Terrible news, sci-fi fans: Dirk Gently will be closing the doors on his Holistic Detective Agency. Despite a huge fan campaign and a 100,000-strong change.org petition, executive producer Arvind Ethan David has announced on Twitter that the comedic thriller has not been picked up for a third season.

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Thanking the “passion” of the fanbase, David said Gently simply didn’t have a large enough audience for “the economics to work out”, with the show unable to strike a deal with a network after BBC America dropped it last December. It was previously hoped that Netflix, the show’s UK distributor, might continue the series.

Although David didn’t completely rule out a film, animated series or “role-playing towel game” in years to come, the titular holistic sleuth (Samuel Barnett), his assistant Todd (Elijah Wood) and the ever-resourceful Farah Black (Jade Eshete) won’t return to solve cases with arguable efficacy anytime soon.

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Dirk Gently, an adaptation of the Douglas Adams novels, is the latest project to be cancelled by BBC America after critical hit Orphan Black was cut in August last year.

Authors

Thomas LingDigital editor, BBC Science Focus

Thomas is Digital editor at BBC Science Focus. Writing about everything from cosmology to anthropology, he specialises in the latest psychology, health and neuroscience discoveries. Thomas has a Masters degree (distinction) in Magazine Journalism from the University of Sheffield and has written for Men’s Health, Vice and Radio Times. He has been shortlisted as the New Digital Talent of the Year at the national magazine Professional Publishers Association (PPA) awards. Also working in academia, Thomas has lectured on the topic of journalism to undergraduate and postgraduate students at The University of Sheffield.

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