Tuesday, July 24, 2007

HHGTTG started on the radio ... Dirk Gently will now end up there

Cover of Hitchhikers Guide Original Radio Scripts

Aged ten or eleven, I discovered the wonders of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (and first learnt the abbreviation HHGTTG) staying over at a friends’ house. I was leafing through The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, and got to one section which made me cry with laughter(not sure which bit that was.)

As well as devouring the three available books—it was still a trilogy in the traditional three parts in those days—I discovered that the school library had a gem hidden away in the non-fiction section (with a Dewey number taped to the spine), and not filed in fiction under Adams, Douglas.

The HHGTTG original radio scripts, setting out the dialogue and musical queues for the various “fits” that made up the BBC Radio 4 series. Subtly different from the novels. Years later, (ie, a mere two years ago), it took quite a while to track down a copy of the hilarious scripts on Ebay!

So having reminisced, on with the post.

Harry Enfield, starring as Dirk Gently in Radio 4's comedy this October

One of Douglas Adams’ other novels, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, is being adapted for radio and will be broadcast in Radio 4’s 18:30–19:00 “silly half hour slot” starting on 3 October. A total of three six-episode series are being made.

(For those that follow these things, it’s being produced by the team behind the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Tertiary, Quandary and Quintessential Phases which were broadcast, directed by Dirk Maggs, and will star Harry Enfield in the leading role.)

Some more details over at Radio 4’s Dirk Gently webpages ...

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