Dirk Gently: DVD Review

Dirk Gently: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by Roadshow and ITV

Douglas Adams' holistic detective is brought to the small screen in this short run series, canned by the BBC after just four outings.

Episodes star Steven Mangan plays the titular detective, a kind of ramshackle buffoon whose methods see him believing that everything is interconnected and related when investigating.

In these various episodes, including the pilot, Mangan plays Gently as borderline irritating and it takes a little while to adjust to him as the eponymous hero - but once you get over that, it falls neatly into place.

Some of the issue with Dirk Gently is he's similar to Dr Who in mannerisms and fans of that show may find it difficult to separate the two. Mangan however, works well as Dirk, as does Darren Boyd as his sidekick. There's a frenetic energy to the stories and the way they tie together by the final resolution is a testament to Adams' original visions of the character.

Dirk Gently works well as a one-shot series - anything longer could have proved majorly annoying thanks to ongoing kookiness but for a couple of hours' worth of entertainment and thanks to another great character turn by Mangan, it's a jolly enough romp.

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