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Stephen Mangan To Play Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently In New BBC Show – Minor UPDATE

Harry Enfield played him in the radio adaptations, but television demands a new, and possibly younger face. And Stephen Mangan off of Green Wing, Alan Partridge, Free Agents, Armando Iannucci Shows and Adrian Mole: The Cappucino Years is to play the holistic detective of mysterious origins in a new BBC Four TV production.

Douglas wrote two books, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul with a third, The Salmon Of Doubt unfinished. Gently distinguished himself from his fictional counterpart Sherlock Holmes who eliminated the impossible to find the truth, stating "I however do not like to eliminate the impossible". And faced with time travelling alien ghosts, gods manifested from objects in our world, robot belief systems and F15 Fighters transformed into eagles, that was probably a good thing. Stephen Mangan is quoted as saying;

"I've been a fan of Douglas Adams ever since the Hitchhiker's radio series which I used to record as a child and listen to over and over again in my bedroom. It's such a thrill to now be playing one of his brilliant characters.

"Dirk is a chaotic, anarchic force of nature with a totally unique take on the world. He is described as 'lazy, untidy, dismissive and unreliable'. I've absolutely no idea why they thought I'd be right for the role."

They seem to be concentrating on the first novel*, with his friend and software engineeer Richard MacDuff played by fellow Green Wing alumni Darren Boyd, also of Hippies, Saxondale, Whites and Smack The Pony, Richard's girlfriend Susan played by Helen Baxendale (Cold Feet, Friends, nothing else ever).

The adaptation is written by Misfits showrunner Howard Overman. Ed Victor, Douglas Adams' agent, says:

"For all the years I represented the late, great Douglas Adams, the most substantial frustration for both of us was that we couldn't get films made either of Hitchhiker or Dirk.

"Douglas once said, memorably, that 'getting a film made in Hollywood was like trying to cook a steak by having a bunch of people come into the room and breathe on it'! Well, we did eventually get a film made in Hollywood of Hitchhiker and, tragically, Douglas didn't live to see it. Nor will he see this adaptation of Dirk – but it's worth bearing in mind that Douglas always thought Dirk would make a better film than Hitchhiker and I feel sure that this new TV drama with a terrific script by Howard Overman will prove his point!"

*Actually, Rich, Howard Overman has said a few times now that he's used some parts of the first novel as a launching pad for a new structure and new events – Brendon

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