I have absolutely no idea how this stayed under my radar for so long – in retrospect I may have read it somewhere and missed it, mashing it all in with the new film production – however on Tuesday 21 September 2004 at 6.30pm London time, there is a strong chance that the BBC’s streaming media servers will go down under the load…

[www.bbc.co.uk]

On Tuesday 21 September 2004 at 6.30pm The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy returns to Radio 4 for a brand new series.

Twenty-five years after the original radio series of Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy exploded into the public consciousness, the further exploits of its bewildered hero, Arthur Dent, are being brought to life in their original medium and with the (mainly) original cast. This dramatisation of the last three books, Life, The Universe And Everything; So Long And Thanks For All The Fish and Mostly Harmless (none of which were originally produced for radio), features Douglas Adams himself, thanks to the wonders of digital technology. Douglas always intended to play the part of Agrajag and recorded himself in the part a few years ago.

The programmes are adapted and directed by Douglas Adams’s original choice for the job, award-winning audio director Dirk Maggs, following Douglas’s instructions and notes which were made in preparation for these productions. The original Hitchhiker’s radio cast returns: Simon Jones as Arthur Dent, Geoffrey McGivern as Ford Prefect, Susan Sheridan as Trillian, Mark Wing-Davey as Zaphod Beeblebrox and Stephen Moore as Marvin The Paranoid Android. The late Peter Jones’s great friend, William Franklyn, replaces him as The Voice Of The Book. Music for the new series is by Paul “Wix” Wickens (Paul McCartney’s musical director) and Phil Pope. The second of the new series is due in spring 2005. The producer is Bruce Hyman.

I’ve listened to the audio trailer, and watched the short making-of documentary (both at the website above) — they seem to have done it right (speaking as someone who grew up with the radio series, the LPs, the books, the tapes, the first-edition scripts signed by DNA, MWD, and Geoff Perkins, …) – and having the likes of Phil Pope and several others of the RadioActive team on board will ensure an authentic currency with the old days.

I can see why they’ve taken William Franklyn as the book, although I wonder if another cast member Chris Langham – might not have provided a more daring, slightly less partician voice.

We shall see how it washes…

ps: Who else has missed that Mort is being dramatised? [www.bbc.co.uk]