
Douglas Adams
Writer · 1952 – 2001 · Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK
Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English writer, humorist, and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold more than 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television series, several stage plays, comics, a computer game, and in 2005 a feature film. Adams's contribution to UK radio is commemorated in The Radio Academy's Hall of Fame
Movies12
Movie7.0DocumentaryThis made-for-TV documentary introduces the layperson to concepts and technologies that were emerging in computer interface design in the late 1980s and early 1990s: hypertext, multimedia, virtual assistants, interactive video, 3D animation, and virtual reality.
Hyperland
1990 · 6 votes
MovieDocumentaryAn in-depth examination of the complete production of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005).
Movie7.3AdventureComedyDon't Panic! The story of Arthur Dent, an average Englishman whose life was spared by his friend, who turned out to be an alien, while the planet Earth is destroyed. His friend tells him about the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a guide with anything you ever needed, and wanted to know. They travel across the galaxy, meeting friendly, and not so friendly characters in order to find the great question (the answer being 42).
The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy
1981 · 160 votes
Movie7.9DocumentaryScience FictionA documentary celebrating the 30th anniversary of Doctor Who, featuring new interviews, rare archive footage and recently discovered material.
30 Years in the TARDIS
1993 · 4 votes
MovieDocumentaryA 30-minute documentary looking at the writing and production of The Pirate Planet.
Parrot Fashion
2007
MovieDocumentaryA retrospective documentary looking at Graham Williams' three-year tenure as Doctor Who producer.
A Matter of Time
2007
Movie8.0DocumentaryAuthor of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, polymath Douglas Adams was a pioneer of science fiction, comedy, technology and environmental activism. We're on a journey with Douglas Adams - diving into the broad questions of life, the universe and everything at a time when we are all asking questions of ourselves and our place on Earth - and our fear of destroying it. Campaigning for endangered species and the coming storm of climate change, he was years ahead of his time. Optimistic about the infinite possibilities that computers will bring, obsessing with the art of writing, while exploring parallel dimensions and artificial intelligence, his philosophy and ideas are meaningful, and visionary.
Douglas Adams: The Man Who Imagined Our Future
2025 · 4 votes
Movie9.0DocumentaryDennis Potter, Esther Dyson, William Gibson and other techno-thinkers appeared in this award-winning three-part documentary series which examined social changes brought about by new information technologies, along with other issues and dilemmas facing society in the 21st Century.
Visions of Heaven and Hell
1994 · 1 votes
Movie8.0DocumentaryA celebration of Douglas Adams, the genius behind The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy who died in May 2001, aged just 49. First heard on radio in 1978, Hitch-Hiker turned Adams and his intergalactic cast of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox and Marvin the Robot into a worldwide cult, the books selling in their millions and enthralling fans from every continent. But Adams was as full of contradictions as the galaxies he created in Hitch-Hiker - a writer who found writing torture, a techie who was ill at ease with the modern world, a sci-fi fanatic who adored PG Wodehouse, and a giant of a man who forgot the extent of his own body and would shut his own legs in the car door. With excerpts from the TV version of Hitch-Hiker and contributions from his many friends including Stephen Fry, Terry Jones, Clive Anderson and Griff Rhys Jones, this documentary explores Life, the Universe and Douglas Adams and finds that the answer is more than 42.
Life, the Universe and Douglas Adams
2002 · 2 votes
MovieDocumentaryA 45-minute look at the making of City of Death, and in particular, the contribution of writer and script editor Douglas Adams.
Movie5.3In November, 1999, Apple brought together a group of people under its AppleMaster program to teach them to use their new digital video editing software. As part of the class, Douglas Adams shot and edited a makeshift music video based on a song by his friend Margo Buchanan, and starring his daughter, Polly. John Cleese guest stars.
Rockstar
2000 · 3 votes
Movie10.0DocumentaryA documentary looking at the making of The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1981), including interviews with leading members of the cast and production team, behind-the-scenes footage and out-takes.
The Making of 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy'
1993 · 1 votes
Series8
TV7.1ComedyNewsHilarious, totally-irreverent, near-slanderous political quiz show, based mainly on news stories from the last week or so, that leaves no party, personality or action unscathed in pursuit of laughs.
Have I Got News for You
1990 · 82 votes
TV5.3Talk ShowChat show hosted by Terry Wogan, featuring live studio interviews with famous and notable personalities.
Wogan
1982 · 7 votes
TV7.2DocumentaryOmnibus was an arts-based BBC television documentary series, broadcast mainly on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. The programme was the successor to the long-running arts-based series 'Monitor'. It ran from 1967 until 2003, usually being transmitted on Sunday evenings. During its 35-year history, the programme won 12 Bafta awards. Among the series' best remembered documentaries are Cracked Actor, a profile of David Bowie, and Rene Magritte, a graduate film by David Wheatley, 'Madonna: Behind the American dream', a film produced by Nadia Hagger, and a profile of the British film director Ridley Scott. For a season in 1982, the series was in a magazine format presented by Barry Norman. The series was replaced by 'Imagine' hosted by Alan Yentob.
Omnibus
1967 · 9 votes
TV5.9DocumentaryPrisoners of Gravity was a Canadian public broadcasting television news magazine program that explored speculative fiction — science fiction, fantasy, horror, comic books — and its relation to various thematic and social issues. Produced by TVOntario, the show was the brainchild of former comic retail manager Mark Askwith and writer Daniel Richler, and was hosted by Rick Green. The series aired 139 episodes over 5 seasons from 1989 to 1994.
Prisoners of Gravity
1989 · 7 votes
TV8.3ComedyA British sketch comedy series with the shows being composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines.
Monty Python's Flying Circus
1969 · 744 votes
TV8.1ComedySci-Fi & FantasyDon't Panic! The story of Arthur Dent, an average Englishman whose life was spared by his friend, who turned out to be an alien, while the planet Earth is destroyed. His friend tells him about the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a guide with anything you ever needed, and wanted to know. They travel across the galaxy, meeting friendly, and not so friendly characters in order to find the great question (the answer being 42).
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
1981 · 45 votes
- TVTalk Show
A BBC TV cultural review show featuring celebrity interviews.
Saturday Review
1984
- TV
Open Door was a programme produced by the BBC's Community Programme Unit. It was first broadcast on 2 April 1973. The programme gave people control of the airwaves and was a platform for the public to talk about its own issues and give their own views without editorial input. The programme was later replaced by Open Space.