Dirk Genlty : back on TV screen the 5th March (updated)

Dirk Genlty is back for three brand new episodes. Like the pilote which was broadcast in 2011, the series will feature brand new adventures but with characters and probably some ideas taken from Douglas Adams' books.

"Dirk Gently" is back in a brand new series, transmission confirmed for 9-10pm, Monday 5 March on BBC Four.


Dirk Gently Ep 1/3
Monday 5 March
9.00-10.00pm
BBC FOUR

Transmission confirmed for 9-10pm, Monday 5 March on BBC Four
Dirk Gently is back in a brand new series.
In this, the first of three episodes, Douglas Adams' private detective discovers the connection between two unrelated cases: a client who believes the Pentagon are trying to kill him and another whose horoscopes appear to be coming true. When the mysteries collide, Dirk is the only man for the job.
Stephen Mangan plays Dirk, Darren Boyd plays Macduff, Jason Watkins plays DI Gilks, Lisa Jackson plays Janice, Paul Ritter plays Oliver, Cosima Shaw plays Emma, Ken Collard plays Matthew, Colin McFarlane plays Terrence and Miranda Raison plays Kate.


Dirk Gently Ep 2/3
Monday 12 March
9.00-10.00pm
BBC FOUR

Dirk and Macduff return to Cambridge, to the university that expelled Dirk for cheating 20 years ago.
They have been employed by Dirk’s former professor as security consultants to guard a valuable robot. However, within hours of their arrival the robot is stolen and the professor found dead, with Dirk and Macduff implicated as the chief suspects.
The professor was the only person who ever believed in Dirk, who vows to find out who is behind the murder. The chief suspects are Emelda Ransome, the brilliant but embittered computer scientist who has spent the whole of her career developing a fully functioning Artificial Intelligence, and David Cho, the Chinese programmer recently arrived from Beijing to help Emelda complete her experiment.
Macduff’s girlfriend Susan is also in Cambridge at an interview for a new job which, if she got it, would mean the end of Dirk and Macduff’s detective partnership.
Stephen Mangan plays Dirk, Darren Boyd plays Mcduff, Helen Baxendale plays Susan, Lisa Jackson plays Janice, Bill Paterson plays Professor Jericho, Sylvestra Le Touzel plays Emelia, Lydia Wilson plays Jane, Andrew Leung plays Noel, Will Sharpe plays David and Bethan Hanks plays Elaine.


Dirk Gently Ep 3/3
Monday 19 March
9.00-10.00pm
BBC FOUR

The police want to talk to Dirk urgently. Several of his clients have been murdered and Dirk is the only link.
Convinced that he’s being framed, Dirk resolves to flee the country. He is interrupted by the arrival of a beautiful woman who has been terrorised by a stalker.
To Macduff’s surprise Dirk takes the case, but his surprise turns to disbelief when Dirk reveals that it’s him who’s been doing the stalking. When the police finally catch up with Dirk at his horribly messy flat (his dispute with his cleaner has escalated into full scale war) they reveal he isn’t under suspicion - they just want to protect him from this professional killer.
With Dirk’s pride dented (as if he couldn’t commit a few simple murders!) he and Macduff investigate the case and discover that the only murderer Dirk ever framed has recently been released from prison…
Stephen Mangan plays Dirk, Darren Boyd plays Macduff, Jason Watkins plays DI Gilks, Lisa Jackson plays Janice, Lisa Dillon plays Melinda and Tony Pitts plays Robbie Glover.



Stephen Mangan will also be appearing later that week at the Hammersmith Apollo (on 11 March) at Douglas Adams's Virtual 60th Party.

H2G2 Live on Tour in UK, the site and first dates

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Radio Show Live will tour the UK from the 8th June. Already 18 dates have been confirmed and you can start booking now.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Radio Show Live will star the original radio series cast including Simon Jones (Arthur), Susan Sheridan (Trillian), Geoffrey McGivern (Ford), Mark Wing Davey (Zaphod) and Stephen Moore (Marvin).

The show will be adapted, written directed by Dirk Maggs who already directed for Radio 4 the radio adatpations of the last three H2G2 books and the two Dirk Genlty books.

The show will only be available latter as downloads and CD (but no DVD). According to Dirk Maggs, "show downloads will only be available to people who've attended that night's show *BUT* there will be a special CD recording for general release which will be extra specially super in ways we are still dreaming up!". 

For the dates, and links to websites where you can start the booking frenzy, please go on the official website :

http://www.hitchhikerslive.com/

Tickets for Douglas Adams virtual 60th birthday Party for sale !

You can now buy tickets for Douglas Adams virtual 60th birthday party that will take place at the Hammersmith Apollo in London the 11th March 2012!

"11 March 2012 would have been Douglas Adams’ 60th Birthday. To celebrate this event, Douglas' family and friends, in association with 'Save The Rhino' (one of Douglas' favourite charities) are holding a very special birthday celebration in his honour at the Hammersmith Apollo in London. The event will feature science, music, comedy and interviews with some very special guests, including Brian Cox, Robin Ince, Terry Jones, Dara O’Briain, Stephen Mangan and many more."

http://www.hmvtickets.com/events/4602

UPDATE :

there is an official website : http://douglasadamstheparty.com/

Among the guests, there are :

- Terry Jones and Michael Palin (Monty Pythons)
- David Gilmour and Nick Mason (Pink Floyd)
- Gary Brooker (Procul Harum)

And many more...

Douglas Adams' virtual birthday party & Hitchhiker Live 2012

Here are some brand new informations about two upcoming events that any Douglas Adams' fan won't want to miss.

It's the first time we get info about the Douglas Adams' virtual birthday party.

"1) March 11th 2012:
DOUGLAS ADAMS' VIRTUAL BIRTHDAY PARTY - Douglas's family and friends are organising a splendid one-off in aid of Save The Rhino at the Hammersmith Apollo in London to celebrate Douglas's 60th. Tickets will be available. On stage various guest including Pythons, Professors and Plank Pluckers from Douglas's musical friends. More info soon on that from James and me."


We already announced here the upcoming Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy Live show that will tour in the UK but Dirk Maggs give us more informations on the show and confirmations about the people involved.

"2) June/July 2012:
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY - LIVE!
Our first UK Tour.
Based on the five Hitchhiker novels by Douglas Adams, Adapted written & directed by Dirk Maggs.
Performed live on stage by Simon Jones, Geoffrey McGivern, Susan Sheridan and Mark Wing-Davey, with the voice of Stephen Moore as Marvin the Paranoid Android (we are debuting a new-look Marvin). Live Band led by Philip Pope. Live Effects by Ken Humphrey and Dirk Maggs. Guest Voices Of The Book to be announced. Tickets hopefully on sale by Christmas - we are working hard this week to get bookings finalised. Poster will be sorted soon as well. It's going to be quite something and - though being performed radio-style - very visual too. Just about the most exciting thing I've worked on since we were last all together. Hope you can come."

Jane Belson, Douglas Adams' widow, passed away

Polly Adams and Jane Belson (oil on Canvas, 2010, Philip Morgan)

Jane Belson just passed away, peacefully during her sleep,  this morning 7th september 2011, about ten years after her husband Douglas Adams. She was 59 years old and suffered from cancer for many years.

Jane Belson met Douglas after the break up with his previous love affair. He was then looking for a flat mate and they were introduced by a common friend Mary Allen. Jane moved in the spare bedroom in spring 1982. He was then trying to finish "Life, the universe and everything" : "There would be bursts of typing punctuated by long bits of guitar playing (acoustic - the electric guitar came later and annoyed the hell out of our neighboors). I'd come home from chambers to find Douglas waiting to read me what he had written, scrutinizing my reactions minutely and checking carefully to see that I was laughing in the right way at the right joke. It was my first encounter with a writer (well anybody really) who needed that level of reassurance" she told years later to Nick Webb, Douglas Adams first publisher and biographer ("Wish you were here", 2003).

"Jane and Douglas became friends, then lovers and eventually soulmates" explained Nick Webb. After almost getting married in 1985, they lived apart for a while but Jane Belson and Douglas Adams finally got married on November 25 1991, the day Pan Books threw a party for Douglas in the Groucho Club in London's Soho to celebrate the recent Pan publication of Last chance to See and the presentation of Douglas' third golden Pan award. It was a surprise for the guests of the said party as they got married this very afternoon.

Douglas and Jane had a daughter Polly born on 22 June 1994.

Polly wrote on her twitter account : "I wouldn't change the last 17 year for the world. I could never have asked for a better role model or friend. Rest in peace, mummy."

More informations about Douglas Adams' life on my online DNA biography page on douglasadams.eu.

The H2G2 game is in fact an Ipad/Iphone app!

Ok, some of you may be disapointed by this news ("What? there won't be an other Hitchhiker game?? But i'm waiting since 1985") but others will be very please to know that, according to Wired.com, Hothead Games is working on an Hitchhiker app for Iphone and Ipad, involving Simon Jones (Yes! Arthur Dent himself!) that "will, essentially, be your own copy of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — the device from the stories, not the stories themselves. "

"I mean, you can pull up Wikipedia on your smartphone, but will it tell you about the Babel Fish or the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal? Well, OK, of course it will, because it’s largely written by geeks. But will it tell you about them with cartoons on a soothing green background and tell you about them aloud in Simon Jones’s voice? I think not. "

"The app will be all about the Hitchhiker’s universe, as though you really were using the Guide. Like the Star Trek PADD app that came out recently for iOS, the Hitchhiker’s app will be somewhat interactive, but will not go so far as to be a game. That’s despite the fact that the company that’s producing it, Hothead Games, is (as its name would subtly suggest) primarily a maker of games."

Of course I still wish they make a new computer adventure game from Hitchhiker, but this is great news too. Many tried along the year to make their own Hitchhiker book using a mobile device and wikipedia (see this example : http://io9.com/389983/now-you-can-have-the-real-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy), but even if wikipedia is often "apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate," it is certainly not as funy as the real Guide.

According to an other site, the Application will be ready "this fall. The price will be $0, and it appears as if future entires will be paid downloads".  I'm not great fan of additional paid downloads, as it can rapidly become a lot more expensive that what you would have wished to pay for the application. It means also that the free content could be quite limited, and some additional content would be produced only if people are willing to pay for it. If you've got to pay for each entry of the guide you would like to see it would be quickly annoying. Even if it would be quite funny (ir you're a masochist) to pay 0,79 euros for the entry about the planet earth !

Well, anyway, i'm a  bit masochist, and I can't wait to install the app on my ipad. I already bought my Don't Panic Ipad case  and installed my don't panic wallpaper. Come  on guys, i'm ready !!

Don't miss original Hitchhiker TV Series artwork on ebay

 Rod Lord has put a lot of new incredible items on ebay and continues to put new ones each week. So if you're interested with incedible collector items for The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy TV series, you have to watch very closely this list :


http://shop.ebay.co.uk/rodlord/m.html?_trksid=p4340.l2562

If you don't want to miss any item posted by Rod Lord on ebay join Rod's H2G2 mailing list http://www.rodlord.com/pages/hhgg.htm