Dirk Gently heads for Radio 4

By John Freeman on July 14, 2007

The BBC has announced that Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency will make his UK broadcast debut on BBC Radio 4 this October, with Harry Enfield in the starring role.

The show is an Above The Title Production for Radio 4 and will be produced by Dirk Maggs, the same award-winning team who produced the conclusion to The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy.

Enfield is joined by Lord of the Rings actor Billy Boyd as Dirk’s client Richard Macduff, Fawlty Towers‘ Andrew Sachs as Professor Reg Chronotis, The Golden Compass‘ Jim Carter as Dirk’s nemesis DS Gilks; and Peepshow‘s Olivia Colman as Dirk’s secretary Janice Pearce.

Also in the cast are Felicity Montagu (I’m Alan Partridge) as Susan Way, with Robert Duncan (Drop The Dead Donkey) as her brother Gordon; Toby Longworth (Star Wars) as the Electric Monk; and Michael Fenton Stevens (Nighty Night) as Michael Wenton Weakes.
Guest appearances are made by Andrew Secombe (Star Wars); Jon Glover (Harry Enfield And Chums); Jeffrey Holland (Hi-De-Hi); Wayne Forester (Captain Scarlet) and Tamsin Heatley (Broken Sword).

Considered by many Adams fans to be as funny as, if darker than, Hitchhikers, the Dirk Gently novels reflect Douglas’s unique and funny take on matters as wide-ranging as consciousness, conservation, man’s place in the cosmos and crime. The first series features everything from quantum physics to missing cats, via Coleridge, Bach and an Electric Monk.

Dirk Gently has an unshakeable belief in the interconnectedness of all things but his Holistic Detective Agency’s only success seems to be tracking down missing cats for old ladies. Then Dirk stumbles upon an old friend behaving bizarrely, and he is drawn into a four billion-year-old mystery that must be solved if the human race is to avoid immediate extinction.

This first series of six 30-minute episodes is adapted from the book of the same name and directed by Dirk Maggs, who was chosen by Douglas Adams to conclude the Hitchhikers saga, while the cast and production team feature many old friends and colleagues of Douglas, including music composer Phillip Pope. The production team, from Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy Tertiary, Quandary and Quintessential Phases is led by Executive Producer Helen Chattwell and the Producers are Jo Wheeler and Dirk Maggs.

• The series begins in October and will also have its own dedicated webpages on bbc.co.uk/radio4/dirkgently featuring trailers, photographs, production diaries, video and competitions. Programmes will also be available on Radio 4’s listen again service.

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.