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Stephen Mangan has revealed the BBC has axed Dirk Gently. He broke the news on Twitter that the comedy-drama, based on the Douglas Adams novels, will not be returning to BBC4. He wrote: “It gives me no pleasure whatsoever to report that the BBC have decided not to make any more Dirk Gently.”
The pilot episode attracted 1.1 million viewers in 2010, and was followed by three hour-long episodes earlier this year. By the last episode, audiences had fallen to 592,000 – but still strong for BBC4.
A BBC spokesman said that the show will not be recommissioned because of a freeze on the licence fee had led to budget cuts across BBC Four. “We’ll focus on the best dramas from around the globe, like The Killing and Borgen”, they said.
Last year, Stephen Mangan admitted that he would be ‘heartbroken’ if the BBC ever cancelled the show, joking: “I’ll go round there and smash the place up with my bare hands.”
Howard Overman, whose credits include Misfits, adapted two of Adams’ books – Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, for the BBC series.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.