BBC recruits Douglas Adams sleuth

The first series will consist of six 30-minute episodes

Comedian Harry Enfield is to play Dirk Gently, the eccentric detective created by late author Douglas Adams, in the character's first UK broadcast series.

BBC Radio 4's adaptation of Adams' novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency will begin in October.

The six-part drama is being directed by Dirk Maggs, who the late author chose to make a new radio version of his Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

Andrew Sachs, who played Manuel in Fawlty Towers, will also appear.

Douglas Adams died suddenly in 2001 of a heart attack

The other cast members include Lord of the Rings actor Billy Boyd and Peep Show's Olivia Colman.

A BBC spokesperson described Dirk Gently as having an "unshakeable belief in the interconnectedness of all things".

The detective specialises in finding lost cats until he meets an old friend and "is drawn into a four billion-year-old mystery that must be solved if the human race is to avoid immediate extinction".

Adams, who died suddenly from a heart attack aged 49 in 2001, became a household name with the Hitchhiker's Guide saga, which has spanned radio, novels, TV and film.