David Tennant explains why Crowley has red hair in the Good Omens TV series

In Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's original novel, the fast-living demon — originally the snake who tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden — has "dark hair" (in addition to snakeskin shoes and a pristine 1926 Bentley).

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However, fans were surprised when the first pictures of Tennant in costume were revealed, showing the former Doctor Who star with long ginger locks.

Revealing how the make-up and costume department originally conceived his Good Omens look, Tennant said: "It wasn't in the book, but red seemed quite appealing as he's from the flames. There's also a part of me as an actor who likes to transform."

In the present day, Crowley has a short hairstyle, but during flashbacks we see Crowley sport various haircuts, which Tennant admits was helpful during filming, both in terms of characterisation and figuring out the show's time-jumping plot.

"We talked about whether having it long might make him look like a rocker, rather than of the moment," Tennant said in an interview for the show's accompanying book, The Nice and Accurate Good Omens TV Companion.

"Eventually we settled on a nice, short funky red cut. Then we see him moving through time with different lengths and styles. When I was reading through the script, just plotting through what happens when was quite tricky, and so it works as a marker.

"And I felt that Crowley would do that in a way that perhaps Aziraphale [played by Michael Sheen] wouldn't as he's more steady through the centuries. So that shows how a conversation about appearance sparks a few ideas that feed back into the character, and you end up dyeing your hair red for five months! Still, it meant I wasn't wearing a wig every day, and all credit to Neil [Gaiman] who has lived with this but was still able to say, "Yeah, long red! That's a great idea!""

Judging from Crowley's Elizabethan-era goatee (above) — not to mention his pillarbox red bob for his evil nanny disguise — we can't wait to see what other styles Tennant has in store.

The Nice and Accurate Good Omens TV Companion will be published on 21st May 2019. Pre-order here

https://youtu.be/hUJoR4vlIIs

Good Omens will be released on Amazon Prime Video globally on Friday 31st May 2019.