A New TV Show About Lesbian Witches Brews Excitement

A television adaptation of Deborah Harkness's All Souls booktrilogy, which centers on a mystical historian who is raised by her lesbian witch aunts, made its debut last night on the U.K. channel Sky One, and audiences are already asking for more.

The lesbian witch couple in A Discovery of Witches consists of Sarah Bishop and her longtime partner, Emily Mather. The two have passed on the tools for the protagonist, Diana Bishop, to fight in an ancient struggle between witches, vampires, and other supernatural creatures.

After starring in Doctor Who, Arrow, and ER, Alex Kingston plays Sarah, while Valarie Pettiford portrays Emily. Diana is played by Warm Bodies' Teresa Palmer.

Sarah, who is a descendant of the first witch executed at Salem, is respected in the sorceress community for her noble heritage.

"She has a temperamental nature, a famously short fuse, is intensely loyal and has a long-standing addiction to coffee. Her prize possession is the Bishop grimoire, the family's ancient spell book," the show's summary reads. "Where her partner Emily is thoughtful and measured, Sarah is a firecracker who says exactly what's on her mind, consequences be damned."

Emily is gifted with visions, and the show teases that she's keeping a family secret.

After its pilot aired, the show is already getting buzz.

The show will be available to American users via Sundance Now and Shudder, but no premiere date has been announced. Harkness's website says it will likely be in early 2019.

But for British lovers of queer TV, there's only one question left: