The Making of
The Hitch-Hikers' Guide to the Galaxy

Music and Sound Design by Mark Ayres.

This award-winning documentary was made for BBC Enterprises in 1993 to coincide with the video release of the BBC Television series of Douglas Adams' The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Directed by Kevin Davies, it used his trademark trick of making a documentary in the style of the subject it celebrates (see also Doctor Who: More Than Thirty Years in the TARDIS).

Arthur Dent returns home to find his house inexplicably still standing. In his bedroom, he finds 'the book', which, using behind-the-scenes video, interviews and out-takes, tells the story of the making of Arthur's life. And Arthur is somewhat confused to find that his life seems to have been a television series.

The programme features spectacular visual effects. These are used partly to tell the story, and partly to show how visual effects created in 1980, when The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy was made, could be achieved today. Especially impressive are the scenes in which Arthur pulls an animated Babel Fish from his ear (which proceeds to explain to him how the 'book' animation was done) and the final sequence (in which the virtual world our heroes have been inhabiting unravels around them, Marvin the Paranoid Android disappears through a wormhole in Arthur's driveway, and the Earth explodes - again).

Mark Ayres provided a new music score and new sound effects sequences, and dubbed the final video master soundtrack.

BBC Video sleeve notes

It's over 12 years since a dressing gown-clad humanoid called Arthur Dent left his home planet Earth shorty before it was demolished by some rather nasty green creatures called Vogons. Now he's back! Returning home, he finds that both his planet and his home are still standing. But all is not as it seems...

What was that fish doing in Arthur's ear and can it explain those graphics? Where on Earth did they film those scenes and how long did it take? Where did the great Hitch Hike begin and where will it all end?

All these questions and many more will be answered in this special BBC Video revealing the truth behind the making of the award-winning science fiction comedy. Packed with previously unbroadcast material, rare behind-the-scenes footage and recently-discovered archive material, The Making of The Hitch-Hikers' Guide to the Galaxy covers a year behind the scenes of the programme and is a treat for all fans of Douglas Adams' work. There are also interviews with the cast and crew including Simon Jones, David Dixon, Mark Wing-Davey, Sandra Dickinson, producer/director Alan J.W. Bell and Douglas Adams himself, plus a clip from Adams' previous television work Out of the Trees and a very brief snippet from the Doctor Who adventure, "The Pirate Planet".

Written and directed by Kevin Davies.
Producer Alan J.W. Bell.
Executive Producer David M. Jackson.

N.B. This video, at times, contains strong language and features sequences shot on home video equipment.