History YMMV / DirkGently

* AffectionateParody: Of ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'', at times, such as Dirk describing a case as "boring" only for it to turn out to be relevant to the conclusion of the case he's working on.
** The visual style of the first episode feels like a piss-take on ''Sherlock'', with its zooms and close-ups on specific words/clues. Also, Dirk possesses knowledge about ''all'' of the intricate details of a case (as does Sherlock), but is often wrong about them until the very end.
* AscendedFanboy: Stephen Mangan once won ''Celebrity Masterminds'' on a round about ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', so the man clearly knows his Douglas Adams.

* UncannyValley: In-universe example. In the TV adaptation, Dirk has this reaction to Professor Jericho's robot.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: ''The Salmon of Doubt'' anthology features the beginning of a third book that was never written. And its style is so instantly familiar that it feels just like the other books. [[AuthorExistenceFailure Then it stops]]. Just after Dirk has flown to America and encountered a truck carrying a rhinoceros to an unknown destination.

* FridgeLogic: [[spoiler:Gordon's [=iPhone=] was sitting in Ruth's drawer for 16 years. Why didn't the battery run out? It was turned off the whole time.]]

* AscendedFanboy: Stephen Mangan once won ''Celebrity {{Masterminds}}'' on a round about ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', so the man clearly knows his Douglas Adams.

* FridgeLogic: [[spoiler:Gordon's [=iPhone=] was sitting in Ruth's drawer for 16 years. Why didn't the battery run out?]]
** [[spoiler:Given that Jane/MAX's host body has been in a dark secret room in what amounts to a coma for 18 years, how is she even able to walk more than a few steps?]]
[[spoiler: She was using a cane to walk.]]

* RecycledScript: DouglasAdams, who liked to recycle plot elements, based the first Dirk Gently book on two of his ''Series/DoctorWho'' scripts: "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E6Shada Shada]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E2CityOfDeath City of Death]]". Knowing this helps explain one of the stranger assumptions in the first book: just ''why'' Professor Chronotis happens to be a centuries-old man who lives in a time machine. (It's because he's a retired [[Series/DoctorWho Time Lord.]])

* AffectionateParody: Of ''Sherlock'', at times, such as Dirk describing a case as "boring" only for it to turn out to be relevant to the conclusion of the case he's working on.
* AscendedFanboy: Stephen Mangan once won ''Celebrity {{Masterminds}}'' on a round about ''TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy, so the man clearly knows his Douglas Adams.

* {{Lostalgia}}: ''The Salmon of Doubt'' anthology features the beginning of a third book that was never written. And its style is so instantly familiar that it feels just like the other books. Then it stops. Just after Dirk has flown to America and encountered a truck carrying a rhinoceros to an unknown destination.

* * UncannyValley: In-universe example. In the TV adaptation, Dirk has this reaction to Professor Jericho's robot.

* RecycledScript: DouglasAdams, who liked to recycle plot elements, based the first Dirk Gently book on two of his ''DoctorWho'' scripts: "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E6Shada Shada]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E2CityOfDeath City of Death]]". Knowing this helps explain one of the stranger assumptions in the first book: just ''why'' Professor Chronotis happens to be a centuries-old man who lives in a time machine. (It's because he's a retired [[DoctorWho Time Lord.]])