The cast of the radio series. Copyright: BBC / Above The Title Productions
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

  • Radio sitcom
  • BBC Radio 4
  • 1978 - 2018
  • 32 episodes (6 series)

A science fiction radio comedy series written by Douglas Adams that started off the H2G2 multi-media franchise phenomenon. Stars Simon Jones, Geoffrey McGivern, Peter Jones, William Franklyn, John Lloyd and more.

Episode menu

The Secondary Phase, Episode 4 - Fit The Eleventh

An episode in which our heroes do a lot of running and digging.

Further details

Zaphod and Ford manage to reach the surface of the planet Brontitall by blinding the birds with a towel. As they do, something else crashes onto the surface of the planet. This is later revealed to be Marvin, who has also fallen out of the cup.

Arthur and Lintilla meet two of Lintilla's 5,780,000,000 clones. They show Arthur that they have discovered there is an entire archaeological layer made out of compressed shoes. As they talk about this, they are captured by Hig Hurtenflurst, who only happens to be an executive for the Dolmansaxlil Galactic Shoe Corporation.

Hig shows Arthur and Lintilla a film showing that the Dolmansaxlil Galactic Shoe Corporation built so many shoe shops on Brontitall that it resulted in a 'Shoe Event Horizon', in which it is only economic to make shoe shops. As a result, the people of the planet evolved into birds so that they would never need shoes again. While watching the film, Marvin comes to the rescue.

Ford and Zaphod discover an old spaceport full of abandoned ships. They discover that one of the ships is still working.

Broadcast details

Date
Thursday 24th January 1980
Time
10:30pm
Channel
BBC Radio 4
Length
30 minutes

Repeats

Show past repeats

Date Time Channel
Saturday 17th May 2014 6:00pm Radio 4 Extra
Sunday 18th May 2014 12:00am Radio 4 Extra
Thursday 26th April 2018 10:30pm Radio 4 Extra
Saturday 11th April 2020 6:00pm Radio 4 Extra
Sunday 12th April 2020 12:00am Radio 4 Extra
Monday 3rd January 2022 6:00pm Radio 4 Extra
Tuesday 4th January 2022 12:00am Radio 4 Extra

Cast & crew

Cast
Simon Jones Arthur Dent
Geoffrey McGivern Ford Prefect
Peter Jones The Book
Mark Wing-Davey Zaphod Beeblebrox
Stephen Moore Marvin
Guest cast
John Baddeley Footwarrior
Rula Lenska Lintilla
John Baddeley Bird
Mark Smith Hig Hurtenflurst
Stephen Moore Pupil
David Tate Computeach
David Tate Film Commentator
Writing team
Douglas Adams Writer

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