And now, Hitchhiker the movie

Douglas Adams died of a heart attack

Cult novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is to be turned into a Hollywood movie.

The scriptwriter for Chicken Run, Karey Kirkpatrick, is to complete the script from a draft version written by author Douglas Adams before his death last year.

Austin Powers director Jay Roach is to direct, and Adams will be posthumously credited as an executive producer.

Adams spent years trying to persuade Hollywood to take the project on and had become cynical about the project before he died.

Adams's novel was turned into a BBC series

The tale follows the adventures of Englishman Arthur Dent, who is taken on a tour of the universe by an alien after discovering the Earth is to be flattened for a hyperspace bypass.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy originally started out as a BBC Radio 4 series in March 1978.

From there it became a series of best-selling novels and, in 1984, Adams became the youngest author to receive a Golden Pan award.

The saga also became a hit BBC TV series, video game and, more recently, internet site.

Adams's unfinished final novel was published in May this year.

Arthur Dent and Slartibartfast became cult figures

A Salmon of Doubt was a collection of short stories.

The publication was edited but remained unfinished following its recovery from files on the novelist's computer. It contains numerous anecdotes about Adams' attempts to sell Hitchhiker to Hollywood.

Adams died suddenly in May 2001 in Santa Barbara, California, following a heart attack. He was 49.

His other novels included the best-selling titles The Restaurant at the End of the Universe Life, The Universe and Everything, So Long and Thanks for all the Fish and Mostly Harmless.