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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Hexagonal Phase (Dramatised) cover art

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Hexagonal Phase (Dramatised)

By: Eoin Colfer,Douglas Adams
Narrated by: Jane Horrocks,Sandra Dickinson,Mark Wing-Davey,Geoffrey McGivern,Simon Jones,Ed Byrne,Lenny Henry,full cast
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Summary

The brand new BBC Radio 4 full-cast series based on And Another Thing… the sixth book in the famous Hitchhiker’s Guide 'trilogy'.

Winner of the 2019 Audie Award for Science Fiction.

Forty years on from the first ever radio series of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Arthur Dent and friends return in six brand new episodes, in which they are thrown back into the Whole General Mish Mash in a rattling adventure involving Viking Gods and Irish Confidence Tricksters, with our first glimpse of Eccentrica Gallumbits and a brief but memorable moment with The Ravenous Bugblatter Beast Of Traal.

Starring John Lloyd as The Book, with Simon Jones as Arthur, Geoff McGivern as Ford Prefect, Mark Wing-Davey as Zaphod Beeblebrox, Sandra Dickinson and Susan Sheridan as Trillian, Jim Broadbent as Marvin the Paranoid Android and Jane Horrocks as Fenchurch, the cast also includes Samantha Béart, Toby Longworth, Andy Secombe, Ed Byrne, Lenny Henry, Philip Pope, Mitch Benn, Jon Culshaw and Professor Stephen Hawking.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2018, the series is written and directed by Dirk Maggs and based on And Another Thing… by Eoin Colfer with additional unpublished material by Douglas Adams. This edition also includes over 50 minutes of unbroadcast bonus material.

Listeners are reminded that the relaxed attitude to danger provided by Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses is no substitute for running around, screaming.

Cast:

The Voice Of The Book…John Lloyd

Arthur Dent…Simon Jones

Ford Prefect…Geoff McGivern

Zaphod Beeblebrox…Mark Wing-Davey

Trillian/Tricia McMillan…Sandra Dickinson

Trillian…Susan Sheridan

Random…Samantha Béart

Jeltz/Wowbagger…Toby Longworth

Constant Mown…Andy Secombe

Left Brain/Thor…Mitch Benn

Fenchurch…Jane Horrocks

Hillman Hunter…Ed Byrne

Cthulu…Jon Culshaw

Marvin…Jim Broadbent

The Guide MkII…Professor Stephen Hawking

The Consultant…Lenny Henry

Heimdall/Barzoo/Buckeye Brown/Eccentrica /Gunner Vogon…Tom Alexander

Aseed Preflux/Sub-Etha Voice/HOG Door …Philip Pope

Modgud/The Viking…Theo Maggs Baldur… Phillipe Bosher

Announcer…John Marsh

Music by Philip Pope

Production research by Kevin Jon Davies.

Written and directed by Dirk Maggs.

Based on the novel And Another Thing… by Eoin Colfer, with additional material by Douglas Adams.

Recorded at The Soundhouse Ltd. by Gerry O'Riordan.

Sound Design by Dirk Maggs.

Produced by Dirk Maggs, Helen Chattwell and David Morley.

A Perfectly Normal Production for BBC Radio 4.

©2018 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2018 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

What listeners say about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Hexagonal Phase (Dramatised)

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Out With The Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal?

There are apparently people who don't like the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. No, don't scoff, it's true, I even know one of these rare anomalies! I have of course heard that the Lord works in mysterious ways and indeed that the human mind is a labyrinthine and complex world where the possibilities are endless but there can't be many greater unsolved mysteries than someone who didn't enjoy reading this trilogy. For me the BBC radio and TV series and of course the books were pure comedy nectar.

So that’s my colours nailed to the mast though it’s not quite that simple. Even I found there was a law of diminishing returns and after the initial trilogy I found that while I enjoyed the later books they just didn’t have the same impact. I was happy to read them but they didn’t rock my world in anything like the same way.

So fast forward a while and along comes master Eoin Colfer adding a sixth book to the trilogy. Based on the above I didn’t touch it until I saw the audiobook with the wonderful Simon Jones doing the narration a few years ago. And do you know what? It wasn’t half bad!

It was so comfortable getting back in touch with these wonderful characters and just drifting through multiple universes with them again. Personally I think Colfer really got it right and produced a great zany adventure in keeping with the wonderful original work. I particularly liked how the Vogons developed and call me soppy but I appreciated the ending too.

This production, as you would expect from our Auntie Beeb is excellent. Wonderful to hear that theme tune again, an excellent cast and great sound effects. Especially the screams! Of course the voices are different which can take some getting used to but that’s hardly something to complain about. So if it’s a bit of light-hearted froody goodness you are after then this really is better than an evening out with the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal!

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21 people found this helpful

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Funny and like listening to old friends

I have loved Hitchhicker’s from the first radio show and this sounds as good as ever. Although based on the book by Eoin Colfer you can still hear Douglas Adams influences. The actors are all great and can still find their characters voices.

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5 people found this helpful

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Good to hear the old gang back together again....

... but let down by an awfully thin story line. A real disappointment to be honest. Eoin would have been better off not trying to be Douglas Adams because he's just nowhere near as good!

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4 people found this helpful

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42 stars out of 42

It is as good as a good cup of tea and will leave you hurting in all the diods down your left side.

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3 people found this helpful

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Brilliant cast, shame about the author.

I know that H2g2 will be whatever will to all lifeforms and the Earthling Dirk Maggs does another brilliant job but Eoin Colfers pitiful attempt at aping Douglas Adams really shows. I love being with Arther, Trillian, Zaphod, Ford in an adventure again, I just wish it were a better one. Don't get me wrong, I respect it, just not very much.

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Too rooted in the 1980s to bring up to date

The original Hitchhiker's Guide was a science-fiction comedy but, more than that, it was a satire on 1980s values and preoccupations (bureaucracy, materialism, estate agents, Islington, cricket, digital watches...) I'm sure Adams developed the characters along lines that played up to his chosen themes.

I loved the original radio series and most of the books. But, for better or worse, the world has moved on. The original idea of a hand-held computer containing all the galaxy's knowledge was far-fetched in 1980 but, in fact, it's low-tech now, along with digital watches. Many of the hot-ticket issues of the 80s are no longer of much interest. So we are left with characters and situations that were ideal for exploring the oddities of Thatcher's England, but don't make all that much sense now.

Eoin Colfer's story and characterization are true to the original, but that's the problem -- Adams already did everything that could be done with those characters thirty-odd years ago, when their social context actually made sense. We can satirize our present-day concerns and foibles and probably we should; but we can't use 80s themes to do it -- it just doesn't work.

So what we're left with, in this presentation, is a church wedding for atheists -- all the familiar trappings are there, but the fundamental purpose has been lost. What we have is a sort of homage to the original story, with all the characters' most memorable traits (Arthur Dent's craving for tea, etc) brought out repeatedly like a music-hall comedian's catch-phrase.

I can't fault the production, or the acting, or even the dramatization; but I feel sure that, if Douglas Adams were still with us, he wouldn't be writing this stuff any more. And I'm not sure that anybody else should be.

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2 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Good try.

I do not want to be forced in writing more than necessary. A good effort.

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Fantastic! It fits right in with the series!

What can I say? It fits right in! I hope & pray for more please

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Pleased !

I’ve grown up with this . Every few years a new one . And got the ending it so richly deserved .thank you ( a tear appeared at the end).

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mostly harmless

A well written and produced continuation of the story, maintains the feel of the original series.

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