"I deliver perfection..." "and don't brag about it!" ":" "D" "This first episode of the TV series premiered in the UK at 9 pm, Monday 5th January 1981 on BBC2." "Peter Jones voices "The Book"." "The "Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" began life as a six-part BBC Radio series by Douglas Adams." "The first episode aired on 8th March 1978." "The first "Hitchhiker's Guide" novel by Douglas Adams was published on 12th October 1979." "The double LP vinyl record album featuring a partially different cast was released the following month." "The TV version was inevitable." "This shot has intrigued many people over the years, except perhaps miniature railway enthusiasts who quickly recognise the commercially-available model trees." "The director's preferred take of this model sunrise was damaged by the neg cutters." "He had to use this alternative take." "Logo drawn by animator Rod Lord - loosely-based on the paperback design." "Negotiations for Douglas Adams to write the TV pilot script began in May 1979." "The pilot script arrived in December, and the series was commissioned almost immediately." "Terms were agreed by 10th January 1980 for the rest of the script." "The next quick shot of Arthur's surprised face was actually filmed through a ground floor window to the rear of the house." "The earliest version of this sequence, as used in the pilot programme, included a tunnel element taken from the 1970s "Doctor Who" titles." "It was replaced in time for the first broadcast." "The acknowledgement of the original radio series was another amendment prior to transmission." "Joe Melia as "Mr. Prosser"." "Joe Melia was in Cambridge Footlights revues in 1958/59 with Bill Wallis, who played "Mr. Prosser" on radio and record." "Je Melia worked with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, and for a time chaired the panel game "Call My Bluff"." "Douglas Adams created the part of "Arthur Dent" with Simon Jones in mind." "They too met at Cambridge Footlights - in early 1971." "Simon Jones had, of course, already played Arthur Dent on the radio and the record." "The background of twittering birds was added in a sound dubbing session at Ealing Studios on 2nd June 1980." "The bulldozer engine noise came from a BBC sound effects vinyl record." "It felt more threatening than the actual machine." "Bulldozer - from J. Thomas (Southern) Ltd." "No computers were used to create the animation for the series." "It was all drawn by hand." "Honestly." "The Earth, for example, was traced from photos of a revolving globe." "The animation was directed by Rod Lord of Pearce Studios Ltd." "Fred the chimp: supplied by Mary Chipperfield Promotions Ltd." "Fred cost more to hire than the five human dinner guests put together!" "David Dixon plays "Ford Prefect", a part originally played on radio and record by Geoffrey McGivern." "David Dixon was suggested for his "weirdness" by a temporary secretary of Producer/Director Alan J.W. Bell." "David Dixon had played Prince John in "Robin Hood" (1975) for the BBC, and most recently Ariel in "The Tempest" (1980)." "He had a small rôle in the movie "The Missionary" (1982), and later appeared in "Tutti Frutti" (1987), "Boon" (1990) and "The Bill" (1992)." "The BBC erected 60 feet of wooden fencing to screen out the garden next door." "In the original "Hitchhiker's Guide" radio series, it is Arthur, not Ford, who instigates what happens next..." "For this scene, David Dixon says J.W. Bell told him to play Ford like "Raymond Burr"..." ""Fat and in a wheelchair?" puzzled Dixon, initially..." "But Bell wasn't actually referring to Burr's disabled detective "Ironside" He meant "Perry Mason", Burr's famous lawyer character." "Joe Melia had appeared in Dennis Potter's play "Double Dare" (1976) and was reunited with Simon Jones in "Privates on Parade" (1982)." "Location filming at Arthur's house took place from Monday 12th to Wednesday 14th May 1980 at Edmonds Farm in Balcombe, Sussex, England." "The workmen were played by Terry Duran  George Cornelius." "You can spot some film unit vehicles in the background of this shot." "The Encyclopaedia logo was only added to the show two days before transmission." "Here, the script called for drunken aliens in the style of an 18th-century Hogarth engraving." "This was the BBC graphic designer's second attempt, after his original was rejected by Alan J.W. Bell." "The next scene was shot at Ealing Film Studios on 8th May 1980." "The girl is Cleo Rocos, who later rose to fame in "The Kenny Everett Show"." "The guy is Andrew Mussell." "Their metallic-looking plastic costumes cost £450 each, much to the dismay of the producer/director Alan J.W. Bell." "And yes, Cleo Rocos did have trouble remaining inside that costume." "The design of Zaphod was based on special reference photos of Mark Wing-Davey in a rough costume." "H was photographed in May 1980, almost 5 months before he was needed for actual filming." "The pub interior location shoot was on 15th and 16th May 1980." "Somehow the barman manages to pull six pints of beer in 15 and a half seconds." "Well, Ford did say: "Quickly, please..."" "The hopeful-looking barfly was played by Steve Trainer." "Pure nostalgia: 1980 bar prices." "Simon Jones (Arthur) and David Dixon (Ford) were indeed drinking real beer..." "Fortunately, they were supplied with special "quick sup" trick glasses..." "Nevertheless, this was their fourth attempt at the shot..." "The author Douglas Adams makes a cameo appearance here, sitting at the far end of the bar, wearing a light jacket." "The shot was indeed filmed on a Thursday However, this was shot the evening before, and caused a minor industrial dispute... when it was squeezed in at the end of a long day at the house." "The costume and make-up team were disgruntled at not being included in a shot where actors were (only just) visible." "This shot originally contained three ships, but was cut short." "The narration by Peter Jones was recorded on 21st March 1980..." "These stock shots from a BBC science programme were coincidentally produced by another Peter Jones." "Arthur would not have heard the bulldozer in reality, since the Red Lion pub is actually about 6 miles away from the house location." "The barman was played by Steve Conway, whose previous work includes "Ripping Yarns" " Whinfrey's Last Case", one of two episodes directed by Alan J.W. Bell." "The BBC paid the Red Lion pub £300 for the use of the premises." "Signs outside the pub asked the traffic to go slow due to the filming in progress." "The Red Lion pub was closed for filming on the first day until 6 pm." "On the second day, the extras were finished with by 1.00 pm." "In May 1980, all the pubs in England still used to close for the afternoon due to the licencing laws." "The lych-gate and stone wall were all fake, supplied by the BBC, and therefore they are the only part to be damaged by the bulldozer..." "This lane location is very close to the house, but Simon Jones is, in reality, shouting towards a field of cows." "The actors were looking up at a lamp on a crane." "The blue sky was used to key-in the model ship." "The noise of the wind machine meant that the dialogue here had to be dubbed later, in a session at Ealing Studios on 2nd June 1980." "Filmed in March 1980 from the 39th floor of the Nat West tower (later renamed "Tower 42"!" ")" "The clouds here are taken from a photograph." "The London street scenes were filmed on Sunday 11th May 1980." "Each of the 26 extras was paid £22.50." "The Vogon Captain is played by Martin Benson." "His most famous rôle was as the Prime Minster of Siam in the movie "The King and I" with Yul Brynner." "Martin Benson also appeared in "A Shot in the Dark" with Peter Sellers, plus "Goldfinger" and "The Omen"." "David J. Grahame was the sandwich-board man." "These scenes were shot at St. Paul's tube entrance outside 161 Cheapside." "Bill Barnsley-filmed at the house location, 13th May 1980." "Martin Benson's Vogon mask is by sculptor John Friedlander, who crafted many memorable monsters for "Doctor Who"." "Douglas Adams's script had asked for the explosion to happen in complete silence." "The static model Vogon ship was filmed as a track-back along some lengthy custom-built camera rails borrowed from legendary movie special effects wizard Derek Meddings." "The chemical glow-sticks hanging here were a trendy design item of the day." "The remainder of this episode was recorded in BBC TV's largest studio, TC1, on Saturday 7th June 1980." "During the two weeks between the location filming and this studio session," "Simon Jones had taken part in another BBC production, "Masterful Servant"." "The other production had insisted on cutting Jones's hair, thus destroying the continuity of his hairstyle here." "A storm of internal memos resulted in the commission of a special pelmet-like hairpiece to lengthen the back of Simon's hair." "The hairpiece is quite noticeable in some shots, and Alan J.W. Bell insisted the cost of its manufacture was charged to the other production." "The large composite set for this episode was designed by Andrew Howe-Davies." "The Dentrassi was a puppet in order to save paying an extra, but it ended up costing a lot more!" "Visual Effects Designer Jim Francis designed and operated the character." "This tunnel-like corridor was made from the same fork-lift truck pallets used as set elements on Ridley Scott's film "Alien", which had been filmed at Shepperton Studios two years earlier." "Clever editing makes this section of corridor seem much longer..." "The "Don't Panic" legend on the prop had been overlooked by BBC graphics." "It was hurriedly painted on the prop by Kevin Davies, a visiting member of the animation team." "The Guide prop was designed by Jim Francis and his Visual Effects team the animation was back-projected onto the prop using their special rig." "There was "no" miniature TV screen in the prop, and "no" computers were utilised in the preparation of the graphics." "Even some visual effects and computer experts were fooled." "Rod Lord's animation technique was to build up the images via multiple exposures of back-lit artwork under a 16mm rostrum camera." "He painstakingly revealed the scrolling text letter-by-letter, frame-by-frame over many hours." "Composer Paddy Kingsland added the unscripted burp..." "For much of the time, the TV series follows the storyline of either the radio series or the record albums." "At this point, however, it makes a rare departure." "A recipe for "Hagra biscuit":" "bake some small loaves of dyed blue Madeira-type cake, garnish with mushy-pea relish and sprinkle with red paprika to taste." "Then-stand back!" "The "gull-wing" door here was the same set element used in the Dentrassi quarters." "A glass shot-the top and sides of the image are painted on a sheet of glass in front of the camera." "The Statue of Liberty was just visible in the glass shot." "The idea was that the Vogons take souvenirs from the planets they demolish." "One aborted plan was to place a brand-new Mini Metro car in the hold, upside down, amongst the other items." "The helmet is an old prop previously featured in "Doctor Who"." "Watch the open bin lid mysteriously closed after the shot changes." "Hair continuity wasn't the only problem, then?" "Simon Jones's special hairpiece is very obvious at the back of his head in this scene." "Graphics designer Doug Burd has these special towels made up to his own geometric design." "The set designer Andrew Howe-Davies was disappointed that the fish dispenser wasn't featured as much as he'd hoped." "It is reused in the next two episodes, on the bridge of the Heart of Gold." "The little Babel Fish was cast in latex by the BBC Visual Effects Department." "It had two red map-pins for eyes." "Martin Benson was not the first choice for the Vogon Captain." "Alan J.W. Bell had approached Stratford Johns, Frank Middlemass and Sir John Gielgud!" "Bell remembers a lunch with Gielgud where the great man supposedly complained that he was never offered any sitcom work." "Bell's offer of the Vogon part was allegedly rejected, not by Gielgud himself, but by his agent, who didn't think it was quite "him"." "Bell maintains that it was a career opportunity that Gielgud missed..." "The following bit of business with the towel seems to have been specially written for the TV version." "By the time they reached this scene on the studio day, late in the evening of 7th June 1980, there was a certain edge of panic setting in." "The union work-to-rule meant the studio lights would be switched off at the agreed finish time of 10 pm, whether the programme was in the can or not..." "The first 50 seconds of the Babel Fish animation was treated as a pilot piece to test the abilities of the animation company, and to set the style for future sequences." "Alan J.W. Bell, Doug Burd and Douglas Adams viewed the piece and gave it their hearty approval." "Douglas Adams spent a long time working out the theory behind the Babel Fish." "it was his answer to the problem of how aliens in Sci-Fi always seem to be able to speak our language." "The join in the animation film is clearly visible here as the bottom line of text pops-on in a sloppy jump cut..." "The second part continues with the debate on the non-existence of God." "Douglas Adams said he was moved to write this after attending the birth of a cow with his step-father, who was a vet." "The equation is based on the notion that mixing all colours of the rainbow in paint would give a very mucky pigment (i.e. black), whilst mixing all colours of light would equal white light." "Animation director Ron Lord won several prizes for his work on the graphics and for this sequence in particular." "The step animation of the bomb was traced from archive footage of a real mushroom cloud." "In 1985, a special towel was available as a rare piece of official "Hitchhiker's Guide" merchandise." "Part of the text about towels from the novel was woven into its design." "This extra zoom-in to Arthur was achieved via Quantel 5001- an early digital effects system." "There's the join on his hairpiece at the back of his neck again..." "Studio time was fast approaching lights out." "They were really panicking by now - David Dixon fluffs slightly, but there's no going back..." ""Mostly Harmless" became the title of the fifth "Hitchhiker's" novel, in 1992." "Martin Benson doubles as the Guard." "This quick little shot of Arthur was actually Simon Jones rushing to his next position as that first hectic studio day rapidly drew to a close..." "The pilot episode was completed after a final edit on 2nd July 1980." "For various reasons, the show went £30,000 over budget." "It was premiered to 100 Sci-Fi fans at the National Film Theatre Screen 2 on Saturday 5th July 1980, where a laughter track was recorded." "Screenings at the Edinburgh TV Festival in August 1980 and at the "Hitchhiker's Guide" convention in Glasgow brought many favourable reviews." "The cast would reassemble to begin the next five episodes in Cornwall on Monday 22nd September 1980..."