Options
Dirk Gently on BBC4
DICKENS99
Posts: 2,623 Forum Member
✭✭✭
..according to MediaGuardian, first novel to be adapted by the guy who writes Misfits and Vexed. Anyone got anymore info?
Casting could be interesting, I think Harry Enfield from the radio adaptations may be just a tad too old.
Casting could be interesting, I think Harry Enfield from the radio adaptations may be just a tad too old.
0
Comments
http://io9.com/5709322/first-trailer-from-dirk-gentlys-holistic-detective-agency-series
I am SOOOOO looking forward to this. The books were utter genius!
Good to see Helen Baxendale in it.
Come on beeb, show it asap......
(Thanks suzzle for the link)
Just because you have that mental image of Dirk in your head which doesn't fit into a Stephen Mangan mould, it doesn't mean the programme is going to be a disaster.
No-one knows if the story will be ruined until they see it and that's what they should be trying to get right. I don't care who they have cast as Dirk, Reg, or even the Electric Monk I'm looking forward to seeing it.
I don't think the above poster's mental image is the problem here.
According to the books he's described as a pudgy man who normally wears a heavy old light brown suit, red checked shirt with a green striped tie, long leather coat, red hat and thick metal-rimmed spectacles.
Not really a description of the tall Stephen Mangan chap as seen in pictures and trailers.
If we're going to start ignoring characters original descriptions stand by for Miss Marple as a 30-something career girl, Mr Darcy as a Californian surfer-dude, and Elsa the lion-cub as a meerkat.
As it's a one-off, for now, and also on a BBC4 budget, the writers supposedly taken the central characters but has created his own story around them, so don't hold your breath for the Electric Monk.
I have tried this a few times... It doesn't work.
Still, looking forward to this adaptation
but this happens all the time .
for instance Lewis from the Inspector Morse books is nothing like the tv version .
Ever heard of giving something a chance?
I'm looking forward to it. So what if it doesn't match your mental picture of Dirk. I'm all for imaginative adaptations (as in the recent BBC take on Sherlock) rather than line for line retelling of the book.
Great to see Helen Baxendale back on TV. I've always had a thing for her going back to Cardiac Arrest.
I still have the radio plays on CD. Got to get around to listening to them.
I loved the original radio plays of Hitch-hiker's. Plus the TV adaptation. The film was okay but not up to the first radio plays or TV series. The later radio plays were also some what lacking in my opinion.
Agreed - another example: Stephen Fry was nothing like the Jeeves in the PG Woodhouse stories - who is late middle aged and quite portly. I can't imagine anyone else in the role now.
In one of the trailer scenes where Dirk is mapping events onto a blackboard you can see mention of various book plot points such as the electric monk, but whether they will figure in the film itself is another question.
The description in the radio times doesn't indicate any fantasy/sci fi elements at all which makes me wonder how many of the original story elements will be retained.
I don't think it is an adaption tho , I believe it's a new story .
Okay. Sorry my mistake, I was under the impression that it was an adaptation.
I quite enjoyed it for what it was but think they should have at least had 3 episodes, hopefully it will get a series because it was much better than Vexed which got a whole series. Not holding out much hope though with it being stuck on BBC four and no one is talking about it.
I was also surprised they filmed it in Bristol. I thought Cardiff had stolen all the drama :mad: They seem to have done a good job of keeping it secret. I would not have known about it had it not been for this forum and they filmed some of it in our Admin Offices :eek: Plus the only people I know that watched it did so because I told them. No one had heard about it through normal advertising.
Of course I have! However, I believe the books were good enough to deserve a retelling rather than an 'imaginative adaptation'.
So I can't watch because for me it will take something away from the books if I'm left with different images, such as Stephen playing the part of Dirk, and judging from the trailer I watched, giving him a personality transplant.