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Director Garth Jennings brings Douglas Adams’ comedy sci-fi masterwork to the big screen at long last. Don't panic!

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

Don't leave Earth without it...

"A belting, intergalactically brilliant re-imagining of a Brit classic...you're in for a treat." - News of The World

Don't panic! It’s time to stick out your thumb, grab your towel and join the most ordinary man in the world on an extraordinary adventure across the universe...

Earthman Arthur Dent is having a very bad day. His house is about to be bulldozed, he discovers that his best friend is an alien, and to top things off, planet Earth is about to be demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass through our star system. Arthur's only chance for survival: accidentally hitch a ride on a passing spacecraft, therefore placing himself in the unenviable position of being the last ‘Man’ left alive – and see the universe for himself.

The film features - as all true fans would expect: Vogons, a paranoid android with a brain the size of a planet, a race of custom luxury planet builders, towels, a being with two heads – a former part-time Galactic President, confidence trickster, coward and full-time fugitive called Zaphod Beeblebrox – and some little white mice...

Pictured (left). Vogon Destructor Fleet Captain Jeltz (left) tortures Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman, right) and Ford Prefect (Mos Def, centre) with a reading of some of his favourite poetry.

For the novice space traveller, the greatest adventure in the universe begins when the world ends. Arthur sets out on a journey in which he finds that nothing is as it seems: he learns that a towel is just about the most useful thing in the universe, finds the meaning of life, and discovers that everything he needs to know can be found in one handy electronic book, the titular: ‘Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

"Weird, witty and wonderful" - The Sun.

This feature film is a new version – penned, thankfully, by Adams himself - of a storyline that has spawned myriad incarnations.

Starting life as a BBC Radio 4 series in March 1978 the story has since been transformed into a world beating brand. To date, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy has been: a four ‘phase’ (so far) BBC Radio broadcast and CD series, a stage play, an LP, a novel (with four sequels, no less), a well-remembered 1980s television series, a set of unabridged talking books, read by Douglas Adams himself, a lavishly illustrated ‘coffee table’ volume and much assorted merchandising ephemera. Who knows what may come out of the release of this new feature film version? A Marvin the paranoid android action figure at least, one would hope...

Born in Cambridge in 1952 (where - at St John's College he gained a BA in 1974 (and later an MA) in English literature, Adams is the creator of all the various manifestations of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy so far.

All-Star Cast

The film features an all-star cast, including: Sam Rockwell, Mos Def, John Malkovich (Con Air, Being John Malkovich), Stephen Fry (Wilde, Tooth, Peter’s Friends), Bill Nighy (Still Crazy, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Pirates of the Caribbean:Dead Man's Chest, Love, Actually), Zooey Deschanel (as Trillian), Warwick Davies (performing Marvin – voiced by Alan Rickman) and Martin Freeman (BBC TVs The Office). A Walt Disney Pictures presentation in association with Spyglass Entertainment The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is directed by Garth Jennings and produced by Nick Goldsmith.

Anyone interested in further reading on the life and work of the late Douglas Adams – including his non-Hitch Hiker’ works: Last Chance To See (Ballantine Books), the ‘Dirk Gently novels and his work as script editor on BBC TVs Doctor Who – could do worse that check out Wish You Were Here: The Official Biography Of Douglas Adams by Nick Webb (Headline), Don't Panic: Douglas Adams And The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Neil Gaiman and MJ Simpson (Titan) and the posthumously published collection The Salmon of Doubt and Other Writings (Pan Macmillan) all of which are first rate.

"A movie everyone will love." - The Daily Mirror.

The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to The Galaxy is out now as an extras packed double disc DVD, rated PG.

DVD special features are:

More information available in Humour, Books, DVD / Home Video