Way back in January, BBC Radio 4 announced that it had commissioned Above the Title Productions to make radio plays based on Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently series. The script was by Dirk Maggs, the same fellow who was hand picked by Adams to adapt the final three Hitchhiker's books for radio.
In October, the first series began airing, and last month, the recordings were released on CD.
Being a huge fan of Douglas Adams (and knowing that the last two phases of Hitchhiker's -- which were pretty much done entirely without Douglas' input -- weren't especially great), I was somewhat apprehensive that they would screw this up. The Dirk Gently novels are just as funny and well-written as Hitchhiker's (it not a bit darker), but the books are complex and can be very confusing at times.
Well, after taking the time to listen to it over the past couple of days, I realize that I needn't have worried. It's excellent! For one, it's an actual radio play, not a book on tape. The script focuses almost entirely on the sharp, witty, and usually laugh-out-loud-funny dialog that is classic Adams while staying away from simple narration. The story is restructured so as to work better in the radio format, but it works very well and is completely faithful.
It's a bit hard to follow at the start (and this is coming from someone who's familiar with the story, although truthfully the books themselves are hard to follow as well sometimes), but once you get into it things really start to shine.
The casting, in my opinion, was spot-on. The voice acting and sound design are stellar. Here's the cast:
HARRY ENFIELD - Dirk Gently
BILLY BOYD - Richard Macduff
OLIVIA COLMAN - Janice Pearce
JIM CARTER - DS Gilks
ANDREW SACHS - Professor Reg Chronotis
FELICITY MONTAGU - Susan Way
ROBERT DUNCAN - Gordon Way
TOBY LONGWORTH - Electric Monk
MICHAEL FENTON STEVENS - Michael Wenton Weakes
Guest appearances include ANDREW SECOMBE, JON GLOVER, JEFFREY HOLLAND, WAYNE FORESTER, and TAMSIN HEATLEY.
If you're a fan of the books, of Douglas Adams, or of science-fiction-mystery-comedy in general, you owe it to yourself to check this out. From quantum physics, cats, and fractal theory to computer software, Coleridge, and electric monks, this series has a little something for everybody and really goes out of its way to show the interconnectedness of everything.
Here's an Amazon link for you: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gentlys-Holistic-Detective-Agency-Audio/dp/1405677430
And sorry if this has been already posted, but a quick search didn't turn up anything.
In October, the first series began airing, and last month, the recordings were released on CD.
Being a huge fan of Douglas Adams (and knowing that the last two phases of Hitchhiker's -- which were pretty much done entirely without Douglas' input -- weren't especially great), I was somewhat apprehensive that they would screw this up. The Dirk Gently novels are just as funny and well-written as Hitchhiker's (it not a bit darker), but the books are complex and can be very confusing at times.
Well, after taking the time to listen to it over the past couple of days, I realize that I needn't have worried. It's excellent! For one, it's an actual radio play, not a book on tape. The script focuses almost entirely on the sharp, witty, and usually laugh-out-loud-funny dialog that is classic Adams while staying away from simple narration. The story is restructured so as to work better in the radio format, but it works very well and is completely faithful.
It's a bit hard to follow at the start (and this is coming from someone who's familiar with the story, although truthfully the books themselves are hard to follow as well sometimes), but once you get into it things really start to shine.
The casting, in my opinion, was spot-on. The voice acting and sound design are stellar. Here's the cast:
HARRY ENFIELD - Dirk Gently
BILLY BOYD - Richard Macduff
OLIVIA COLMAN - Janice Pearce
JIM CARTER - DS Gilks
ANDREW SACHS - Professor Reg Chronotis
FELICITY MONTAGU - Susan Way
ROBERT DUNCAN - Gordon Way
TOBY LONGWORTH - Electric Monk
MICHAEL FENTON STEVENS - Michael Wenton Weakes
Guest appearances include ANDREW SECOMBE, JON GLOVER, JEFFREY HOLLAND, WAYNE FORESTER, and TAMSIN HEATLEY.
If you're a fan of the books, of Douglas Adams, or of science-fiction-mystery-comedy in general, you owe it to yourself to check this out. From quantum physics, cats, and fractal theory to computer software, Coleridge, and electric monks, this series has a little something for everybody and really goes out of its way to show the interconnectedness of everything.
Here's an Amazon link for you: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gentlys-Holistic-Detective-Agency-Audio/dp/1405677430
And sorry if this has been already posted, but a quick search didn't turn up anything.
