Adams' Dirk Gently comes to BBC Four


The late, great Douglas Adams, whose best known work, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, was brilliantly transformed into a short run British comedy television series, will have another classic adapted for the small screen. According to our friends at the British Comedy Guide, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, written by Adams in 1987, has been commissioned by BBC Four for broadcast. How can you go wrong with something described on the book cover as a “thumping good detective-ghost-horror-who dunnit-time travel-romantic-musical-comedy-epic“?

If you get a chance, hunt down the BBC Radio 4 adaptations of Adams’ first two Dirk Gently novels, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul, that were done in 2007-2008. The great Harry Enfield starred as Gently along with a very familiar name to the British comedy world, Andrew Sachs. This behind-the-scenes clip of the making of the radio series says it all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue3JE1CRqUM

Unfortunately, for all of us, Adams passed away at the way too early age of 49 before he was able to finish his third Dirk Gently novel, The Salmon of Doubt.

If the television version is anything close to the greatness of Hitchhiker’s Guide, it will be well worth the wait.


In: Actors/Actresses,Comedy