A Special Edition of the original radio series The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978 and recently voted the Nation’s Favourite Audiobook in a Guardian poll. Starring Peter Jones, Simon Jones, Geoffrey McGivern, Mark Wing-Davey, Susan Sheridan and Stephen Moore, these six episodes (Fit the First to Fit the Sixth) have been remastered to modern-day standards by Dirk Maggs, and for the first time feature Philip Pope’s arrangement of the familiar theme tune, with newly recorded announcements by John Marsh.
Also included on this Special Edition is Douglas Adams’s Guide to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, first broadcast in 1999, which looks at the genesis and phenomenal success of the series.
Part of a scene is missing from ep. 3. It’s great to hear this series again – however for those who are fussy about these things, you should know that there’s about a minute missing from the third part, at the point where the characters land on Magrathea. Originally the characters comment on their surroundings and it’s explained that the Magratheans lived underground, while Marvin hums like Pink Floyd in the background. Marvin also plays a fragment of a Beatles song. I’m guessing that this section was removed because of copyright…
The BBC Radio version is, in my opinion, the best. This 3 CD package contains the original six episodes–they call them “fits”–of the BBC Radio series broadcast in 1978. Each fit is approximately 30 minutes long. There are 7-13 tracks per fit, so that you can quickly and easily go forwards or backwards in any episode–as close to hyperdrive as your going to get. The sound quality is excellent.As the title of my review indicates, my favorite version of The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is the radio version. The BBC Radio…
The Original BBC series. Must have for any Hitch-Hiker Fan 0