Thursday 16 December 2010, 10:33
It's been made very clear to me, mainly through conversations on Twitter, that a lot of people hold the Dirk Gently books in great affection and that they are going to be very upset if we don't get it right.
Dirk is 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".
Well, I'm a man; we got that much right. But I'm not that pudgy and I play Dirk wearing none of the clothes described.
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Does that matter? Should they have scoured the country for a chunkier actor? I believe there are some out there.
Without the red hat is the whole enterprise doomed to failure? Is playing him without a green striped tie tantamount to dancing on Douglas Adams' grave?
There are still people out there furious that James Bond is being played by a man with blond hair.
A blond Bond? The books say he has black hair falling down over the right eyebrow!
It's a thorny old question - how slavishly should a screen adaptation follow the book?
Some people won't be satisfied unless the images they had in their head whilst reading the novel are translated exactly onto the screen.
But what most people want, I imagine, is that they enjoy the screen version as much as, if not more, than they enjoyed the book and that the spirit of the book is preserved - if not the thick metal-rimmed glasses.
In my opinion Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul are unfilmable as written.
You couldn't begin to do justice to them in a single hour of television. Too much happens, there are too many ideas.
So Howard Overman, our writer who knows a thing or two about writing for television, as any of you who watched Misfits will know, decided that if he was going to write an hour of telly then it needed to work as an hour of telly first and foremost.
It sounds obvious but you'd be amazed how often that isn't the priority.
Once that's established and you realise that you can't shoehorn the whole book into that time, you've got some decisions to make, what's in and what's out? What do we need to invent or add to make what's in work?
Once everyone's happy with the script, you cast it. Again, does it matter that I don't look like the Dirk that's described in the books? Is it enough that the actor gets the spirit of the character?
Dirk is one of the most interesting and complex characters I've played. He's charming, irritating, bright, funny, hapless, unreadable, transparent, roguish, chaotic, philanthropic and possibly dishonest.
If I get all that right, am I allowed to be too thin?
Television is a team sport, novel writing isn't. Our film has creative input from Howard, me, the director, the producer, the rest of the cast and dozens of others.
And all the stuff from the books that doesn't feature is still sitting there ready for us to use once the BBC commissions a 58-part series...
I'm extremely proud of how it's turned out. I hope you enjoy it.
Stephen Mangan plays Dirk Gently in Dirk Gently.
Dirk Gently is on BBC Four and BBC HD on Thursday, 16 December at 9pm.
Comments made by writers on the TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.
All posts are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules.
Tuesday 14 December 2010, 09:56
Monday 20 December 2010, 09:00
Comment number 1.
Gordon Jones16th December 2010 - 15:47
I am a massive fan of the Douglas Adams novels, more so even than Doctor Who which seems like a rather oxymoronic statement to make since I am finishing a 200,000 words plus book based on Doctor Who, there's an inflatable dalek in the corner of my room watching me type this and my attire is not too dissimilar from that of the Doctors but it's true. Oxymoronic or not, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy started just about everything good in my life and it is with some gleeful sense of coming full circle that I write this comment using the very profile and username from H2G2 that started off my life on the internet and gave me the name of my most important literary creation.
On to the subject of whether it's right for a tv series to deviate from a book I would point out that Douglas never let any one version of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in one format be the same as another in a different format so if anything we should be having a go at Harry Enfield for being too like the literary version of Dirk Gently when he played him on audio and thus bucking the trend by failing to buck it.
Also I must admit that when I saw the trailer for Dirk Gently I noticed a number of similarities to the new Sherlock adaptation and indeed the way you two (including the man who plays Richard Macduff, wonderful actor) look seems to be a direct parody, even down to the haircuts and there was rather a shot of tweed which seemed to be reflecting the new Doctor but these similarities are no bad thing.
Even with a cynical mindset having an Dirk and Dick (or Gently and Macduff if you prefer) updated in a manner akin to a new Doctor and Sherlock is no bad thing as it puts bums on seats, allows BBC Worldwide to make rather nice comparisons to aid selling it and means other genius and sidekick shows will be able to start without too much fear of Moffaty vengeance and if said shows occur then a few might run and that can only be a good thing in the long run.
From an uncynical view parodying or even homaging popular shows is something which Douglas always did and I'm glad to see the trend continues even if, as I suspect, such similarities are largely skin deep.
Personally I like the idea of a young-ish man playing Dirk as it allows for the potential of an incredibly long running series and however unlikely that might actually be, I'm pleased to see the potential.
Anyway sorry for the rather essay length comment and some of it not being entirely relevant.
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Comment number 2.
Briantist16th December 2010 - 19:38
There was the small matter of Zaphod Beeblebrox being described in the book as having "fair tousled hair stuck out in random directions, his blue eyes glinted with something completely unidentifiable, and his chins were almost always unshaven." and BBC television made a dark new-romantic pirate.
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Comment number 3.
Briantist16th December 2010 - 19:43
In the same TV series, the book said "Trillain was slim, darkish, humanoid, with long waves of black hair, a full mouth, an odd little nob of a nose and ridiculously brown eyes. With her red head scarf knotted in that particular way and her long flowing silky brown dress she looked vaguely Arabic", and they cast a platinum blond American.
Basically, get the story right, and we will forgive the hat and diet.
Anyway, when we move on, you can now, of course, get pizza delivered to your door (or hospital bed).
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Comment number 4.
Jamie16th December 2010 - 19:44
The hat I can just about get over, but if this adaptation fails to include a horse and a pink monk, I will be furious. That is all.
Link to this (Comment number 4)
Comment number 5.
AuroratheBlack16th December 2010 - 20:24
Hate to break it to you Jamie but there is not only an absence of monk but also no Reg.
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