Douglas Adams/Bibliography

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Biographies

His official biography, Wish You Were Here, by Nick Webb, was published on 6 October 2003 (ISBN 0-7553-1155-8).

Another biography is Hitchhiker: A Biography of Douglas Adams (2003) by M. J. Simpson, with a foreword in the UK edition by John Lloyd (ISBN 0-340-82488-3), and was revised and updated in paperback in February 2004 (ISBN 0-340-82489-1). The American hardback edition contains a foreword by Neil Gaiman (ISBN 1-932112-17-0), and its April 2005 paperback equivalent (ISBN 1-932112-35-9) has an extra chapter about the movie.

Upon the mutual discovery that Webb and Simpson were both working on new posthumous biographies, the two authors agreed that the former would focus on Adams' life and personality, and the latter on his work.

In 1992, ITV's The South Bank Show produced a documentary about Douglas Adams which featured Dirk Gently and characters from Hitchhikers and contributions from Stephen Fry, Richard Dawkins and John Lloyd.

The BBC produced a tribute as part of their TV series Omnibus. It was first broadcast on BBC 2 on 4 August 2001, presented by Kirsty Wark. The programme included interviews with Stephen Fry, Clive Anderson, Terry Jones, Griff Rhys Jones, Richard Dawkins and John Lloyd, among others. A copy is included with the Region One DVD release of the Hitchhiker's Guide TV series.

A movie documentary, Life, The Universe and Douglas Adams, was released in 2002, directed and produced by Rick Mueller and Joel Greengrass. Archive footage of Adams is generously included, as well as interviews with Adams' friends, colleagues and family. This documentary was narrated by Neil Gaiman and is available on VHS tape.

Earlier biographies include:

• Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion (1988, 1993, 2002), Neil Gaiman et al. Reissued October 2003 (ISBN 1-84023-742-2) with new chapters by M. J. Simpson and David K. Dickson.
• M. J. Simpson's book The Pocket Essential Hitchhiker's Guide was first published in April 2001 in the UK (ISBN 1-903047-40-4), and revised and reprinted after the death of Douglas Adams in October 2001. A third revision, (though titled the "Second, Revised Edition") was published in April 2005 in the UK, with new material (ISBN 1-904048-46-3).

Works

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on audio and video: The original 12 radio episodes (from 1978 and 1980) are available in CD sets from BBC Audio (as The Primary & Secondary Phases), as well as on a single MP3-CD. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was the first radio series released on Compact Disc and on MP3-CD, respectively, by the then BBC Radio Collection. The three additional phases adapted from the last three books in the series are available from BBC Audio. The Tertiary Phase was broadcast on BBC Radio 21 September to 26 October 2004, whilst The Quandary Phase was broadcast 3 May to 24 May 2005, and The Quintessential Phase followed immediately afterward, from 31 May through 21 June 2005. A script book for the original 12 episodes has been published, and a new script book for the final 14 episodes was published in July 2005. BBC Audio released a CD boxset containing all 26 episodes in October 2005. A DVD release of each of the three 2004–2005 series, featuring mixes in 5.1 surround sound, are also planned for release in 2006, starting in October, per Dirk Maggs. However, as of December 2006, only the Tertiary Phase has been released on DVD. While the first disc is not a DVD-Audio, as was originally announced, it still marks the first release of any radio series in a 5.1 mix on DVD by BBC Audio. The six-episode TV adaptation is also available from the BBC (or its distributors, e.g. Warner Home Video in the USA and Canada) on VHS and DVD.

Novels in the Hitchhiker series

• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979)
• The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980)
• Life, the Universe and Everything (1982)
• So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish (1984)
• Mostly Harmless (1992)

All of the above are also available as unabridged audio books, read by Adams. These were preceded by abridged audio books of the first four novels, read by Stephen Moore. To tie in with the film release, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is also available as an audiobook read by Stephen Fry. Martin Freeman, who portrayed Arthur Dent in the movie adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide, has recorded audiobook editions of the last four books in the series, released between June and December 2006.

The volumes in the Hitchhiker's series have also been collected into omnibus editions, including The Hitchhiker's Trilogy (released in 1982), The Hitchhiker's Quartet, released in 1986 and The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide, released in 1997.

The Dirk Gently series

• Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987)
• The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988)
• The Salmon of Doubt (incomplete, 2002)

Adams recorded an abridged audiobook adaptation of the first novel in this series in the 1980s. The sequel was performed by Simon Jones, also in an abridged adaptation. Both were released by Simon and Schuster Audioworks in the United States, and are out of print. Adams, a decade later, recorded unabridged adaptations of both novels, which are both available in six CD sets. Following Adams' death an audiobook of the partially-completed Salmon of Doubt was recorded by Simon Jones.

Other books

• The Meaning of Liff (1983, with John Lloyd)
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Original Radio Scripts (1985, with Geoffrey Perkins)
• The Utterly Utterly Merry Comic Relief Christmas Book (1986, edited by Douglas Adams and Peter Fincham), which includes
  • Young Zaphod Plays it Safe (also printed in a slightly reworked version in The Wizards of Odd, The Salmon of Doubt, and several omnibus editions of Hitchhiker)
  • The Private Life of Genghis Khan, also available in the first edition of The Salmon of Doubt, though later removed due to copyright issues
  • A Christmas Fairly Story [sic] by Douglas Adams and Terry Jones
  • A "Supplement to The Meaning of Liff" with John Lloyd and Stephen Fry
• The Deeper Meaning of Liff (1990, with John Lloyd; extended version of The Meaning of Liff)
• Last Chance to See (1990, with Mark Carwardine, non-fictional account of several trips to see endangered species; according to a piece in The Salmon of Doubt, this book gave Adams the most satisfaction, if not the highest sales. An abridged audiobook version read by Adams was also released.)
• The Illustrated Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1994)
• Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic (1997), written by Terry Jones (who insists he wrote the whole thing while in the nude), based on an idea by Douglas Adams; also available as an audiobook, read by Terry Jones
• The Salmon of Doubt (2002), unfinished novel manuscript (11 chapters), short stories, essays, and interviews (also available as an audiobook, read by Simon Jones)

Other works

• Monty Python's Flying Circus Episode 45, Party Political Broadcast on Behalf of the Liberal Party (1972)
• The Pirate Planet - a Doctor Who serial first broadcast in 1978, available on VHS and DVD
• City of Death - a Doctor Who serial, cowritten with Graham Williams, based on a story by David Fisher, first broadcast in October 1978, available on VHS and DVD.
• Shada - a Doctor Who serial, originally intended to be broadcast in January/February 1980. Available footage released on video in 1992. A complete, animated form was made available on the web in 2003, and on CD later that same year.
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (computer game) (1984, with Steve Meretzky)
• Bureaucracy (computer game) (1987)
• Hyperland (TV documentary) (1990)
• Starship Titanic (computer game) (1998)
• h2g2 (internet project) (1999)
• The Internet: The Last Battleground of the 20th century (radio series) (2000)
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Future (radio series) (2001)

In 2004, BBC Audio published a 3-CD set entitled Douglas Adams at the BBC, which covers the author's work from 1974 to 2003, including posthumous projects and tributes. The CD is again narrated by Simon Jones.