Darren Boyd

Writer Douglas Adams had a breathtakingly fertile mind, and TV has sometimes proved a limited medium for capturing his flights of fancy. But Howard (Misfits) Overman has plucked the comic essence of Adams from his novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and worked it into a digestible, enjoyably eccentric format.

A well-received pilot in 2010 has spawned this three-part commission - a first for BBC4 and we hope not their last - starring Stephen Mangan as the shambolic, slightly annoying gumshoe and "Everywhere Man" Darren Boyd as his flinching sidekick.

The endearingly chaotic story about Pentagon surveillance, horoscopes and a toy pig is suitably Adamsian, and overall it makes for a quirky alternative to Sherlock - I think it can go quirkier still. But the show belongs to Boyd: without expending any effort, he has all the funniest moments.

Following a well-received pilot, Stephen Mangan returns as Douglas Adams's holistic detective. The first of three new adventures finds Gently and sidekick Macduff (Darren Boyd) probing the death of a computer whiz who thought the Pentagon was after him, and taking on a client convinced his horoscopes are coming true. At times it's rather dizzying as the script from series creator Howard Overman (Misfits) skedaddles along, but best just to admire the skill and mad energy of it all.

Compared to Whitechapel over on ITV1, the cases ­investigated by Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency make perfect logical sense.

But the first pilot episode of this BBC4 comedy screened back in 2010 got a mixed reception.

People who hadn't read Douglas Adams' original novels tended to like it more than devotees.

They were peeved that Dirk Gently wasn't played by a pudgy man wearing a red hat, a green striped tie and thick metal ­specs, but by Stephen Mangan.

Fans also objected to the way Howard Overman's script left out so much of the book's detail - which is a bit like complaining that you can't fit the entire British Olympic Squad on a push-bike.

Recommissioned for three episodes (they're nothing if not bold at BBC4!) Mangan returns along with Darren Boyd as his much put-upon partner Macduff.

It's a name that's perfectly suited to being chewed over and spat out with scorn as Gently does here.

Tonight Dirk must discover the connection between a man who thinks the Pentagon wants to kill him and another man who thinks his horoscopes are coming true.

According to Dirk's holistic view, these two seemingly unconnected cases must be linked.

And fans of Adams' novels will be pleased to see Dirk's theory of "Zen Navigation" comes straight from his book, The Long Dark Tea Time Of The Soul.

Basically, if you have no idea where you're headed, just find a car that looks like it knows where it's going and follow that.

After a successful pilot, Howard Overman's (Misfits) adaptation of Douglas Adams's detective tales gets a three-part run. Stephen Mangan stars as the gauche sleuth with a knack for solving cases by circuitous means. The opener finds Gently and put-upon associate MacDuff (Darren Boyd) in Cambridge tackling a conspiracy theory and a murder. Meanwhile, Macduff's girlfriend Susan (Helen Baxendale) is also in Cambridge at an interview for a new job which, if she got it, would mean the end of Gently and Macduff's detective partnership.

The season closes on one of the better of Sky's new comedies, the Spook spoof Spy, which features former Green Wing actor Darren Boyd as hapless loser Tim, who has somehow managed to land a job at MI5. Tonight's closer finds Tim receiving two intriguing offers from his boss, The Examiner (Robert Lindsay), while also facing a custody hearing over his son.

Ex-computer salesman turned accidental spy Tim finds his luck is in this week when The Examiner trains the new spies on hacking. Tim's knowledge of basic computing marks him out as the class Top Gun, but unfortunately basic computing is as far as his "expertise" goes. He also manages to get himself into strife with his son when he doctors his school records, downgrading the precocious little tyke as revenge. Spy performs some reliably familiar comedy moves but it's all held together nicely by Darren Boyd's likable turn as Tim, who's only the lead in this show because his character is marginally less stupid than those around him.

This comedy drama is an "accurate" retelling of the events surrounding the making of Monty Python's Life of Brian and the accusations against its blasphemy.

You know right from the start what you're letting yourself in for when Jesus comes onto the screen speaking Aramaic and then farts into a disciple's face. The main cast; Darren Boyd (as John Cleese), Charles Edwards (Michael Palin), Steve Punt (Eric Idle), Rufus Jones (Terry Jones), Tom Fisher (Graham Chapman) and Phil Nichol (Terry Gilliam) are great at portraying the original stars, or rather exaggerated versions of them. For example, Cleese is characterised as Basil Fawlty, Palin is the nicest man in the world and Idle is a "greedy bastard."

The programme was full of references to both Python and events relating to the modern day, and introduced by a rolling credit sequence akin to the way many episodes of Flying Circus had, which I personally found hilarious. There are other connections to the Python saga, too, like Palin's wife being played by Jones in drag (Rufus or Terry, take your pick).

Then there are the links to the actual film, such as the debate between bishops and devils which is akin to the People's Front of Judea talking about "what the Romans have ever done for us". Holy Flying Circus also refers to offensive comedy incidents in the present day, like Jerry Springer the Opera and just about anything to do with Frankie Boyle.

My favourite scene in the entire programme, however, was a cameo from Alexander McQueen as the BBC's Head of Rude Words. His wonderfully stiff performance as a typical Beeb executive reading out the rudest words he could think of was delightful. There was no racist, sexist or homophobic language - but there was a member of the Ku Klux Klan earlier on so you could argue that was covered as well.

I know many critics were dissatisfied by the fact it wasn't entirely factual. All I have to say to that is if you want something factual then watch a documentary.

Holy Flying Circus, a comedy drama based on the furore that surrounded the release of Monty Python's Life of Brian in 1979 was bold but disappointing. The decision to go for the full Monty, as it were - the programme erupted with animations, fantasy and sketches, amid multiple warring sitcoms featuring feckless church hall Christians, wacky TV executives and bantering Python lookalikes - was a recipe for silliness, but little else. The putative battle between freedom of expression and religious sensitivity rumbled lightly on, but you got the feeling that everyone was having too good a time to take it seriously. I'm not sure I was. The impersonations were quite uncanny - Darren Boyd as John Cleese (in Basil Fawlty mode) and Steve Punt as Eric Idle - but also quite unfunny. A homage to Monty Python is a hostage to unfavourable comparisons with the real thing (and following it up with Life of Brian on BBC4 wasn't the masterstroke it might have seemed), but more important, Pythonesque humour - its loud irony, its juxtaposition of opposites, its attack on the dullness of accountants, its gleeful anachronisms, its men dressed as women - has had its moment at the cutting edge. How else could Spamalot have happened? I had to put my fingers in my ears during some mirthless scenes with Michael Palin (the excellent Charles Edwards notwithstanding) in bed with his unattractive wife (supposedly Terry Jones in drag). As for the Christian protesters - should we still be depending on speech impediments for our laughs this far into the 21st century?

But in the spirit of saving the best till last, I should say there was a brilliant sword and lightsaber fight between Cleese and Palin, the pair of them flying about as puppets on sticks. If it's not on YouTube by the time you read this, I'll eat my parrot.

Darren Boyd was super as John Cleese in Holy Flying Circus on Wednesday but he makes less of an impact here as the single dad accidentally recruited by MI5. Today is his first day in the office, but his training mission - retrieve a red bag from some scaffolding - is scuppered by an unexpected source. This is more worth catching for Rebekah 'Pulling' Staton's ambitious secret agent, Caitlin, who is becoming something of a show-stealer.

According to this rather daft comedy, getting a job as a spy at MI5 is actually pretty easy. Even if your work experience to date has been serving in a computer shop and you're an idiot they'll still give you a gun. Of course, being a comedy, the set-up isn't really important, it's the jokes and performances that make it. Unfortunately, this is decidedly low-brow comedy that probably won't raise more than a smirk. We're now in episode two and Tim (Darren Boyd), our hapless new recruit, begins his first day on the job. Robert Lindsay - moving from one mediocre sitcom to another - is his boss.