Comedian and actor Stephen Mangan yesterday announced via Twitter that BBC detective series Dirk Gently has been axed by the BBC.

Stephen – who also stars in Episodes alongside Matt Le Blanc – tweeted, “It gives me no pleasure whatsoever to report that the BBC have decided not to make any more.”

The series features Stephen in the role of the title character – who was created by Douglas Adams – and around a million of us watched the pilot episode when it aired on BBC4 a year ago…

Mangan – whose described his character as an “holistic” detective who’s “charming, irritating, bright, funny, hapless, unreadable, transparent, roguish, chaotic, philanthropic and possibly dishonest” – starred alongside Darren Boyd who played the role of Richard MacDuff.

However, after Stephen’s tweet, fans who were angered by the news managed to make it trending message by retweeting the news.

Of the BBC’s decision to end the show, a spokesman said, “We’ve loved having Dirk on the channel but the licence fee freeze means less British drama on BBC4.

“In future we will focus on the best dramas from around the globe, like The Killing and Borgen, whilst BBC1 and BBC2 become the main homes of original British drama.”

Are you upset at the news the show’s been axed?

Here’s a reminder of it…