Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
It’s a sad thing when the second episode of a good series is also the second to last one. So it’s a compliment to Dirk Gently that I’m already going to miss it after next week’s finale.
This second installments case is more straightforward than last weeks opener, well actually, its quite complicated and involves humanoid robots, a comatose daughter, murder and a super computer becoming actual intelligence.
When an old school teacher of Dirk’s calls on the duo for help, Dirk and MacDuff are swiftly on hand to assist. The teacher in question is Professor Jericho (Bill Paterson) and he requires security for his latest robot creation, but Dirk quickly becomes preoccupied with learning the truth behind his untimely expulsion from the school.
Helen Baxendale returns as MacDuff’s long-suffering girlfriend Susan, sadly there’s little cause for her reappearance...
It’s a sad thing when the second episode of a good series is also the second to last one. So it’s a compliment to Dirk Gently that I’m already going to miss it after next week’s finale.
This second installments case is more straightforward than last weeks opener, well actually, its quite complicated and involves humanoid robots, a comatose daughter, murder and a super computer becoming actual intelligence.
When an old school teacher of Dirk’s calls on the duo for help, Dirk and MacDuff are swiftly on hand to assist. The teacher in question is Professor Jericho (Bill Paterson) and he requires security for his latest robot creation, but Dirk quickly becomes preoccupied with learning the truth behind his untimely expulsion from the school.
Helen Baxendale returns as MacDuff’s long-suffering girlfriend Susan, sadly there’s little cause for her reappearance...
- 3/14/2012
- by Chris Suffield
- Obsessed with Film
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Douglas Adam’s created The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, one of most beloved sci-fi series of books ever created. A TV series was made back in the 80′s and a big budget movie (which missed the mark) finally saw the light of day in 2006. The TV series aside, no adaptation of Adam’s work has been greeted with praise from the fan boys.
You see, the fans of his work are very protective of the late author’s creations and finding the ‘Adams’ tone is often a near impossible task.
One of Adams’ other creations, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency is certainly less mainstream and, like much of his work, has been deemed un-filmable. Harry Enfield voiced Dirk in a couple of fantastic BBC radio adventures, but a TV or film adaptation seemed unlikely. Sadly only two books were published, Douglas Adams died...
Douglas Adam’s created The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, one of most beloved sci-fi series of books ever created. A TV series was made back in the 80′s and a big budget movie (which missed the mark) finally saw the light of day in 2006. The TV series aside, no adaptation of Adam’s work has been greeted with praise from the fan boys.
You see, the fans of his work are very protective of the late author’s creations and finding the ‘Adams’ tone is often a near impossible task.
One of Adams’ other creations, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency is certainly less mainstream and, like much of his work, has been deemed un-filmable. Harry Enfield voiced Dirk in a couple of fantastic BBC radio adventures, but a TV or film adaptation seemed unlikely. Sadly only two books were published, Douglas Adams died...
- 3/6/2012
- by Chris Suffield
- Obsessed with Film
Being Human star Jason Watkins has landed a role in the new series of Dirk Gently. Three more episodes of the Douglas Adams adaptation have been commissioned following a successful pilot last year. Watkins told CultBox: "I've been doing a series called Dirk Gently, with Stephen Mangan. I'm filming that now; I'm on my way down to Bristol. There's three hour-long episodes and I'm in two of them." It is currently unclear what role the actor will (more)...
- 10/24/2011
- by By Morgan Jeffery
- Digital Spy
One of the weirder American monster legends is that which concerns the Jersey Devil, which originates in the 18th century, but became one of the breakout American pop-culture monsters thanks to reported sightings in the early 1900s. Now Stephen Moyer from True Blood will star in a new film exploiting the legend: The Barrens. He'll play a family man who, while on a camping trip in the New Jersey Pine Barrents, "becomes convinced [he and his family are] being stalked by the legendary winged monster that looks like a deformed hybrid of several different animals." Darren Lynn Bousman wrote and will direct; the film shoots later this month in Toronto (what, not in Jersey? boo!) and will be released next fall by Anchor Bay. [Variety [1]] After the break, The Book of Mormon star Josh Gad joins Thanks For Sharing -- a movie about sex addiction -- and Rupert Grint and David Tennant will voice characters...
- 9/19/2011
- by Russ Fischer
- Slash Film
Cliff Claven's going to be jealous. The U.K.'s favorite letter carrier -- that's "postie" in Britain -- is coming to the big screen. Postman Pat's first feature, "You Know You're the One," will be released in the spring of 2012, Classic Media and Rgh Entertainment announced Friday -- the animated postman's 30th birthday. Stephen Mangan ("Episodes," "Green Wing," "Dirk Gently") will play the voice of the postman. Jim Broadbent ("Iris," "Moulin Rouge!"), Rupert Grint ("Harry Potter") and David Tennant ("Doctor Who," "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire") also lend their voices. In the...
- 9/16/2011
- by Joshua L. Weinstein
- The Wrap
In celebration of Postman Pat's 30th birthday, it's been announced that there will be a CG animated 3D movie made based on the 1980's British stop-motion animated kids TV series. I have never seen this series, but then I didn't grow up in the UK.
The movie will be called Postman Pat: The Movie – You Know You're the One. "The film finds Pat, everyone's favorite postman, coming face-to-face with the temptations of money, status and a shiny new suit when he enters a national TV talent show competition that threatens to tear him away from his hometown of Greendale and the friends he loves. What happens when kindness meets selfishness? When local fame meets global notoriety? A nice cup of tea is kicked aside by a frappacappucino? Pat is set to find out as he falls for the age old temptation of the grass being greener..."
The movie...
The movie will be called Postman Pat: The Movie – You Know You're the One. "The film finds Pat, everyone's favorite postman, coming face-to-face with the temptations of money, status and a shiny new suit when he enters a national TV talent show competition that threatens to tear him away from his hometown of Greendale and the friends he loves. What happens when kindness meets selfishness? When local fame meets global notoriety? A nice cup of tea is kicked aside by a frappacappucino? Pat is set to find out as he falls for the age old temptation of the grass being greener..."
The movie...
- 9/16/2011
- by Venkman
- GeekTyrant
Classic Media and Rgh Entertainment, the animation development and production unit of Rubicon Group Holding (Rgh), have announced that Postman Pat will be making his big screen debut in Postman Pat: The Movie . You Know You're the One . The announcement of the film, which will be released in CG 3D, is timed to today's celebration of Postman Pat's 30th birthday. The voice cast will be led by actor Stephen Mangan ("Episodes," "Green Wing," "Dirk Gently") as Postman Pat. Academy Award and BAFTA Award Winner Jim Broadbent ( Iris , Moulin Rouge! ), Rupert Grint ("Harry Potter" films), and David Tennant ("Doctor Who") will join Stephen in bringing the world of Postman Pat to life on the big screen. The film finds Pat, everyone's...
- 9/16/2011
- Comingsoon.net
Yesterday I awoke to a press release telling me that the BT Tower was going to be turned into a Lightsaber (and last night it came true) and this morning I get news that one of my childhood heroes, Postman Pat is going to get his own feature film! There’s a full press release from a well respected PR firm so it has to be true doesn’t it?!
The film finds Pat, everyone’s favourite postman, coming face-to-face with the temptations of money, status and a shiny new suit when he enters a national TV talent show competition that threatens to tear him away from his hometown of Greendale and the friends he loves. What happens when kindness meets selfishness? When local fame meets global notoriety? A nice cup of tea is kicked aside by a frappacappucino? Pat is set to find out as he falls for the...
The film finds Pat, everyone’s favourite postman, coming face-to-face with the temptations of money, status and a shiny new suit when he enters a national TV talent show competition that threatens to tear him away from his hometown of Greendale and the friends he loves. What happens when kindness meets selfishness? When local fame meets global notoriety? A nice cup of tea is kicked aside by a frappacappucino? Pat is set to find out as he falls for the...
- 9/16/2011
- by David Sztypuljak
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Dirk Gently, Doctor Who, Primeval, All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace and Wallander are amongst this week's UK TV highlights...
Douglas Adams' holistic detective, Dirk Gently, has a return engagement tonight, Friday, May 20th at 9:00pm, this time on BBC 2. We reviewed this pilot here, and the reaction comments were mixed. The show's expected to return with new adventures next year, so now's your chance to get a foot in the quirky agency's door, and let us know what you thought of the first show and your hopes for future episodes.
Doctor Who airs at 6:45pm this week, tomorrow night, Saturday, May 21st on BBC1. The first of a two-parter, The Rebel Flesh was written by Matthew Graham and we spoke to him recently about the upcoming episode. Of his two stories, he told us: "The Rebel Flesh and The Almost People are different [from Fear Her, penned specifically for children]. As far as I'm concerned,...
Douglas Adams' holistic detective, Dirk Gently, has a return engagement tonight, Friday, May 20th at 9:00pm, this time on BBC 2. We reviewed this pilot here, and the reaction comments were mixed. The show's expected to return with new adventures next year, so now's your chance to get a foot in the quirky agency's door, and let us know what you thought of the first show and your hopes for future episodes.
Doctor Who airs at 6:45pm this week, tomorrow night, Saturday, May 21st on BBC1. The first of a two-parter, The Rebel Flesh was written by Matthew Graham and we spoke to him recently about the upcoming episode. Of his two stories, he told us: "The Rebel Flesh and The Almost People are different [from Fear Her, penned specifically for children]. As far as I'm concerned,...
- 5/20/2011
- Den of Geek
Sky have announced the latest addition to their growing comedy slate, Spy, which will transmit this Autumn on Sky 1 HD. The series tells the story of Tim (Daren Boyd – pictured above), a single father trying to win back the respect and affections of his horribly precocious nine year old son, Marcus. In the hope of proving that he is not a complete loser, Tim quits his dead-end job but his life changes forever when he is accidentally recruited as a trainee spy for MI5.
Tim (Darren Boyd – Case Sensitive, Green Wing, Dirk Gently) struggles as he attempts to juggle family life and his professional life without his secret being discovered, least of all by Marcus, (newcomer Jude Wright). Supervising Tim at work is irrepressible MI5 boss, The Examiner, played by Robert Lindsay (My Family) who teaches the recruits his own unorthodox approach to the espionage game.
Adding to the chaos...
Tim (Darren Boyd – Case Sensitive, Green Wing, Dirk Gently) struggles as he attempts to juggle family life and his professional life without his secret being discovered, least of all by Marcus, (newcomer Jude Wright). Supervising Tim at work is irrepressible MI5 boss, The Examiner, played by Robert Lindsay (My Family) who teaches the recruits his own unorthodox approach to the espionage game.
Adding to the chaos...
- 5/11/2011
- by Phil
- Nerdly
Sky1 has announced that it has ordered a new comedy called Spy. The show stars Darren Boyd as a single father called Tim who quits his job in an attempt to impress his 9-year-old son Marcus (Jude Wright). However, Tim's life is shaken up when he is accidentally recruited as a trainee at MI5. He ends up having to balance his family life with his new career and struggles to keep it a secret. Boyd recently starred in Whites and Case Sensitive and has also worked in shows including Dirk Gently and Green Wing. The six-part series will also star My Family's Robert Lindsay as Tim's boss The Examiner, Dolly Wells as his ex-wife Judith, Tom Goodman-Hill as Judith's boyfriend Philip, and Mathew Baynton as Tim's friend Chris. Elsewhere, (more)...
- 5/10/2011
- by By Catriona Wightman
- Digital Spy
The holistic detective is coming back.Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently made his way to the small screen with a one hour, one off adaptation for BBC Four late in 2010. And while fans were mixed on the results the adaptation the ratings soared and the Beeb has responded by commissioning another three hours worth of Dirk, spread over three one hour episodes to air in 2012.Now, nobody has asked me, but here's some unsolicited advice. One, they need to up the absurdity. Dirk Gently in novel form revels in the quietly impossible things we experience and take for granted every day and expands those out into significantly larger absurdities. Hinting at them in the show - i.e. by including direct references to Dirk's fridge -...
- 4/3/2011
- Screen Anarchy
BBC Four has ordered three more instalments of Dirk Gently. A pilot for the show, which is based on a Douglas Adams novel, aired last December. The programme's star Stephen Mangan has now confirmed that the BBC has asked for some new episodes. Writing on his Twitter page, he said: "Dirk Gently gets recommissioned! BBC Four have asked for 3 x one hours... No news yet on what they will be about/which bits of the books will be there/when they will (more)...
- 3/31/2011
- by By Catriona Wightman
- Digital Spy
Stephen Mangan has admitted that he would be heartbroken if Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency was cancelled. The Green Wing actor last year played the title character in an adaptation of Douglas Adams's novel and suggested that a full-length series could be developed. Mangan told Metro: "If they axe BBC4 and Dirk Gently, the Douglas Adams detective show I (more)...
- 1/10/2011
- by By Mayer Nissim
- Digital Spy
Anyone catch this? Any good? Not sure I’d have gone with Stephen Mangan for Gently, but they don’t ask me these things. Even if I always did love Douglas Adams’s strange detective, and his eye on the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. I just heard about this, and can’t seem to find any, ahem, alternative methods for watching this. Guess I’ll have to wait for DVD... Dirk Gently aired in the U.K. on BBC4 in December; no U.S. or Canadian air dates have been announced.
- 1/10/2011
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
A lesser-known property from the late Douglas Adams (creator of The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy), Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency was nevertheless a novel Adams thought would be easier to film than his revered sci-fi opus. Previously turned into radio plays with Harry Enfield as the gumshoe, BBC4 have decided to put Dirk Gently on-screen for the first time, adapted by in-demand screenwriter Howard Overman (Misfits, Vexed). Stephen Mangan (Green Wing) plays the eponymous sleuth, who believes in “the fundamental interconnectedness of all things”, and applies this theory of quantum mechanics to solve superficially innocuous crimes.
Overman has wisely excised much of the book’s budget-swallowing imagination into something achievable on a frugal budget; bringing the idea down-to-earth as an eccentric cousin to the BBC’s Sherlock update. Purists may grumble this isn’t the Dirk Gently they wanted to see, but it’s more accessible and practicable.
Overman has wisely excised much of the book’s budget-swallowing imagination into something achievable on a frugal budget; bringing the idea down-to-earth as an eccentric cousin to the BBC’s Sherlock update. Purists may grumble this isn’t the Dirk Gently they wanted to see, but it’s more accessible and practicable.
- 12/17/2010
- by Dan Owen
- Obsessed with Film
Gentle reader, I want to take you on a journey. Shh. Be brave. Take my hand. It won't be so difficult if we go together. Come with me as we leave the fair and green hills of the BBC, past the dazzling city lights of Channel 4, to another land -- a harsh and unforgiving place, a dark underworld, where goblins with hair putty and beige Gap waistcoat-and-tie combinations lurk behind plague-riddled trees, and where long-haired mavens in Topshop LBDs sing auto-tuned songs of despair. Yes. Today we're taking a trip to ITV, the channel where a gibbous moon burns at night with the weight of all its glitter, and where poor people crowd by the side of the road, screaming with a mad passion that reveals their gaping gums, "I'm going to be the next Simon Cowell! Just you wait and see!" -- even as Lord Cowell's carriage trundles...
- 12/16/2010
- by Dustin Rowles
Stephen Mangan has admitted that some Dirk Gently fans may be disappointed by the new BBC Four adaptation. In a post on the BBC TV blog, the actor explained that the hour-long comedy-drama was a loose adaptation of the original Douglas Adams novels. "In my opinion, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul are unfilmable as written," he wrote. "Some people won't be satisifed unless the images they had in their head whilst reading the novel are translated exactly onto the screen." However, he insisted that the special (more)...
- 12/16/2010
- by By Morgan Jeffery
- Digital Spy
Douglas Adams. 1987 novel about a barking sleuth, whose breakout case is a missing cat investigation, has at last been honoured with a TV adaptation (Thursday 16 December at 9pm on BBC4). Harry Enfield played the detective when Dirk Gently was reworked for radio a few years ago. This time Stephen Mangan is the lead. He.s amusingly deranged, bovine eyes suit the sleuth imagined by Adams. And this one part, hour-long revision by Howard Overman (More >>...
- 12/15/2010
- by Ruth Margolis
- TV.com
Stephen Mangan has admitted that he is keen to film more episodes of Dirk Gently. The actor will appear as the unconvential detective in an hour-long BBC Four adaptation of Douglas Adams' 1987 novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. "[The episode] has elements of both novels, but we've only got an hour to do justice to the storylines and characters," he told SFX. "It doesn't contain some of the great characters from the books, but hopefully they'll turn up later on." He jokingly added: "Plus, it'll be nice when we do our (more)...
- 12/15/2010
- by By Morgan Jeffery
- Digital Spy
Stephen Mangan has admitted that he feels the pressure of playing Dirk Gently in a new BBC Four drama. It was confirmed in October that the actor had been cast as Gently in a loose adaptation of the Douglas Adams novels. "I do feel pressure that there's a big fanbase," he told SFX. "I played Adrian Mole years ago and I felt a similar pressure [then] because it's almost as if you're playing a real person, but a real person who everyone thinks looks different, [imagines] in a slightly different way, or who they've got a different idea of." Mangan suggested that the show's humour would help to differentiate it from other detective series. "If it's not (more)...
- 12/10/2010
- by By Morgan Jeffery
- Digital Spy
The BBC have debuted the first trailer for their new BBC Four drama based on Douglas Adams’ cult novel, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency.
Anti-hero Dirk Gently operates his eponymous detective agency based on the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. Perpetually broke, hopelessly chaotic and utterly infuriating, most people suspect Dirk is nothing more than a cheap conman. And they might be right – but nevertheless his methods, though unusual, do often produce surprising results. When Dirk sets out to solve an apparently simple and harmless disappearance of a cat from an old lady’s house, he unwittingly uncovers a double murder which, in turn, leads to a host of even more extraordinary events.
Dirk Gently stars Stephen Mangan as the eponymous hero, alongside Darren Boyd (Royal Wedding, Little Dorrit) as his unwitting sidekick Richard Macduff and Helen Baxendale (Cold Feet, Friends) as Richard’s girlfriend Susan in the adaptation by Bafta-winning Howard Overman (Misfits,...
Anti-hero Dirk Gently operates his eponymous detective agency based on the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. Perpetually broke, hopelessly chaotic and utterly infuriating, most people suspect Dirk is nothing more than a cheap conman. And they might be right – but nevertheless his methods, though unusual, do often produce surprising results. When Dirk sets out to solve an apparently simple and harmless disappearance of a cat from an old lady’s house, he unwittingly uncovers a double murder which, in turn, leads to a host of even more extraordinary events.
Dirk Gently stars Stephen Mangan as the eponymous hero, alongside Darren Boyd (Royal Wedding, Little Dorrit) as his unwitting sidekick Richard Macduff and Helen Baxendale (Cold Feet, Friends) as Richard’s girlfriend Susan in the adaptation by Bafta-winning Howard Overman (Misfits,...
- 12/8/2010
- by Phil
- Nerdly
I would never make the claim of being a massive fan of Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently books but I have read them, and enjoyed them immensely. I only say that because though I am ecstatic about the upcoming BBC4 television show I cannot offer up an opinion on whether or not they've 'hit it on the head'. It certainly looks like a detective show of sorts and Steve Mangan looks like he is detecting. I dunno. I always pictured Gently in my mind as just two steps away from becoming a miscreant. Perhaps I just needed to see a Viking in the trailer to assure me they're honoring the material. Those of you more intimate with the material please chime in and tell us what you think of the first trailer for the upcoming series.
Stephen Mangan will play Douglas Adams' eccentric detective Dirk Gently in a new...
Stephen Mangan will play Douglas Adams' eccentric detective Dirk Gently in a new...
- 12/8/2010
- Screen Anarchy
Howard Overman has revealed more details about his forthcoming adaptation of the Dirk Gently novels. It was announced in August that an hour-long pilot based on the Douglas Adams books was in development. The writer told SFX: "We're not saying it's an adaptation. We're... saying it's inspired by Douglas's work. The story is totally different to that in the books because they're not really adaptable as an hour-long, returning TV format." However, Overman added that the pilot, which will star Stephen Mangan (more)...
- 11/16/2010
- by By Morgan Jeffery
- Digital Spy
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