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Douglas Noel Adams wrote the Doctor Who television stories The Pirate Planet and Shada. He co-wrote City of Death with producer Graham Williams under the pseudonym David Agnew. He was also script editor for Season 17. Having started his career as a contributor (and occasional bit player) for Monty Python's Flying Circus, he is most famous for creating The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which he wrote as a radio play and book while script editing for Doctor Who.
The third novel of Hitchhiker's Guide, Life, The Universe and Everything, was originally intended to be a Doctor Who story. The Doctor was replaced with Slartibartfast, a planet designer from Magrathea, his TARDIS by the Starship Bistromath (which boasted a perception filter) and the Daleks by the Krikkiters.
His style of humour has left a lasting impression on other writers. It can still be seen in the revived series, which included a reference to his creation Arthur Dent in The Christmas Invasion. He also inserted a reference to one of his characters, Oolon Colluphid, in the Season 17 story Destiny of the Daleks. In The Rings of Akhaten, when the Doctor was pointing out species to Clara, one of the species was the Hooloovoo, a species from his book, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
- Adams is implied to be a part of the Doctor Who universe when the Sixth Doctor said that "my old friend Douglas" once said the response to the question, "What's wrong with getting drunk?" was, "You ask the glass of water." (AUDIO: The Wormery) Though the Doctor never gave this Douglas a surname, the line is clearly drawn from episode one of Hitchhiker's Guide, indirectly confirming Douglas Adams as a part of the DWU. Additionally, in the novelisation of Shada, Professor Chronotis claimed to have replaced the Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey with a copy of "The Hitch-," at which point he is interrupted.
- Additionally, in (TV: Ghost Light), the Seventh Doctor remarked "Who was it said Earthmen never invite their ancestors round to dinner?". That was also a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the exact quote being "Earthmen are not proud of their ancestors, and never invite them round to dinner.".