The Hitchhiker (TV series)

The Hitchhiker
The Hitchhiker title screen
Genre	Anthology
Starring	Page Fletcher Nicholas Campbell
Composer(s)	Shuki Levy Michel Rubini Haim Saban
Country of origin	U.S.A. Canada France
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	85
Production
Executive producer(s)	Lewis Chesler (1986-1987) Riff Markowitz (1986-1987) Richard Rothstein Jeremy Lipp Jacques Methe David Perlmutter
Running time	30 mins. (approx)
Release
Original network	HBO (1983-1987) First Choice (1983-1987) USA Network (1989-1991) La Cinq (1989-1991)
Original release	1983 – 1991

The Hitchhiker is a mystery anthology series that aired from 1983 to 1987 on HBO and First Choice in Canada. The series later moved to the USA Network from 1989 to 1991.

The series is known as Deadly Nightmares in the UK and as Le Voyageur in France.

Each episode is introduced and concluded by a mysterious wanderer known only as "The Hitchhiker," and explores the foibles of humanity and its dark spirit. The title character was played by Nicholas Campbell from 1983-1984 (3 episodes), and Page Fletcher from 1984-1991 (82 episodes). There were a total of 85 episodes over six seasons (39 first runs on HBO & 46 first runs on USA).

The series was a United States/Canada/France co-production. It was filmed in Vancouver and Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Paris, France. The show was produced by Corazon Productions (Season 1 for a total of three episodes), Quintina Productions (Seasons 2-4 for a total of thirty-six episodes), and La Cinq, Atlantique & Quintina Productions (Seasons 5-6 for a total of forty-seven episodes).

The Hitchhiker was created by Lewis Chesler and Riff Markowitz, later joined by Richard Rothstein. The pilot episode consisted of three stories. Richard Rothstein wrote two and Jeph Loeb and Matt Weissman wrote the third.

Michel Rubini created the theme music for the show.

Like the much earlier Twilight Zone series, with which it had a lot of other commonalities, The Hitchhiker served as starting point for many actors, some of whom would go on to gain greater recognition elsewhere. Notable cast members (in alphabetical order):