The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was a BBC television adaptation of Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy broadcast in January and February 1981 on UK television station BBC Two. The adaptation follows the original radio series in 1978 and 1980, the first novel and double LP, in 1979, and the stage shows, in 1979 and 1980, making it the fifth iteration of the guide.
Arthur Dent wakes up to find that his house is about to be bulldozed, and his day is only going to get worse. At the pub his friend Ford Prefect tells him that he is an alien and the Earth is about to be destroyed to make way for a new hyperspace bypass. Will Ford and Arthur escape Earth in time?
Ford and Arthur have been captured on board one of the Vogon Constructor Ships, and are forced to listen to the Captain's poetry (Vogon poetry is the worst in the universe) before being thrown out of an airlock. However, they are miraculously rescued by the starship Heart of Gold, where they meet Marvin the Paranoid Android, Zaphod Beeblebrox (the President of the Galaxy) and Trillian, another Earth escapee!
Arthur, Ford, Zaphod, Trillian and Marvin travel with the Heart of Gold to the legendary planet, Magrathea, the home of the planet builders. They land on the planet and set off to explore. Zaphod, Trillian and Ford explore beneath the surface, where they make a surprising discovery... Meanwhile, Arthur and Marvin are approached on the surface by Slartibartfast, who explains that the Earth was destroyed 5 minutes too early, and they intend to build a new one...
Arthur learns about Deep Thought, a computer built millions of years ago to discover the "Ultimate Answer", after 7 and a half million years, it had the answer: 42. So to decipher this answer, the builders of the computer commissioned a new, even larger computer to find the "Ultimate Question"; the Earth. It is discovered that Trillian's mice (the smartest creatures on Earth) were searching for the Ultimate Question, and they believe they can find the answer by first extracting Arthur's brain...
Arthur, Ford, Trillian and Zaphod are saved by the Galactic Police, and then knocked unconscious, when they wake up they find themselves at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. They steal a totally black ship from the car park and go in to hyperspace, however, with the interior being completely black as well, the controls are illegible, and the ship is out of control and veering into a nearby sun!
Ford and Arthur dash to the escape pods, where they end up being teleported to a mysterious ship, "Ark B". Which they discover is a ship filled with middle-men trying to find a world to colonise, and the world they have chosen is Earth, 2 million years in the past. Arthur and Ford are now stuck on prehistoric Earth.
Complete episode guide for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy with detailed information about every season and episode including air dates, summaries, ratings, and streaming availability in United States.
This episode guide is organized by seasons, making it easy to track your viewing progress or find specific episodes. Use the episode information to plan your binge-watching sessions or catch up on missed episodes.