History Main / DirkGently

* TheIshmael: Richard in the first book is not actually the narrator but is probably the viewpoint character. In ''The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul'' Dirk is more properly the viewpoint character and the device is dropped.

* PhonyPhonyPsychic: As described above under LaserGuidedKarma; Dirk has twice [[PhonyPsychic posed as a psychic]], been uncannily right both times, and got arrested for it the first time. He now spends a lot of time insisting to people who were there that he's ''not'' psychic. Usually they don't believe him and his reputation from the ''first'' incident often precedes him.

Both books were adapted for [[TheBBC BBC radio]] in 2007, starring Harry Enfield as Dirk. The first book was adapted (as ''Dirk Gently'') for a BBC television pilot in 2010, starring [[GreenWing Stephen Mangan]]; it has since been commissioned for a series, the first episode of which aired on March 5th 2012.

!!Adaptations of this series provide examples of:

* TheAllegedCar
* ArcWords / CatchPhrase: "Embrace the chaos", "Follow the web of interconnected events".
* ArtisticLicenseGeography: The island Dirk is showing having escaped to in the conclusion is actually Hispaniola. Barbados is about a thousand miles further East in the Lesser Antilles.
* BritishBrevity: The series to date comprises a pilot followed by three episodes almost two years later.
* CassandraTruth: [[spoiler:Oliver Reynolds]] in the first episode of the series, [[spoiler:Dr Ransome]] in the second.
* CowTools: Dirk's office is full of them. It's just the way he is.
* FreezeFrameBonus / MythologyGag: In the [=BBC4=] adaption, at one point on Dirk's whiteboard/wall there are numerous references to the first Dirk Gently novel.
* GenreSavvy: In the third episode, [[spoiler:Dirk's figured out his cases are generally never solved without lots of seemingly-random plot-threads coming together. It leads him to keep looking for the murderer even when the obvious killer's been arrested (and he's right, too.)]]
* MexicoCalledTheyWantTexasBack: Inverted at the end of the first episode of the series.
* NeuralImplanting: [[spoiler:Used by Max to [[BecomeARealBoy Become a Real Girl]]]].
* OvertookTheSeries: Considering the series is only two books and a fragment, this was inevitable.
* PragmaticAdaptation: The BBC4 adaptation removes all of the ''Shada'' elements and tells a much simpler story without losing the spirit of the source material. With it being only one hour long, something was always going to have to go.

* SiblingSwitchSquick: In the book, Gordon and Susan are siblings - in the TV adaptation, Gordon is Susan's ex.
* SinisterSurveillance: Oliver Reynolds is convinced he's being watched by the Pentagon. Even before the opening titles roll, we see that he's right.
* TheTeaser: The opening titles don't appear until eight to nine minutes in. Particularly unusual considering that BBC shows tend not to use teasers at all.

* UncannyValley: Professor Jericho's robot.

* ArcWords/CatchPhrase: "Embrace the chaos", "Follow the web of interconnected events".

Both books were adapted for [[TheBBC BBC radio]] in 2007, starring Harry Enfield as Dirk. The first book was adapted (as ''Dirk Gently'') for a BBC television pilot in 2010, starring [[GreenWing Stephen Mangan]]; it has since been commissioned for a series, "coming soon" as of February 2012.

Both books were adapted for [[TheBBC BBC radio]] in 2007, starring Harry Enfield as Dirk. The first book was adapted (as ''Dirk Gently'') for a BBC television pilot in 2010, starring [[GreenWing Stephen Mangan]]; it has since been commissioned for a series.

Both books were adapted for [[TheBBC BBC radio]] in 2007, starring Harry Enfield as Dirk. The first book was adapted (as ''Dirk Gently'') for a BBC television pilot in 2010, starring Stephen Mangan; it has since been commissioned for a series.

* ''SalmonOfDoubt''

!!This series provides examples of:

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dirk_Gently_9079.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Without a doubt, [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative the best time-traveling romantic detective ghost comedy ever written.]]]]


''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'' and ''Literature/TheLongDarkTeaTimeOfTheSoul'' are the two books written by DouglasAdams (of ''TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' fame) starring the character Dirk Gently. A third novel under the working title ''{{The Salmon Of Doubt}}'' was in the works, but its publication was prevented by [[AuthorExistenceFailure Adams' death]].

* AbsentMindedProfessor: Professor Chronotis

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: ''Literally''. Well, it was [[SamuelTaylorColeridge Coleridge]] and [[JohannSebastianBach Bach]]... okay, just read the book.
* BewareOfHitchhikingGhosts: The driver of a car is horrified when he sees the ghost of his boss appear in front the car. The ghost, on the other hand, is horrified to see another ghost ''in the car's passenger seat''.

** ''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'': A poem, a conjuring trick, and a ''stuck couch'' in the first few chapters are all linked by the end.
* {{Expy}}: Because of the first book's RecycledScript from "Shada", an abandoned ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode, [[spoiler:Reg is essentially a retired Time Lord with an unusual TARDIS.]]
** Compare Richard and Dirk to PGWodehouse's Mike and Psmith, and the similarities can seem uncanny.
* TheFogOfAges: [[spoiler:Professor Chronotis]] suffers from this.
* GenreBusting: ''DGHDA'' is described by its author as a "detective-ghost-horror-who dunnit-time travel-romantic-musical-comedy-epic".
* HistoricalInJoke
* ImpersonatingAnOfficer: Used by Dirk as part of his BavarianFireDrill.
* IrrevocableMessage: Which Richard attempts to revoke by [[spoiler:breaking into his girlfriend's apartment (while possessed by a ghost). And he ultimately ''succeeds'', for altogether more convoluted reasons ...]]

* LiteraryWorkOfMagic
* MagiciansAreWizards

* OneSteveLimit: Averted with Gordon's sister Susan and secretary Susan at the office.
* OurGhostsAreDifferent
* {{Oxbridge}}
* PeekabooCorpse: A ghost discovers ''his own'' corpse in a cupboard. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny And faints.]]

* PlugNPlayTechnology: [[JustifiedTrope justified]]

* TheRedStapler: [=WayForward=] Technologies became the name of a real company that makes video games. And indeed, it is named for its founder, Voldi Way.
* RefusalOfTheCall: See Phony Psychic, above.
* ReligiousRobot: Electric Monks are robots specifically designed to believe in stuff, which frees up its creator race for other things. The one that appears in the book goes wrong though, and starts to believe in too much.
-->The Electric Monk was a labour-saving device, like a dishwasher or a video recorder. Dishwashers washed tedious dishes for you, thus saving you the bother of washing them yourself, video recorders watched tedious television for you, thus saving you the bother of looking at it yourself; Electric Monks believed things for you, thus saving you what was becoming an increasingly onerous task, that of believing all the things the world expected you to believe.
* RippleEffectProofMemory: More prevalent here than usual; you have to lead a very sheltered life to never notice little discrepancies between your memories and reality.
* RubberBandHistory
* SanDimasTime
* StevenUlyssesPerhero: [[spoiler: Albert Ross]]
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Deliberately invoked by Dirk at university. By carefully denying the most extraordinary things, he convinces his fellow students that he's a psychic, mystic, telepathic, clairvoyant, psychosassic, vampire bat.
-->What did "psychosassic" mean?
-->[[PerfectlyCromulentWord It was his own word and he vigorously denied it meant anything at all.]]
* TalkingInYourSleep: How Dirk's supposed psychic powers manifested.
* ThisIsAWorkOfFiction: ''Holistic Detective Agency'' disclaims any resemblance to real people "living, dead, or wandering the night in ghostly torment".
* TimeTravelTropes
* TriggerPhrase: "my maiden aunt from Winnipeg"

* WhatHaveWeEar
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Or, technically, be dead and floating around as a ghost forever.

* TheAllegedCar: TropeNamer
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: In ''Teatime'', King's Cross Station is a scary place, full of muggers, pimps, drug-pushers and hamburger salesmen. This gets mentioned several times.
-->If you wanted quick sex, or a dirty fix, or - God help you - a hamburger...

* BalefulPolymorph: Thor does this by accident when he's angry, thus setting off the events of ''Long Dark Teatime of the Soul''. His many unfortunate victims include a kitten, an airline ticket clerk, and [[spoiler:a fighter jet]].

* BigBadassBirdOfPrey: The eagle from ''Long Dark Tea-Time'', a bird of prey which is not what it seems.

** Also occurs in the weirdest way (it's Douglas Adams after all) in the sequel, ''The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul''. Needless to say, Norse Gods and a somewhat popular ''song'' are involved in the apparent suicide by beheading of some dude. Also, Dirk's non-working fridge? That has something to do with it as well: [[spoiler: By way of providing a very literal DeusExMachina.]]
* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: Said to apply to the gods, even as regards their own powers.
* TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch: One of the most contrived explanations for a "suicide" that has ever been committed to print. Admittedly this was to satisfy the [[{{Muggles}} police]], who were pointedly not interested in the idea that the victim had been killed by a goblin as part of a demonic contract ...
** It's a case of TakeOurWordForIt, as it's never explained in detail to the reader, but it involves a lot of [[NoodleImplement Noodle Implements]].
* DealWithTheDevil: ''Long Dark Tea-Time'' centers around this. The kicker: [[spoiler:the devil is trying to help Odin get out of an even nastier advertising deal.]]
* DeusExMachina: [[spoiler: The ending of the second book, while appropriate, neatly finishes all the plot threads in about five pages.]]
** Also slightly subverted: [[spoiler:In the process of solving all the plot problems, the Deus Ex Machina also puts a massive hole in Dirk's house. In ''The Salmon of Doubt'', it's still a problem.]]

* GodsNeedPrayerBadly
* AGoodNameForARockBand: In ''Long Dark Tea-Time,'' "Pugilism and the Third Autistic Cuckoo."
-->"It can mean whatever you want it to mean."

* ImpossiblyMundaneExplanation: DirkGently does this to some extent in ''The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul''. When he meets a girl who repeatedly recites the previous day's stock quotes, he rejects the assumption that she's just memorizing them somehow (after all, the information is out there!) in favor of some more mystical explanation, because nobody would ever go to that much trouble. It's a little different since he's arguing on the basis of general human nature, not specific character, but the principle is the same.
** Dirk Gently sums this up by reversing SherlockHolmes' usual maxim: Eliminate the improbable, and whatever remains, however impossible, must be the truth.

* ItCameFromTheFridge: In ''Teatime'', Dirk and his cleaning lady absolutely refuse to open his fridge, and try to trick others into opening it. He eventually has to call a fence to take his fridge away and replace it with a brand new, stolen one, which he vows never to use. [[spoiler:The old one has a god of Guilt burst from it to resolve the plot, in a DeusExMachina.]]

* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: In ''Tea-Time'':
-->"I'm a private detective."\\
"Oh?" said Kate in surprise, and then looked puzzled.\\
"Does that bother you?"\\
"It's just that I have a friend who plays the double bass."\\
"I see," said Dirk.\\
"Whenever people meet him and he's struggling around with it, they all say the same thing, and it drives him crazy. They all say, 'I bet you wished you played the piccolo.' Nobody ever works out that that's what everybody else says. I was just trying to work out if there was something that everybody would always say to a private detective so that I could avoid saying it."\\
"No. What happens is that everybody looks very shifty for a moment, and you got that very well."
* NinetyPercentOfYourBrain: Kate, shortly before awakening from a coma in a hospital, has a dream in which her mind is represented by an infinite collection of cabin trunks, of which ten percent contain past memories, and the remaining ninety percent contain [[EverythingsBetterWithPenguins penguins]]. She assumes this trope is in effect.
* NorseMythology: In "Long Dark Tea-Time." Lots of.

* PhonyPhonyPsychic: As described above under LaserGuidedKarma; Dirk has twice [[PhonyPsychic posed as a psychic]], been uncannily right both times, and got arrested for it the first time. He now spends a lot of time insisting to people who were there that he's ''not'' psychic. Usually they don't believe him and his reputation from the ''first'' incident often precedes him. In ''Teatime'', he starts throwing out the usual psychic nonsense (while in drag), and again turns out to be exactly right.

* SelfDeprecation: A minor character in ''The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul'' is a writer named Howard Bell. It is stated that his writing is absolutely horrible, but he remains wildly popular and successful for two reasons: he deliberately cultivates an air of freakish mystery, and his name is perfect for a book cover because the first name is long and the last name is short. On his books, his first name is written in a medium-sized blocky font followed by his last name in a larger font, so that his name fills out the cover and upstages the title. Bell is probably a Stephen King {{Expy}}, but still, it's funny to see that character created by someone named Douglas Adams.
* StalkerWithoutACrush: In ''The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul'', Dirk explains that he will pick a random car to follow if he gets lost while he's driving. He finds that while he seldom gets where he intended, he always ends up where he needed to be.

''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'' and ''{{ptitlerc1hvr51}}'' are the two books written by DouglasAdams (of ''TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' fame) starring the character Dirk Gently. A third novel under the working title ''{{The Salmon Of Doubt}}'' was in the works, but its publication was prevented by [[AuthorExistenceFailure Adams' death]].

''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'' and ''{{The Long, Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul}}'' are the two books written by DouglasAdams (of ''TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' fame) starring the character Dirk Gently. A third novel under the working title ''{{The Salmon Of Doubt}}'' was in the works, but its publication was prevented by [[AuthorExistenceFailure Adams' death]].

''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'' and ''{{The Long Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul}}'' are the two books written by DouglasAdams (of ''TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' fame) starring the character Dirk Gently. A third novel under the working title ''{{The Salmon Of Doubt}}'' was in the works, but its publication was prevented by [[AuthorExistenceFailure Adams' death]].

''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'' and ''[[ptitlerc1hvr51 The Long, Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul]]'' are the two books written by DouglasAdams (of ''TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' fame) starring the character Dirk Gently. A third novel under the working title ''{{The Salmon Of Doubt}}'' was in the works, but its publication was prevented by [[AuthorExistenceFailure Adams' death]].

''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'' and ''{{The Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul}}'' are the two books written by DouglasAdams (of ''TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' fame) starring the character Dirk Gently. A third novel under the working title ''{{The Salmon Of Doubt}}'' was in the works, but its publication was prevented by [[AuthorExistenceFailure Adams' death]].

''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'' and ''{The Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul}'' are the two books written by DouglasAdams (of ''TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' fame) starring the character Dirk Gently. A third novel under the working title ''{{The Salmon Of Doubt}}'' was in the works, but its publication was prevented by [[AuthorExistenceFailure Adams' death]].

''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'' and ''[[ptitlerc1hvr51 The Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul]]'' are the two books written by DouglasAdams (of ''TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' fame) starring the character Dirk Gently. A third novel under the working title ''{{The Salmon Of Doubt}}'' was in the works, but its publication was prevented by [[AuthorExistenceFailure Adams' death]].

''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'' and ''[[TheLongDarkTeaTimeOfTheSoul]]'' are the two books written by DouglasAdams (of ''TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' fame) starring the character Dirk Gently. A third novel under the working title ''{{The Salmon Of Doubt}}'' was in the works, but its publication was prevented by [[AuthorExistenceFailure Adams' death]].

''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'' and ''[[TheLongDarkTeaTimeoftheSoul]]'' are the two books written by DouglasAdams (of ''TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' fame) starring the character Dirk Gently. A third novel under the working title ''{{The Salmon Of Doubt}}'' was in the works, but its publication was prevented by [[AuthorExistenceFailure Adams' death]].

''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'' and ''[[TheLongDarkTea-TimeoftheSoul]]'' are the two books written by DouglasAdams (of ''TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' fame) starring the character Dirk Gently. A third novel under the working title ''{{The Salmon Of Doubt}}'' was in the works, but its publication was prevented by [[AuthorExistenceFailure Adams' death]].