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Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. Image of Dirk Gently (Harry Enfield). Image credit: Above the Title Productions.

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Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Sci-fi radio detective comedy series created by Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

AKA:
Dirk Gently's Long Dark Teatime of the Soul; The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul
Genre:
Sitcom
Broadcast:
2007 - 2008  (BBC Radio 4)
Episodes:
12 (2 series)
Starring:
Harry Enfield, Billy Boyd, Jim Carter, Olivia Colman, Robert Duncan, Felicity Montagu, Michael Fenton Stevens, Toby Longworth, Andrew Sachs, Peter Davison, Jan Ravens
Writers:
Douglas Adams
Production:
Above the Title Productions

Dirk Gently (real name Svlad Cjelli) is a private detective who believes in the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. His Holistic Detective Agency therefore solves the whole crime and finds the whole person, although admittedly his cases mostly tend to involve missing cats.

Gently's first case is that of the murder of Gordon Way, owner of WayForward Technologies II. His work college, Richard MacDuff, believes that he is being considered as the prime suspect, which leads him to employ Dirk to clear his name. The case ends up evolving into a somewhat bizarre tale of time travel, alien visitation, ghosts, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and an Electric Monk who believes everything in the world is pink... it is one big case for Dirk!

In series two (The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul), Dirk has fallen on hard times - he is reading palms in a tent, dressed as an old gypsy woman. But when Detective Superintendent Gilks decides the headless body of one of Dirk's clients is the result of a particularly irritating suicide, Dirk is plunged into a mystery where the interconnectness of all things is tested to the limit.

Our Review: A show that all diehard fans of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fans really should listen to. This comedy is often seen by fans of Douglas Adams as a much darker work, but just as funny.

This comedy contains some great performances, especially from Harry Enfield as Dirk Gently.

A third series is planned, based on Adam's never-completed novel The Salmon of Doubt.