hell.
Claire Anderson / Sophie Fretwell © BBC
Here, Ligur sports the chameleon that squats atop his head.
Christopher Raphael © BBC
Actors Ned Dennehy and Ariyon Bakare worked closely with hair and makeup designer Nosh Oldham in creating unconventional demons. Grave-eyed Hastur struggles to contain his infernal identity in human form.
Christopher Raphael © BBC
HASTUR: I’m Hastur . . . La Vista . . . I’m an archaeologist . . . which one of you is the ambassador?
In their pursuit of Crowley, both Dukes of Hell appear extensively throughout the series. Here, Hastur ventures out to the archaeological site of Megiddo for the first of many satanic setbacks . . .
The Estate of Sir Terry Pratchett
Nevertheless Ned can see some light in his character. “I feel he’s just been failed. That somewhere Hastur has been let down, thwarted, and things haven’t worked out, and it’s one thing after another. Hastur is a proper Pratchett character,” he suggests. “An angry person with too much to do. So he’s towing the company line, and it’s a tedious task, but you can’t ignore the fact that he has a frog on his head.”
For all the characteristics that define Hastur, a sociable streak is largely absent. This makes the pairing with his fellow Duke of Hell all the more endearing. Ariyon Bakare plays fellow henchman Ligur. He sees his character as a demon who is capable of greater acts of evil. “Hastur has more of a heart,” he says, “but Ligur is really gone. I asked myself what he’d done way back that was so bad that he went to Hell. In my mind, I feel he was some eighteenth-century gangster who died riddled with bullet holes.”
Despite their demonic differences, Ariyon recognizes that Ligur and Hastur are united in their mission to bring Crowley to task and share many qualities. “They are cut from the same cloth,” he says, “and if you’re both in Hell for eternity then it stands to reason that you need someone to connect with.” As Hastur has his frog, Ariyon’s Duke of Hell appears on screen with a chameleon on his head.
Hastur may struggle to mask his demonic identity, but even when badly disguised as a tourist it seems that Crowley didn’t see him coming.
Christopher Raphael © BBC
“It changes color with Ligur’s emotions,” he tells me. “Nosh had lots of pictures to show me when we were creating the look. I latched onto a shot of a man with his hair shaved into the shape of a lizard, and that’s when the idea of a chameleon emerged. Nosh just ran with it, and the next thing I know I’m in prosthetics getting it all done. It was just a lovely thing we created together.”
Crowned by these strange, squatting creatures, the actors serve up a formidable double act. They also forged a friendship off screen that thrives on a quality of banter that could have been in existence for a lifetime. “We finish each other’s sentences like a husband and wife,” jokes Ariyon, and then grins playfully when he describes their first encounter at the read-through. “I remember thinking there was no way I could work with this guy. He looked so mardy, and came across like an Irishman with all the charm switched off.” He pauses there, and then gives his fellow Duke of Hell more serious consideration. “The truth is working with Ned has been a highlight. He really goes for it. His reactions are big. I wish I was as brave as him as an actor.”