Dirk Gently's Holistic TV Adaptation of the Soul

At long last, Douglas Adams' literary creation Dirk Gently has finally been adapted for television...but will it be worth the wait?

Blastr have the lowdown on the new Dirk Gently series for BBC Four starring Stephen Mangan as the title character, including the first trailer which announces that the series is "Coming Soon," regardless of how soon "Soon" actually is.  Although based on Adams' two Dirk Gently novels, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, it seems this Dirk Gently series is also going to draw somewhat from the current series of Doctor Who and Sherlock, at least in terms of tone.  The BBC's official take on the series follows:

Stephen Mangan will play Douglas Adams' eccentric detective Dirk Gently in a new BBC Four drama based on the author's cult novel, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.

He is joined by Darren Boyd as his unwitting sidekick Richard Macduff and Helen Baxendale as Richard's girlfriend Susan in the adaptation by Bafta-winning Howard Overman.

Anti-hero Dirk Gently operates his eponymous detective agency based on the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. Perpetually broke, hopelessly chaotic and utterly infuriating, most people suspect Dirk is nothing more than a cheap conman. And they might be right – but nevertheless his methods, though unusual, do often produce surprising results.

When Dirk sets out to solve an apparently simple and harmless disappearance of a cat from an old lady's house, he unwittingly uncovers a double murder which, in turn, leads to a host of even more extraordinary events.



Personally, I've always imagined Dirk as a bit dirtier and seedier than what I'm seeing from this trailer.  They seem to be playing up the eccentricity to cater to Doctor Who and Sherlock fans, but as long as the spirit of the books remains intact, then I can deal just fine.  This is a Douglas Adams creation, after all, and if I can survive Sam Rockwell as George W. Bush as Zaphod Beeblebrox, I can certainly survive this.