Douglas Adams

Compared to Whitechapel over on ITV1, the cases ­investigated by Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency make perfect logical sense.

But the first pilot episode of this BBC4 comedy screened back in 2010 got a mixed reception.

People who hadn't read Douglas Adams' original novels tended to like it more than devotees.

They were peeved that Dirk Gently wasn't played by a pudgy man wearing a red hat, a green striped tie and thick metal ­specs, but by Stephen Mangan.

Fans also objected to the way Howard Overman's script left out so much of the book's detail - which is a bit like complaining that you can't fit the entire British Olympic Squad on a push-bike.

Recommissioned for three episodes (they're nothing if not bold at BBC4!) Mangan returns along with Darren Boyd as his much put-upon partner Macduff.

It's a name that's perfectly suited to being chewed over and spat out with scorn as Gently does here.

Tonight Dirk must discover the connection between a man who thinks the Pentagon wants to kill him and another man who thinks his horoscopes are coming true.

According to Dirk's holistic view, these two seemingly unconnected cases must be linked.

And fans of Adams' novels will be pleased to see Dirk's theory of "Zen Navigation" comes straight from his book, The Long Dark Tea Time Of The Soul.

Basically, if you have no idea where you're headed, just find a car that looks like it knows where it's going and follow that.

Howard Overman: Gently is another 'comic take on genre'

There's a fourth series of Misfits coming, and a US pilot created with Josh Schwartz. But first comes an adaptation of Douglas Adams's 'holistic detective' tales.

After a successful pilot, Howard Overman's (Misfits) adaptation of Douglas Adams's detective tales gets a three-part run. Stephen Mangan stars as the gauche sleuth with a knack for solving cases by circuitous means. The opener finds Gently and put-upon associate MacDuff (Darren Boyd) in Cambridge tackling a conspiracy theory and a murder. Meanwhile, Macduff's girlfriend Susan (Helen Baxendale) is also in Cambridge at an interview for a new job which, if she got it, would mean the end of Gently and Macduff's detective partnership.

Top 5 Douglas Adams characters

Stephen Mangan returns to BBC Four in Dirk Gently next week as the morally dubious, self-styled Holistic Detective. In anticipation, CultBox are thumbing a lift around the galaxy of creator Douglas Adams's finest characters...

Archive letter: Douglas Adams writes to Disney exec

During the return flight of a fruitless trip to L.A., close to boiling point, Adams expertly wrote the following letter to Disney executive David Vogel, complete with a comically long list of ways for him to get in touch.

Stars gather to mark Douglas Adams' 60th

The 60th birthday of the late writer Douglas Adams, creator of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, is to be marked with a special show.

Stephen Fry to judge H2G2 animation comp

TV presenter Stephen Fry is to judge an international competition, launched by literature and technology site The Literary Platform, to animate an audio recording of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams.

Celebrate life, the universe and everything in 2012

Sunday, 11 March, 2012, Douglas Adams's 60th birthday, is the day to celebrate the man who gave us life, the universe and everything.

Douglas Adams fans get their towels out

It's Towel Day all over the world for fans of Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Towel Day: a hoopy frood pays homage

The lovable silliness of Douglas Adams has an enduring appeal that will keep people looking for their towels for years to come.