Netflix boards BBC America drama

Streaming service Netflix has boarded BBC America comedy thriller series Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency.

The SVOD service has taken rights outside the US and will launch it this December. IMG sells the show internationally as part of its push into global distribution, and did the deal with Netflix.

The series is based on Douglas Adams’ comic novels and was adapted for television by Max Landis (Bright) and stars Samuel Barnett (Penny Dreadful). It follows an eccentric detective and his reluctant assistant who attempt to unravel a seemingly insane mystery.

In the US, AMC-operated cable channel BBC America ordered the show and has first-run rights. AMC Studios, Asia’s Ideate Media and IDW Entertainment are coproducers, with Circle of Confusion also attached.

In the UK, BBC Four ran a separate, short-lived series based on the same source material.

The news comes soon after Netflix came onboard BBC series The Last Kingdom, and is also coproducing Paranoid, with rival UK broadcaster ITV.