In the Guardian today:
The three sequels to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams's tale of the ill-starred intergalactic adventures of Arthur Dent, are to be dramatised on radio for the first time since the original was broadcast in 1978.
BBC Radio 4 said yesterday it had assembled the surviving cast members for the new production, which will also feature the voice of the writer, who died aged 49 of a heart attack in 2001.
The second Hitchhiker book, Life, the Universe and Everything, which was originally conceived as a plot for Doctor Who, will be broadcast in six parts starting in September. Another yet-to-be-recorded eight-part series is planned for next year, adapting the two remaining books, So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, and Mostly Harmless.
Adams was involved in earlier attempts to adapt the three books for radio in 1993 and 1997, but both times the project ran into the ground.
This time the task was made easier because Disney now owns all the previously disparate rights, which meant the producers only had to conclude one deal. A film version of the original radio series, which was only later extended into a book, will appear next year.
I wonder if we can get the radio show over the Internet in America? And I wonder who was cast for the movie? It sort of scares me that Disney is doing it.
