The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series)
The cover of the booklet included with
the Collector's Edition CD set release of the first two Hitchhiker's radio series. |
|
| Genre | Comic science fiction |
|---|---|
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | BBC Radio 4 |
| Syndicates | NPR, CBC Radio |
| Starring |
Simon Jones Geoffrey McGivern Mark Wing-Davey Susan Sheridan Stephen Moore |
| Created by | Douglas Adams |
| Written by |
Douglas Adams (Series 1–2) John Lloyd (Co-writer series 1) Dirk Maggs (Series 3–5) |
| Produced by |
Simon Brett (pilot) Geoffrey Perkins (Series 1–2) Dirk Maggs (Co-Producer: final three series) Bruce Hyman and Helen Chattwell (Series 3–5) |
| Narrated by |
Peter Jones (first two series) William Franklyn (final three series) |
| Air dates | 8 March 1978 to 21 June 2005 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Audio format | Stereo, surround |
| Opening theme | Journey of the Sorcerer |
| Website | www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers |
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy radio series written by Douglas Adams (with some material in the first series provided by John Lloyd). It was originally broadcast in the United Kingdom by BBC Radio 4 in 1978, and afterwards the BBC World Service, National Public Radio in the U.S. and CBC Radio in Canada. The series was the first radio comedy programme to be produced in stereo, and was innovative in its use of music and sound effects, winning a number of awards.
The series follows the adventures of hapless Englishman Arthur Dent and his friend Ford Prefect, an alien who writes for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a pan-galactic encyclopedia and travel guide. After Earth is destroyed in the first episode, Arthur and Ford find themselves aboard a stolen spaceship piloted by a motley crew including Zaphod Beeblebrox (Ford's semi-cousin and Galactic President), the depressed robot Marvin and Trillian, the only other human survivor of Earth's destruction.
A pilot programme was commissioned in March 1977, and was recorded by the end of the following June. A second series was commissioned in 1979, transmitted in 1980. Episodes of the first series were specially re-recorded for release on LP records and audio cassettes and Adams adapted the first series into a best-selling novel in 1979. After the 1980 transmissions of the second radio series, a second novel was published and the first series was adapted for television. This was followed in turn by three further novels, a computer game, and various other media formats.
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