Dirk Gently

Not familiar with the book series. Reminds me of a cult film like Buckaroo Bonsai

This series is amazingly bizarre, Amazingly Funny and leaves you guessing where the story is going often leading you down a rabbit hole that only concludes when you've looked at the most improbable solution to the problem possible. Dirk Gently is a detective who solves cases Holistically believing every thing is interconnected in the universe and that by pursuing every solution for one case he will often solve other cases, while this often appears to his partner McDuff like he is doing nothing on one he has a way of one thing from one case coming back and helping him work the other cases. His cases aren't always simple cases with obvious clues though as they often result in super science and solutions that push improbability to the limits.

The two lead characters personalities play off each other well and the actors do a good job establishing these traits.

The best thing about this series is the casting. Stephen Mangan makes for a nearly pitch perfect Dirk Gently and Darren Boyd is a suitably bland (not in a bad way) and dry-witted Richard MacDuff.

The worst thing, unfortunately, is the writing. There are many references to-and direct lifts from-the novels (especially the first one), but they are often handled in an inartful manner and are frequently devoid of the full context that made them funny and/or poignant. More significantly, this show made the bizarre decision to excise most of the characteristic pulpy weirdness of the novels. Mostly gone are the ghosts, aliens, alien robots, ancient gods, et al. Of the books. There are only really two notable sci-fi nods in this series and both are fairly unsatisfying, instead this show seems to have strangely made the decision to position itself as simply a less deductive version of Sherlock.

I love Douglas Adams but it has been many years since I read the Dirk Gently books. This television series definitely captures the flavour of the novels even if it is not a direct adaption of the books.

I thought the casting was excellent. I was not familiar with any of the actors in this series but I am interested to see what else they have done. The two leads (Stephen Mangan as Dirk Gently and Darren Boyd as Richard MacDuff) worked perfectly together with Boyd playing the straight man or foil to Mangan's very funny and eccentric character.

The episodes were all amusing and engaging. My only complaint is that there are only four of them. I would have loved to see more of this show and I highly recommend this series for anyone who has enjoyed the works of Douglas Adams or anyone who thinks they might enjoy a quirky English detective show.

This is "based on Douglas Adams' book" well, the names are the same. Not a huge problem though as I think Adams would be happy with this programme.

Dirk Gently runs a "holistic detective agency" and believes in the inter-connectivity of events. He is accompanied in his quests by Richard MacDuff. So yeah, it's Holmes and Watson to some extent.

What I like about these programmes is that they don't dwell too long on analysing the crimes or digging into the characters' backgrounds. The writers concentrate more on providing a slightly off-beat story. While features of Dirk Gently (and to some extent MacDuff) are constants through all 3 programmes, there is no attempt to shove them "in yer face". There is also a degree of ambiguity about the setting although I guess it is around the time it was produced. I sometimes think producers place too much time on getting the background right while, quite frankly, I don't care.

Stephen Mangan is a tad irritating in the first programme with his Holmesian deliveries but this begins to work the longer you watch. He carries the lead role well. And Darren Boyd has never impressed me in the past but he works well as the sidekick. I like the portrayal of the Janice/secretary character. It is quite one dimensional (not a bad thing) and isn't over used.

The producers have struck a balance with the actors, story and setting. I am disappointed that this looks like the only time we will see this combination as I enjoyed all three episodes.