Looks like another private eye will be joining the plethora of TV detectives currently on television. However, this detective has one up on all the others: He was created by The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams. Yes, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency will be adapted for TV. But this translation is set in America.
BBC America announced at the 2015 Television Critics Association press tour that the network would be adapting Dirk Gently for television, again. Chronicle writer Max Landis will be writing the adaptation produced by IDW, Circle of Confusion and Ideate.
Unlike the novel, this series will be set in America. BBC America confirmed that this series would be set in the US. This makes sense as the recent IDW comic adaptation has Dirk relocating his Detective Agency to San Diego. Quite different from Peckender St in London, where the character’s office was originally located.
The TV show is being described by BBC America (via press release) as an “anthology series set in the unexpected world of the hyper, absurd, ridiculous Dirk Gently. With an utterly fresh, comically self-aware tone, this series is equally sincere in its danger, humour, violence and drama.”
Gently is an incredibly clever character, and also clairvoyant, nevertheless he doesn’t actually believe in supernatural things like psychic powers. But that is the world that he is placed in. No word on production or anything else, but Landis (who worked on the IDW comic as well) did tell the Hollywood Reporter in August 2014 (before this was tied to BBC America), “This is any writer’s ultimate project, and in the current TV space, it fits ridiculously well. Imagine a playground where you could come with any mystery, no matter how improbable, convoluted or totally insane and then, simply by finding the right connections, you could tie it all down to one man, one private eye. If you’re familiar with the property, you know: there’s no freaking rules. Ancient gods? Sure. Larceny and petty crimes? Of course. Extra-dimensional aliens? I mean, probably; as long as you can make it funny, Dirk’s on the case. This is a dream project of mine, no joke, and I absolutely, positively couldn’t be happier.”
This is the second Dirk Gently series for the BBC. The novels were previously adapted for BBC Four starring Stephen Mangan (as the title character) and Darren Boyd. But this series will air on BBC America and will seemingly have no tie to the past series.
