With their genesis in a, then, abandoned Tom Baker era, Doctor Who script - 'Shada' whose filming was stopped due to a production strike although it has since been novelised and adapted for audio - Douglas Adams wrote two and a bit Dirk Gently books that have since been spun off into two TV series, as 'Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency' for BBC America in 2016 with Samuel Barnett and Elijah Wood, but before that, between 2010 and 2012, as 'Dirk Gently' for BBC4.
The original pilot episode aired in December 2010 and is the one, of the 4 episodes made, which most closely relates to the first novel with it's tale of time travel but the others, shown in 2012, all maintain the science fiction elements that perfectly suit a detective whose investigative style is based on quantum physics and the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. The now ubiquitous Mangan, who was then mostly known for his starring role in the hospital based sitcom 'Green Wing', brings the perfect amount of manic untrustworthiness and crazed genius to the role whilst Boyd is the consumate everyman foil as Dirk's "averagely incompetent assistant" / partner.
Whilst there is a slightly cheap and cheerful aspect to the show, particularly when viewed against 'Sherlock', that was airing to global acclaim around the same time, but it's charm is it's own and, had it been given the chance, feels like it could have grown into something lasting but, unfortunately the show was cancelled following it's sole series with the BBC blaming a funding freeze and a decision to consolidate it's original drama production to it's two principal channels.
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