Television Review: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

On New Years Eve our plan was not to have a plan and that plan turned into watching Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and eating Mac and Cheese. Success? Yes! I think so!

This was the BBC America supernatural comedy based on Douglas Adams’ book of the same name. I’ve not read the book yet (it sits on my shelf waiting to be loved) but I was assured that it was not a complete adaptation but more of a taking of ideas and moulding something new. Generally I really like it when a TV show/film do this with the massive exception being Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland but that rant is for another day, and I was quite impressed.

I devoured Douglas Adams when I was younger… Oh no, wait! I did not do that! I meant I read the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy books a lot and I really enjoyed them and really admire Douglas Adams as a writer.

Just to be clear, I did not eat Douglas Adams!

Over all I thought the series really carried Douglas Adams’ general style. Which in my modest analytical opinion can be defined as; the what-the-fuck-oh-wait-I-see-no-wait-I-lost-it-again approach to story-telling. Though there were a little too many guns for me.

I’m not going to try and explain the story (see above) but a general synopsis would be Dirk Gently, everyman Todd and gun- wielding, fantastic hair-having Farah must solve mystery revolves around time-travel, soul swapping and the flow of the universe. You might be able to tell that Farah was my favourite person in this, she was very grounding but also, like the other characters, completely mental.

The show has lots of side stories and characters with loads of buddy copping which could have been really confusing but the characters were written so well (and so in-keeping with Douglas Adams-y-ness) that I didn’t once say, “and who’s that again?”

It’s colourful and fun. It only lasted me two days and now I want the next season. So it’s a big thumbs up. It’s on Netflix so if you’ve got one of those and you like a good supernatural comedy based on one of the greatest British sci-fi author’s stories (in my opinion) give it a go! It’s only eight episodes long!

I think I’m going to read the book now… *shrug*