The Connection Between Dirk Gently and Doctor Who
By Leah Tedesco
Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently has a connection to Doctor Who. Could Dirk and the Doctor team up now that the detective has his own show?
If you are a fan of Doctor Who, it is highly likely that you will also greatly enjoy the new television series Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. Based on novels by Douglas Adams, it is like Sherlock, only more chaotic and demented — sort of like if one combined Bored to Death and Drop Dead Fred. Within the first few minutes of the first episode, I was already hooked.
Douglas Adams worked for Doctor Who in 1978, 1979, and 1983. He wrote the episodes ‘The Pirate Planet‘ and ‘Shada.’ He co-wrote, but was uncredited for, both the episode ‘Destiny of the Daleks‘ and the Children in Need special ‘The Five Doctors.’ As David Agnew, he also co-wrote ‘City of Death.’ In Season Seventeen, Adams was the script editor. He is best known for penning The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy novel series, with the third installment, Hitchhiker’s Guide, Life, The Universe and Everything, originally having been intended as a story for Doctor Who.
While this is fairly well known amongst fans of the show, what is less well known is that, while working on the program, “he came up with several ideas that, over time, evolved into a brand new character whose adventures are just as bizarre and amusing.” That character is Dirk Gently. The vague parallels are interesting, including his choosing particular “assistants.”
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In a recent interview with William “Bibbs” Bibbiani of CraveOnline, Samuel Barnett — the actor who plays Dirk Gently — answered a question about a possible crossover of the two shows. He says that he is a huge fan of Doctor Who, and is aware of the history linking it with Dirk Gently. He feels that while a meeting between Dirk and Sherlock would lead to an implosion of the Universe because “they just wouldn’t get each other,” one between Dirk and the Doctor “would actually work.” According to him, the latter pair “would be a match made in heaven.”
"I would love some sort of, either Doctor Who comes to Dirk or Dirk comes to Doctor Who and the TARDIS appears and they do an adventure together, and that’s it. I think that would be amazing. And it would be totally in-keeping. In fact you’ll see more and more as this season develops, you’ll see more and more that would be totally in-keeping with the way Doctor Who works."
For years, there have been a lot of strong opinions one way or the other concerning a hypothetical crossover between Doctor Who and Sherlock. As one is highly unlikely to happen, perhaps we should focus on this new proposition.
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