Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (Dramatised)

By: Douglas Adams

Narrated by: Harry Enfield, Billy Boyd, Andrew Sachs, Jim Carter

Length: 3 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

Harry Enfield and Billy Boyd star in a brand new, full-cast dramatisation of Douglas Adams' first Dirk Gently book, directed by the award-winning Dirk Maggs.

Dirk Gently has an unshakeable belief in the interconnectedness of all things, but his Holistic Detective Agency mainly succeeds in tracking down missing cats for old ladies. Then Dirk stumbles upon an old friend behaving bizarrely - and he's drawn into a four-billion-year-old mystery that must be solved if the human race is to avoid immediate extinction.

Harry Enfield stars as Douglas Adams' much-loved psychic sleuth, with Billy Boyd (The Lord of the Rings), Andrew Sachs (Fawlty Towers), Jim Carter (The Golden Compass), and Olivia Colman (Peepshow).

©1987 Douglas Adams (P)2007 BBC Audiobooks Ltd

Excellent dramatisation but wish for unabridged

I have now learned that I do not like dramatisations as, like another reviewer, I found all the background music and sound effects very distracting. But, having said that, I thought that as a dramatisation this production was excellent, the casting first class and the story great fun. It deserves its five stars.
Please audible could we have the whole "Hitch Hikers" and "Dirk Gently" read unabridged one day? This is a classic now from Douglas Adams, who set a whole new standard and style. and sadly we have so little of his work.

Amazingly Absurd

Top notch audio presentation, takes about 5 minutes to get rolling but once it goes it really moves. A three and a half hour presentation that sadly feels like a half hour due to the brisk pacing. Filled with great characters and they are voiced terrifically. The music fades in and out at all the right times and the sound effects overall are of the highest quality.

The story seems to duck and dodge common sense like a feather weight champion, never letting anything slow it down. If you have read or listened to any of the hitchhiker series you owe yourself this last treat of Douglas Adams delight. The only downside to this is you really start to wonder what other great unique works Douglas Adams could have written and produced if he hadn't left this world all to early.

person one: I WAS ONLY AMUSING MYSELF.

person two: IT'S GOOD YOU HAVE SUCH AN UNDEMANDING AUDIENCE.
When I was young I thought I had to read Douglas Adams, since he was so popular. I read every single book in the Hitch Hiker's series. To be honest, I never became a fan. I have found that when books are written with the sole purpose of being funny, that they are usually not funny. I love a book with funny parts in it, when you don't know they are coming and they are part of the story, but when every line is expected to get a laugh, I get bored.

I like dramatized books and thought I would give this a try, but even in this form I did not become a fan.

YOU MUST TELL ME THIS AGAIN, WHEN I'M INTERESTED

First rate

This is a wonderful rendering of Douglas Adams' novel. I'm listening to it in Enhanced Format, so the sound quality is quite good. The acting is first rate, as I've come to expect from BBC productions. I'm the proud owner of many Douglas Adams audio plays, including all the Hitchhiker's Guide radio plays, including Tertiary, Quandary and Quintessential. I never get tired of them, thanks to the quality of the productions (and Douglas Adams' great work). This was evidently done with loving care, directed by the talented Dirk Maggs, the same guy who did the most recent incarnations of Hitchhiker. The comedic timing, the music, the voice characterizations are all spot on. Billy Boyd (Pippin from Lord of the Rings) and Andrew Sachs (Manuel from Fawlty Towers) are perfect. Olivia Coleman as Janice Pearce is brilliant. And Harry Enfield in the title role really nails it. If you're a Douglas Adams fan, you will love this. I also purchased the other Dirk Gently audio play, The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul. Another must-have. Thanks, Audible, for the Enhanced Format, by the way. I've re-downloaded many purchases I've made over the years in this format, free of charge. For the sake of balance, I wish I could come up with one negative comment to make. I just can't think of one. Bravo.

Learned I Don't Like Dramatized Versions

I read this book many years ago and thought my son and I would listen to it on one of our long drives over the summer. I sadly discovered that the dramatized version was not entirely true to the storyline I recall from the book. I have to say I enjoyed reading this book much more than listening to this version.

Excellent!

I received the unabridged Douglas Adams narrated adaptation of this novel some years back and, while I thoroughly enjoyed the book I took issue with Adams' narration. Much of the humor was lost due to his general lack of expression. This BBC version, released folloing his death, is excellently done. Billy Boyd's portrayal of Richard MacDuff was just about what I would have imagined. Harry Enfield is excellent as Dirk, but I particularly liked the urgent yet sinister portrayal of Michael Wenton-Weakes and the ghost. And of course we mustn't forget Toby Longworth as the earnest and utterly whacky electric monk. In short I've rarely laughed as much or as hard as I did while listening to this.

Disappointed, sadly

I got this book highly recommended for its quirky humor, and I love hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. But this short radio play form does not do this one justice i feel. I found myself distracted, and straining to listen through the very dominant ambient sound.

lack of narration hurts it

it can be hard to understand at times due to no narration and must rely on sound effects.
the beginning especially is difficult to follow without context.

Great Book, don't get the dramatized version

This dramatized version wasn't bad, just not that good. There was an excessive use of sound effects and this book needs more than just dialogue to follow the story.

How Very Unfortunate

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I'm not sure who would enjoy this, it is a very bad re-production of a great book. I would say read the book and avoid this dramatized version, I bought it by mistake, if I could I would get my money back,

Would you ever listen to anything by Douglas Adams again?

Yes, if it was word for word.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

It was acted badly, period. The episodes repeated the same credits over and over.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I cant think of anything that redeemed this book at all.

Any additional comments?

Buy the real book, or get an actual audio book that is read verbatum, this is a bad re-production that took away from the fantastic original and replaced it with unfunny repetitive boredom. This is the one book I wood like a refund for.

Classic Adams!

I bought this audiobook after missing the last couple of broadcast episodes whilst away in India and I'm so glad I did. The recording is superb on mp3 player - every little detail comes over clearly so you can pick up on all the little comments and nuances.The story twists and turns right to the end and keeps you totally interested and amused.This is radio comedy at it's best, not laugh out loud but absorbing and intelligent. Like the Hitchhikers Guides, this is an audiobook I look forward to coming back to many times.

Dawkins' Favourite Book (Apparently)...

Douglas Adams stands apart from other authors in having most of his books professionally dramatised. This book is no exception, although I found it was the one that eluded my attention the longest.

Starting off with a lot of confusion & seemingly jumbled information, I initially put it aside for 1 year or so thinking that it was a bad note in an otherwise flawless collection of work.
However, I gave it another go &, once you get beyond the first CD, the plot begins to make sense & you understand why the book was written in such a way.

The basic plot is that Richard McDuff is falsely accused of murder after his boss (Gordon Way) is slain outside his car. McDuff then teams up with Dirk Gently (an enigmatic friend from college who has mysterious abilities) in order to find evidence to clear his name.

So far, so predictable.

What really makes stands this audio book out from the average detective yarn is the science included throughout the plot & the interesting complexities created by the Holistic nature of the universe (e.g. the fundamental inter-connectedness of all things, combined with time travel, means that a completed version of Kublai Khan (by Samuel Taylor Coleridge) spells the end of the human race).

And I suppose this is why it is such a great book - the plot & the sheer strangeness of the material demand repeat listening/ reading & rewards such people with added insights into what is an astonishingly intricate & well written plot.

Add to this that the story has been fully dramatised, with a well picked cast (including Harry Enfield at his best in the role of Dirk Gently) & you will find a true treat waiting to be discovered.
Get beyond the complexities of Adams' most difficult work & the scientific insights are there for the taking...

Awesome

Would you consider the audio edition of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (Dramatised) to be better than the print version?

Maybe

What other book might you compare Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (Dramatised) to, and why?

Terry Pratchett, they are both very cleaver writers who really draw you in and get you thinking.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

Good but I much prefer it when Douglas Adams narrates them himself. I think you get more of a feel for how he wanted it to be taken.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I work at St John's College and it was brilliant to think of it happening here. I really hope there is a Fellow here like the one in the book. I could believe that no one would notice they'd been here for ever.

Any additional comments?

The second book in this series is also beilliant.

Starts ok and then started to lose me

What did you like best about Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (Dramatised)? What did you like least?

The characters were good - I normally listen to audio books through my car stereo but found I had to use headphones to listen to this as I found I couldn't hear it properly so kept missing the plot - it started well but the story started to lose me new the end

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

After such an enjoyable beginning and middle I was disappointed at the end

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Narration was good

This is a play rather than a book

I didn't realise when I purchased this that it's actually played out rather than the book read out which is a shame as quite a lot of the humour is in the description of events rather than the events themselves. I prefer Douglas Adams writing style over someone else's interpretation so will be more careful next time.

So good I listened to it twice!

First of all I loved Douglas Adams work so I am slightly biased.
I have read this book a few times and decided to get the audiobook to pass my night away at work.
Brilliantly adapted and fairly true to the original manuscript. The chosen actors/comedians portrayed the characters fairly close to as I imagined they would be.
An intriguing and funny listen with Murders, ghosts, aliens, time travel, detectives and a horse. There is so much more to this novel and adaptation, well worth a listen.

Deus ex machina in pure form

In every chapter a new non-physical phenomenon is introduced. First an electric monk, then ghosts, time traveling and alien civilizations pop out of the blue into this story.

Great version just misses out the full sofa story

I really enjoyed this, and totally appreciate that you just can't get the whole book in, but sometimes a bit that gets missed, while not really part of the plot, is still a shame. Most people who love the book mention the sofa conundrum as their favourite bit. The sofa is there, but how it got there is missed out. This is just a warning for book lovers! The performance, casting, etc are fantastic and it's thoroughly enjoyable.

rather confusing

the way that this is dramatised is pretty confusing to me. It was overall fun to listen to but I didn't really get the plot. I might try to listen to it again, maybe I will get it then

The plot is harder to follow with dramatisation

The plot is confusing and whacky enough, and the cast are famous, however having never read the story it is easy to get lost with what is happening. The performance detracts from the story - and it would be better if the credits (& intro) were edited out of each chapter and compiled at the end. it would work on radio like this when the parts are aired weekly, but its a real downside when listening through