The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Original Radio Scripts
Encyclopedia
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Primary and Secondary Phases
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series written by Douglas Adams was first broadcast in 1978 and was the first incarnation of his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy franchise...
version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy series created by Douglas Adams. Originally a radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978, it was later adapted to other formats, and over several years it gradually became an international multi-media phenomenon...
by Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
. Text present in the original scripts but cut to meet time constraints is printed in-line in italics. This book also includes explanatory footnotes, behind-the-scenes anecdotes, and forewords by Adams and by series producer Geoffrey Perkins
Geoffrey Perkins
Geoffrey Howard Perkins was a comedy producer, writer and performer, and an important figure in British comedy broadcasting. This was recognised in December 2008 when he was awarded with an Outstanding Contribution to Comedy Award...
. These facts tend to make this book better suited to serve as a primary reference for the cultural context and significance of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy cult than many of the other cult texts.
The book was reprinted in a tenth anniversary edition in 1995, and a twenty-fifth anniversary edition in 2003. The twenty-fifth anniversary edition contains a new introduction by Geoffrey Perkins, and newly researched material by M. J. Simpson, including a transcript of The Lost Hitchhiker Sketch. The sketch was an interview with Simon Jones
Simon Jones (actor)
Simon Jones is an English actor, most famous for his appearances in the television and radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in which he played the lead role of Arthur Dent from 1978 to 2005...
in character as Arthur Dent
Arthur Dent
Arthur Philip Dent is a fictional character, the hapless protagonist and anti-hero in the comic science fiction series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams....
, conducted by Sheila Steafel
Sheila Steafel
Sheila Steafel is a South African-born actress who has lived all her adult life in the United Kingdom.Steafel, who was born in Johannesburg, appeared in many classic television series, including: The Frost Report, Z-Cars, Sykes, The Kenny Everett Television Show, Minder, The Ghosts of Motley Hall,...
on her show Steafel Plus in 1982, written entirely by Adams. The sketch can be heard in the Douglas Adams at the BBC
Douglas Adams at the BBC
Douglas Adams at the BBC is a three CD set released by BBC Audio in 2004 . By using extracts from many radio and TV productions, the three discs cover Douglas Adams's association with BBC Radio and TV from 1974 to 2001, and also include tributes to Adams that were transmitted between 2001 and 2003...
CD collection. The book now contains transcripts of all Hitchhikers radio sketches, barring a sketch for Marvin that Adams wrote for the BBC Radio 1 show Studio B15 to promote the television version of the serial, which was broadcast in 1982.
In the first edition a page of dialogue was omitted from Fit the Twelfth. The 25th anniversary edition reprint corrects this.