The HItchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Story

Arthur Dent's world is turned upside down when his friend Ford Prefect tells him that the Earth is about to be destroyed to make way for an intergalactic highway. Ford turns out to be an alien researcher for the book 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'. He rescues Arthur and they eventually end up aboard a stolen spaceship, the Heart of Gold, along with Ford's semi-cousin Zaphod Beeblebrox, a girl who Arthur once met at a party called Tricia and Marvin a depressed robot. As they travel through space, Arthur discovers that the Earth was actually created as part of an experiment to find the answer to the 'Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything'.

Why we chose it

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a comedy science-fiction series that remains a hugely popular cult classic. The original radio series was the first comedy series to be produced in stereo and much of the budget was spent on the sound effects produced by the BBC's Radiophonics workshop. Although the series began on radio Adams also adapted it for a series of books which he called 'A Trilogy in five parts'.

Where it came from

Adams said that he got the idea for the series whilst he was travelling round Austria with The Hitchhiker's Guide to Europe and lay looking up at the stars one night. Adams also said in interviews that he was influenced by his work as a writer for the Monty Python team and their approach of creating a new set of rules and exploring the comic consequences.

Where it went next

In 1981 the books were adapted for TV, with most of the same cast from the radio series. In 2005 a film version was released starring Martin Freeman as Arthur Dent. Douglas Adams died in 2001 but his estate gave permission for Eoin Colfer to write a sixth book in the series, And another thing... released in 2009.

Associated stories

The first 12 episodes of the radio series are known as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Primary and Secondary Phases. These were followed from 2004 by The Tertiary to Quintessential Phases. A sixth series The Hexagonal Phase was broadcast in 2018.

The books in the series are The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Life the Universe and Everything, So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, Mostly Harmless, And Another Thing.