BBC's Dirk Gently TV series trailer: murder and a missing cat
- 10 December 2010
- John Howell
The BBC just released the first trailer from their new four part TV series, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, based on Douglas Adams' comic fantasy novel. Stephen Mangan is Dirk Gently, Darren Boyd his sidekick Richard Macduff, and Helen Baxendale is Richard's girlfriend Susan. Adams, wildly famous for his Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy a series, wrote three Dirk Gently books, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul and the incomplete, The Salmon of Doubt. I'm sure if this one proves successful, extra series will be commissioned.
The TV scripts are by Howard Overman, creator of Misfits and Vexed. Originally I heard they were going to broadcast the show at the end of this year, but as it's almost the end of the year now, I'm guessing we'll see it early 2011. The BBC previously broadcast a radio adaptation of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency starring Harry Enfield in 2007, and there was a stage production starring Scot Burklin in 2006.
According to the BBC, "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."
The trailer looks intriguing, but it's tough to work out whether they've hit the mark until we watch a few episodes. I hope they get this one right and make it ongoing. It would be wonderful to know that Douglas Adams' characters are still living on in TV form. I hope he finds the cat too.
We'll keep you informed when we learn more, but add a comment if you know something we don't.
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