The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is returning to radio.  The BBC announced that the popular science fiction/comedy series will be returning, with most of the original cast.  The new series will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4.   The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Hexagonal Phase will be six episodes.  Dirk Maggs is the director.

Cult classic The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is returning to the radio to mark the 40th anniversary of it first hitting the airwaves.

Douglas Adams was a scriptwriter for Dr. Who.

The late Douglas Adams, author of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”

Bookstr confirmed that the new series will be based on Eoin Colfer’s novel, And Another Thing, the authorized continuation of the series begun by the late Douglas Adams.  Colfer is the author of the popular Artemis Fowl YA books, which are soon to be filmed by director Sir Kenneth Branagh.  Adams’ widow, Jane Belson, chose Colfer to write And Another Thing, which was commissioned for the 30th anniversary of the original The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy novel.  The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Hexagonal Phase will include unpublished material from Douglas Adams’ notebooks.

Simon Jones, who will be reprising his role as Arthur Dent, said,

“It seems extraordinary that it’s been 40 years since we recorded the first pilot episode for BBC radio – how modest were our expectations then, and how amazing a world-wide phenomenon it became, and continues to be….I never expected to still be searching for a decent cup of tea and some kind of answer to life, the universe and everything almost a lifetime later.”

Jones also played Lord Brideshead in Brideshead Revisited and Sir Walter Raleigh in Blackadder.

Geoff McGivern will be returning as Ford Prefect. He originated the role for the radio series forty years ago. David Dixon played the part on the TV adaptation of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Mos Def in the movie.  McGivern played Professor Mycroft in Lab Rats.

Actor/director Mark Wing-Davey will be Zaphod Beeblebrox, the two-headed galactic president.  He played Hamlet in An Englishman Abroad and voiced Judge Magister Ghis in the video game “Final Fantasy XII.”

Sandra Dickinson, the ex-wife of Fifth Doctor Peter Davison, is reprising her role as Trillian.  She was Emily on The Tomorrow People.  She is best known for her voice work, most recently as Grandma Tracy on Thunderbirds Are Go reboot.

Jane Horrocks, who will play Fenchurch again, is the voice of Fairy Mary, leader of the tinker fairies in Disney’s Tinker Bell movies.  She was Bubbles in Absolutely Fabulous and starred in The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard as Prime Minister Ros Pritchard.

John Lloyd will be voicing the Guide, a role originally played by the late Peter Jones.  Samantha Béart will be Random.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Hexagonal Phase will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 next spring.  American listeners should contact their local public radio stations to request it.

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Susan Macdonald

Susan Macdonald

Susan Macdonald is the author of the children’s book “R is for Renaissance Faire”, as well as 26 short stories, mostly fantasy in “Alternative Truths”, “Swords and Sorceress ”, Swords &Sorceries Vols. 1, 2, & 5, “Cat Tails” “Under Western Stars”, and “Knee-High Drummond and the Durango Kid”. Her articles have appeared on SCIFI.radio’s web site, in The Inquisitr, and in The Millington Star. She enjoys Renaissance Faires (see book above), science fiction conventions,  Highland Games, and Native American pow-wows.