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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy radio series written by Douglas Adams with some material in the first series provided by John Lloyd. It was originally broadcast in the United Kingdom by the BBC, and then on global short wave radio on the BBC World Service, in 1978. Broadcasting by National Public Radio in the United States followed in March, 1981, with a repeat broadcast in September. The following year, 1982, the BBC series was carried by CBC Radio (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation).
A second series was commissioned in 1979 and transmitted in 1980. After the transmissions of the second radio series, the first series was adapted for television; it included some material originally written by Adams for stage adaptations and the aforementioned LP adaptation. This in turn was followed by five novels, a computer game, and adaptations into three series of comic books.
Adams considered writing a third radio series, to be based on his novel Life, the Universe and Everything, in 1993 but the project did not begin for another ten years, after Adams's death. Dirk Maggs, with whom Adams had discussed the new series in 1993, 1997 and 2000, eventually directed and co-produced radio series adaptations of that novel, as well as So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish and Mostly Harmless. These became the third, fourth and fifth radio series.
The third series was recorded in 2003 and transmitted in September and October 2004. The fourth and fifth series were recorded in late 2004 and early 2005 and transmitted in May and June 2005.
Recordings of all five series have been released on audio cassette and compact disc, and the third series was released on DVD in 2006, after being delayed several times.
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