Dirk Gently

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.

Stephen Mangan is a riot as Dirk Gently, who runs a "holistic detective agency." Gently believes in the interconnectedness of all things and that the universe will solve his cases. The universe might, but they won't pay his bills or clean his office. Darren Boyd is sort of his partner, MacDuff, and Gently drives him nuts.

This is a wildly funny show, with one client paying Gently to find out who is stalking him, which turns out to be Gently himself, in another case he works on finding a cat and uses time travel, that sort of thing.

Mangan is intense and outrageous as Gently, with wild hair and a declamatory voice. Everyone around him looks fairly discouraged. Unfortunately this series only lasted one season, but I notice there's a TV movie made in 2015. Maybe it will be back.

How can you not admit the brilliance of stealing a character from an extremely popular show such as "Orphan Black" three years in the future? It doesn't get any more holistic than that. Beyond that playful jab at Siren555, this is typical British inanity. Enjoyable but not memorable. I am about to watch the second episode about a month after I'd seen the first and must admit I recall very little from the pilot. Yet I'm sure I will smile often, chuckle occasionally and potentially laugh out loud once or twice. It is what it is, you get what you pay for and caveat emptor.

Ps. Apparently the first episode was not the pilot. I'll have to try and find it.

Wellalright... found the pilot. Excellent! I gave it a 9. Amidst all the silliness was actually an imaginative mystery. Mysteries I should say. The twists at the end were Hitchcockian/Serlingesque. Very entertaining and worth every minute.

Addendum: The way I rate shows... I don't usually review anything less than a 7 because 6 would be a failing grade and I won't waste my time watching it. I'm old; I don't know how much time I've got left. Since I probably turned it off before getting even halfway through, it wouldn't be fair to rate or review it. 7 is watchable but I may go a while between episodes since, though somewhat entertaining, there are other shows more interesting or compelling. 8 would be a regular in my lineup. 9 is a must see and probably bingeable. 10 is just the epitome of superbity and headed for my all-time favorites list. I'm adding this to my reviews because it seems there are a lot of binary reactions to pretty much everything these days. I am not a like/unlike kind of guy. I see a lot of grays so if I give something a 10 it doesn't mean the only alternative is a 1.

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.

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.