''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Future'' was a four-part radio series hosted by

Douglas Adams Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series), BBC radio comedy, ''The H ...

. It was first broadcast on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

in October 2000, and repeated in April and May 2001, and September 2014. Because the radio series turned out to be Adams's final project for the BBC before his death (a week after the first broadcast of the final episode), all four episodes are still available for download from the Radio 4 website. Extracts from the four programmes are also available for listening within the '' Douglas Adams at the BBC'' collection.

The Episodes

* Programme One: Music :Original Transmission: 11:00 am, Wednesday 4 October 2000,

Adams discusses the future of music in the "Internet Age" (which at the time was mainly limited to discussion of illegal download services, such as the first version of Napster - it would be another two years before the iTunes Music Store opened to the American market, and legal music downloads would start to become popular). Topics include digital music creation and online distribution. Adams interviews Brian Eno,

Michael Nesmith Robert Michael Nesmith or Mike Nesmith, (December 30, 1942 – December 10, 2021) was an American musician, songwriter, and actor. He was best known as a member of the pop rock band the Monkees and co-star of the TV series ''The Monkees'' (1966� ...

and Peter Gabriel. * Programme Two: Publishing :Original Transmission: 11:00 am, Wednesday 11 October 2000, BBC Radio 4 Adams discusses the future of publishing with Peter Cochrane,

Muriel Gray Muriel Janet Gray FRSE (born 30 August 1958) is a Scottish author, broadcaster and journalist. She came to public notice as an interviewer on Channel 4's alternative pop-show ''The Tube'', and then appeared as a regular presenter on BBC radio ...

and Stewart Brand. Topics include the online distribution of e-books and e-book readers. * Programme Three: Broadcasting :Original Transmission: 11:00 am, Wednesday 18 October 2000, BBC Radio 4 Adams discusses the future of TV with John Browning,

Dylan Winter Dylan may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Bob Dylan (born 1941), American singer and songwriter ** ''Dylan'' (1973 album), a 1973 album by Bob Dylan ** ''Dylan'' (2007 album), a 2007 compilation album by Bob Dylan * Dylan (musician), profess ...

and Mathew Steele. Topics included the possibilities of interactive programming, digital video creation and custom scheduling. * Programme Four: Convergence :Original Transmission: 11:00 am, Wednesday 25 October 2000, BBC Radio 4 Adams discusses the future evolution of technology and Artificial Intelligence with Chris Langton,

Stuart Kauffman Stuart Alan Kauffman (born September 28, 1939) is an American medical doctor, theoretical biologist, and complex systems researcher who studies the origin of life on Earth. He was a professor at the University of Chicago, University of Pennsylv ...

, and others. Topics included embedded and nano- technologies. On Saturday 14 March 2015,

Mitch Benn Mitchell John Benn (born 20 January 1970) is an English comedian, author and musician known for his comedy rock songs performed on BBC radio. He was, until 2016, a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's satirical programme '' The Now Show'', and h ...

presented a programme called Did Douglas Get It Right? which reviewed how accurate the predications from the year 2000 were.

External links

''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Future'', on the BBC Radio 4 site

Did Douglas Get It Right?
{{Douglas Adams Hitchhiker's Guide to the Future, The

The Episodes

See also

External links