Get your towels ready

Douglas Adams lives -- or, at least, his twisted imagination and voice continue.

Over on the other side of the Great Pond, BBC Radio 4 today begins broadcasting a new adaptation of the late humorist's best-selling "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" novels. The "tertiary phase" (i.e., third season) adapts the third novel in the series, "Life, the Universe and Everything." Adams posthumously plays the role of Agrajag, which he recorded before his death in 2001.

Fans who are out of radio reception range will be able to hear Webcasts of each episode for seven days starting the Thursday after its initial airing.

Adams began his satirical magnum opus as a radio series and, personally, I think it's still "Hitchhiker's" in its purest, most wildly entertaining form. I first heard the original 12 radio episodes, comprising two series, when Seattle NPR affiliate KUOW-FM aired them in the early '80s. I eagerly waited for more, but had long since given up hope.

BBC 4's "Hitchhiker's" radio site offers extensive background on the new series, including an amusing audio teaser, behind-the-scenes video and an insightful interview with the director of the new series. (Among other things, he explains how he picks up the action from the second radio series, even though it followed a divergent narrative and ended on a cliffhanger that doesn't appear in the books.)

BBC Online's main Hitchhiker's site is also worth checking out.