"Coincidence!  Richard, have you learned nothing of the holistic interconnectedness of all things? Coincidence is the surest indication that nature has coned off the highway of logic and put you firmly into a transdimensional contraflow."

A corpse that was strangled after it was shot, a bathroom containing a horse covered in pink dust, the lost poetry of Coleridge, the found music of JS Bach, a whole slew of missing cats ... and an Electric Monk in search of something to Believe In. Only Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective, can join the dots in a random series of events and come up with a solution that reveals a secret so huge that the entirety of everything hinges on it.
Richard MacDuff (BILLY BOYD) has been invited back to a St Cedd's College Coleridge Dinner by his old Cambridge tutor 'Reg' Chronotis (ANDREW SACHS). But Richard has forgotten a vital promise to his girlfriend Susan Way (FELICITY MONTAGU) - a promise that could end their relationship. While Richard attempts to break into Susan's flat to retrieve an incriminating answerphone tape, his employer - Susan's brother, Gordon (ROBERT DUNCAN) - is undergoing a permanent out-of body experience thanks to a mystery assailant in the boot of his car. Richard is prime suspect and his old college friend Svlad Cjelli - now known as Dirk Gently, Holistic Detecive (HARRY ENFIELD) - assisted by the eternally disgruntled Janice Pearce (OLIVIA COLMAN) - realises that forces are at work which are unlikely to be obvious to his fingerprints-and-pocket-fluff-sifting nemesis, Detective Sergeant Gilks (JIM CARTER).

Cast

Dirk Gently - HARRY ENFIELD
Janice Pearce - OLIVIA COLMAN
Richard Macduff - BILLY BOYD
Professor "Reg" Chronotis - ANDREW SACHS
Detective Sergeant Gilks - JIM CARTER
Susan Way - FELICITY MONTAGU
Michael Wenton Weakes - MICHAEL FENTON STEVENS
The Electric Monk - TOBY LONGWORTH
Gordon Way - ROBERT DUNCAN
George III - JEFFREY HOLLAND
Constable Luke - WAYNE FORESTER
Petrol Attendant - PHILIP POPE
Lady Magna - TAMSIN HEATLEY
Porter 2 - ANDY SECOMBE
Porter 1 - JON GLOVER
Newsreader - NEIL SLEAT
Announcer - JOHN MARSH

Production Team

Based on DIRK GENTLY'S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY by Douglas Adams
Dramatised by Dirk Maggs & John Langdon
Music by Philip Pope

Sound Design by Paul Weir and Dirk Maggs
Live Sound Effects by Alison Mackenzie
Cast Recording by Paul Deeley at The Soundhouse Ltd

Production Assistant: Lisa Meyer
Executive Producer: Helen Chattwell
Produced by Jo Wheeler & Dirk Maggs
Directed by Dirk Maggs
An ABOVE THE TITLE Production for BBC Radio 4