Douglas Adams

Douglas Adams

Birth : 1952-03-11, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England

Death : 2001-05-11

History

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

Profile

Douglas Adams

Movies

Doctor Who: Shada
Script Editor
The Doctor visits his old Time Lord friend Chronotis in Cambridge, 1979. But the ruthless Skagra has also arrived to retrieve a book that will help unlock one of the Time Lords' greatest secrets: what is Shada? Filming for this story was never finished, and in this version the unfilmed material is completed via animation.
Doctor Who: Shada
Writer
The Doctor visits his old Time Lord friend Chronotis in Cambridge, 1979. But the ruthless Skagra has also arrived to retrieve a book that will help unlock one of the Time Lords' greatest secrets: what is Shada? Filming for this story was never finished, and in this version the unfilmed material is completed via animation.
Don't Crash: The Documentary of the Making of the Movie of the Book of the Radio Series of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'
Self (archive footage)
An in-depth examination of the complete production of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005).
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Executive Producer
Mere seconds before the Earth is to be demolished by an alien construction crew, Arthur Dent is swept off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher penning a new edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Screenplay
Mere seconds before the Earth is to be demolished by an alien construction crew, Arthur Dent is swept off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher penning a new edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Novel
Mere seconds before the Earth is to be demolished by an alien construction crew, Arthur Dent is swept off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher penning a new edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."
Doctor Who: Shada
Writer
Where the Fourth Doctor left off, the Eighth Doctor comes to finish the job. With Romana and K9 by his side, they have to stop the evil Skagra. A remounted version of the abandoned Fourth Doctor serial, rewritten to feature the Eighth Doctor and fit in with the Big Finish audio drama continuity.
Life, the Universe and Douglas Adams
Himself
A 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.
Douglas Adams: Parrots the Universe and Everything
Himself
Douglas Adams was the best-selling British author and satirist who created The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In this talk at UCSB recorded shortly before his death, Adams shares hilarious accounts of some of the apparently absurd lifestyles of the world's creatures, and gleans from them extraordinary perceptions about the future of humanity.
Rockstar
Director
In 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
Black shoe and blue jeans trouser leg
In 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.
Doctor Who: Shada
Script Editor
The story revolves around the lost planet Shada, on which the Time Lords built a prison for defeated would-be conquerors of the universe. Skagra, one such inmate, needs the help of one of the prison's inmates. He finds nobody knows where Shada is anymore except one aged Time Lord who has retired to Earth, where he is a professor at St. Cedd's College, Cambridge. Luckily for the universe, Skagra's attempt to force the information out of Professor Chronotis coincides with a visit by the professor's old friend, the Doctor. (Filming for this story was never finished, and in this version the story is completed via on-camera narration.)
Doctor Who: Shada
Writer
The story revolves around the lost planet Shada, on which the Time Lords built a prison for defeated would-be conquerors of the universe. Skagra, one such inmate, needs the help of one of the prison's inmates. He finds nobody knows where Shada is anymore except one aged Time Lord who has retired to Earth, where he is a professor at St. Cedd's College, Cambridge. Luckily for the universe, Skagra's attempt to force the information out of Professor Chronotis coincides with a visit by the professor's old friend, the Doctor. (Filming for this story was never finished, and in this version the story is completed via on-camera narration.)
Hyperland
Self
This 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
Writer
This 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.
The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy
Writer
An Earth Man and his alien friend escape an exploding Earth, and set forth on an odd adventure across the universe with a known fugitive.
Doctor Who: The Horns of Nimon
Script Editor
After the TARDIS collides with a spacecraft delivering human tributes to the evil bull-like Nimon, the Doctor and Romana must stop the fearsome alien's quest to rule the galaxy.
Doctor Who: Nightmare of Eden
Script Editor
A freak accident leaves two dangerously unstable spacecraft locked together, and a horde of monsters unleashed on their passengers.
Doctor Who: The Creature from the Pit
Script Editor
The Doctor and Romana follow a distress signal which leads to the jungle planet Chloris, whose ruthless ruler Lady Adrasta harbors a deadly creature in a pit.
Doctor Who: City of Death
Script Editor
While taking in the sights of Paris in 1979, the Doctor and Romana sense that someone is tampering with time. Who is the mysterious Count Scarlioni? Why does he seem to have counterparts scattered through time? And just how many copies of the Mona Lisa did Leonardo da Vinci paint?
Doctor Who: City of Death
Writer
While taking in the sights of Paris in 1979, the Doctor and Romana sense that someone is tampering with time. Who is the mysterious Count Scarlioni? Why does he seem to have counterparts scattered through time? And just how many copies of the Mona Lisa did Leonardo da Vinci paint?
Doctor Who: Destiny of the Daleks
Script Editor
The Doctor and a newly-regenerated Romana arrive on Skaro to find that the Daleks, locked in a war with the robotic Movellans, have returned to retrieve their buried creator Davros.
Doctor Who: The Armageddon Factor
Script Editor
The final segment of the Key to Time is at the heart of a devastating war between neighbouring planets Atrios and Zeos. The Fourth Doctor discovers that a sinister entity is manipulating events and the cost of obtaining the final segment may be more personal than he imagined.
Doctor Who: The Pirate Planet
Writer
The Doctor and Romana learn the second segment of the Key to Time is on the planet Calufrax. Yet they arrive on a planet called Zanak, which has been hollowed out and fitted with hyperspace engines, allowing its insane, half-robot Captain to materialise it around smaller planets and plunder their resources.
Out of the Trees
Writer
Sketch comedy pilot from Douglas Adams and Graham Chapman.