The Dirk Gently Radio Series

The project of a Dirk Gently radio series has been rumoured for quite some years. Not very surprising as Douglas Adams’ other major work “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” is probably the most famous BBC radio production. When Dirk Maggs succeedly adaptated Hitchhiker’s three last books, it became obvious that a Dirk Gently radio series could follow. So many fans were not very surprised but very pleased when the BBC finally anounced the upcoming radio adaptation of Dirk Gently’s books. More intrigly was the fact that the unfinished novel “the salmon of doubt” will also be adaptated. But as we know, Dirk Maggs can succeedly create new material close to Douglas Adams’ writing (PS : the Salmon of Doubt adaptation has been finally cancelled).

Dirk Gently is voiced by Harry Einfield, a british comic well known for his part in “Friday Night Live” and his own show “Harry Enfield’s television programme”.

The First Radio Series (2007)

Douglas published his first non Hitchhikers fiction book in 1987 (his first non Hitchhikers book is “the meaning of liff” wrote three years before). Dirk Gently is the direct result of a deep love and hate relationship between H2G2 and its creator. Douglas wanted to prove the world that he could write something completely different from HItchikers. The first radio series (six episodes) was broadcast from the 3rd October 2007 on BBC Radio 4.

STORYLINE (from Above the title) :

A corpse that was strangled after it was shot, a bathroom containing a Horse covered in pink dust, the lost poetry of Coleridge, the found music of JS Bach, a whole slew of missing cats … and an Electric Monk in search of something to Believe In. Only Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective, can join the dots in a random series of events and come up with a solution that reveals a secret so huge that the entirety of everything hinges on it.

Richard MacDuff (BILLY BOYD) has been invited back to a St Cedd’s College Coleridge Dinner by his old Cambridge tutor ‘Reg’ Chronotis (ANDREW SACHS). But Richard has forgotten a vital promise to his girlfriend Susan Way (FELICITY MONTAGU) – a promise that could end their relationship. While Richard attempts to break into Susan’s flat to retrieve an incriminating answerphone tape, his employer – Susan’s brother, Gordon (ROBERT DUNCAN) – is undergoing a permanent out-of body experience thanks to a mystery assailant in the boot of his car. Richard is prime suspect and his old college friend Svlad Cjelli – now known as Dirk Gently, Holistic Detecive (HARRY ENFIELD) – assisted by the eternally disgruntled Janice Pearce (OLIVIA COLMAN) – realises that forces are at work which are unlikely to be obvious to his fingerprints-and-pocket-fluff-sifting nemesis, Detective Sergeant Gilks (JIM CARTER).

Cast

Dirk Gently – HARRY ENFIELD
Janice Pearce – OLIVIA COLMAN
Richard Macduff – BILLY BOYD
Professor “Reg” Chronotis – ANDREW SACHS
Detective Sergeant Gilks – JIM CARTER
Susan Way – FELICITY MONTAGU
Michael Wenton Weakes – MICHAEL FENTON STEVENS
The Electric Monk – TOBY LONGWORTH
Gordon Way – ROBERT DUNCAN
George III – JEFFREY HOLLAND
Constable Luke – WAYNE FORESTER
Petrol Attendant – PHILIP POPE
Lady Magna – TAMSIN HEATLEY
Porter 2 – ANDY SECOMBE
Porter 1 – JON GLOVER
Newsreader – NEIL SLEAT
Announcer – JOHN MARSH

Production Team

Based on DIRK GENTLY’S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY by Douglas Adams
Dramatised by Dirk Maggs & John Langdon
Music by Philip Pope

Sound Design by Paul Weir and Dirk Maggs
Live Sound Effects by Alison Mackenzie
Cast Recording by Paul Deeley at The Soundhouse Ltd

Production Assistant: Lisa Meyer
Executive Producer: Helen Chattwell
Produced by Jo Wheeler & Dirk Maggs
Directed by Dirk Maggs
An ABOVE THE TITLE Production for BBC Radio 4

The Second Radio Series (2008)

Douglas second Dirk Gently book was published in 1989 and entitled “The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul”. The second radio series (six episodes) was broadcast from the 2nd October 2008 on BBC Radio 4.

STORYLINE (from Above the title) :

Harry Enfield stars once again in a brand new full-cast dramatisation of Douglas Adams’s second Dirk Gently novel, directed by the award-winning Dirk Maggs
Harry Enfield exuberantly returns as Dirk Gently, who, fallen on hard times and dressed as a gypsy woman, is using his irritatingly accurate clairvoyant powers to read palms.He is saved when a frantic client turns up with a ludicrous story about being stalked by a goblin waving a contract accompanied by a hairy, green-eyed, scythe-wielding monster.

Cast

Dirk Gently – HARRY ENFIELD
Janice Pearce – OLIVIA COLMAN
Richard Macduff – BILLY BOYD
Detective Sergeant Gilks – JIM CARTER
Constable Luke – WAYNE FORESTER
Nurse Sally Mills – Morwenna Banks
Simon Draycott – Peter Davison
Thor – Rupert Degas
Nobby Paxton – Michael Fenton Stevens
Dr Standish – John Fortune
Geoff Anstey, Bates – Jon Glover
Elena – Sally Grace
Mysterious Vagrant, Vagrant King, Green Hairy Monster, Viking Announcer – Philip Jackson
Kate Schechter – Laurel Lefkow
Viking Announcer – Gary Martin
Odin, Sirius Cybernetics functionary – Stephen Moore
Neil Sharp, RAF Pilot 2 – Philip Pope
Cynthia Draycott – Jan Ravens
Toe Rag – Michael Roberts
Tsuliwaensis – Susan Sheridan
Sarah Montague – Sarah Montague
Announcer – John Marsh

Production Team

Based on THE DARK TEA TIME OF SOUL by Douglas Adams
Dramatised by Dirk Maggs & John Langdon
Music by Philip Pope

Sound Design by Paul Weir and Dirk Maggs
Live Sound Effects by Alison Mackenzie
Cast Recording by Paul Deeley at The Soundhouse Ltd

Production Assistant: Lisa Meyer
Executive Producer: Sioned Wiliam
Produced by Jo Wheeler & Dirk Maggs
Directed by Dirk Maggs
An ABOVE THE TITLE Production for BBC Radio 4