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… Read more & comment »

Dirk Gently is back in a brand new series to BBC Four.

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.

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I’m in a Girl Group

Next Week’s TV Highlights: Five of the Best

I’m in a Girl Group (BBC2, Sat, 9:20 pm)

For anyone who saw last week’s I’m in a Boy Band this is more of the same broad but entertaining commentary on what it means to sing a group full of girls. The journey starts with the American girl groups of the 1960s such as The Supremes and The Ronettes before going onto the big names of the 1980s such as The Bangles and Banarama. The Spice Girls phenomenon of the 1990s is covered before exploring today’s two biggest girl groups the reality TV creation Girls Aloud and the multiple versions of Sugababes. The best things about these shows are the relevant talking heads with their anecdotes sometimes being quite amusing. The music also plays an important part in the programme and whatever your opinions on them there’s no disputing that these groups have produced some memorable tunes. Just to reinforce that following the programme is an hour long Top of the Pops 2 show devoted to these groups including performances from Labelle, The Pointer Sisters, TLC and of course the mighty B*Witched.

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