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[[quoteright:350:[[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/collage_maker_31_oct_2023_11_40_am_4641.jpg]]]]

Hollywood is famed for being cautious about trying anything new, hence the constant stream of rip-offs, imitations and other-media adaptations that pour into cinemas like so much slurry. But the same is true of television, too.

One method that's particularly popular in Britain is adapting radio series -- usually {{Sit Com}}s or [[SketchShow Sketch Shows]] -- for television. They generally retain the cast and writers (who, in the case of comedies, [[CastFullOfWriters are usually the same people]]) and it's fairly common for them to reuse swathes of material for their TV series. After all, if only a tiny chunk of the potential audience heard it the first time around then there's not much harm in recycling is there?

Although it may seem cynical, there are two fairly sensible reasons for adapting from radio to television. First of all, it shows that there is an existing audience for the programme, something which is important given the cost of modern TV productions. Secondly, it allows access to a pool of writing talent that is new to television but nevertheless has prior experience of putting together a weekly show. In Britain, many comedians see radio as the middle stage of career advancement, coming before TV but after stand-up and stage work (film being a fourth step, though not accessible to most).

In America, this was more common in the 1950s, as a number of "golden age" RadioDrama programs made the transition to the tube.

Often leads to TheyChangedItNowItSucks among the core radio audience.

For the reverse of this, see AudioAdaptation.
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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Radio to Television]]
* ''Series/Miranda2009'' started off as ''Miranda Hart's Joke Shop'' on radio.
* Groucho Marx's ''Series/YouBetYourLife'' started life as a radio quiz. The hour long pilot/trial film was merely a filmed version of the audio broadcast.
* The spoof radio news show ''OnTheHour'' was later turned into TV series ''Series/TheDayToday'' -- which itself spawned ''Series/BrassEye''. ''The Day Today'' rarely reused old radio material, due in part to the acrimonious departure of two writers, Stewart Lee and Richard Herring, whose work was subsequently edited out of ''On The Hour'' repeats and would not be reused for TV.
* Lee and Herring themselves had the ''Series/FistOfFun'' radio show, which was adapted into an identically-named TV series.
* ''Series/TheMightyBoosh'' ran for one series on the radio (as ''The Boosh'') before the stories were adapted for television. Subsequent series have used all-new material.
* ''Blue Jam'', an hour-long psychedelic mix of disturbing 'ambient comedy' and music, was later translated to television minus the music in the form of ''{{Series/Jam}}'' and the 'remix' show ''Jaaaaaam''. The majority of the sketches were taken directly from the radio show.
* ''Series/GuidingLight'' is currently known as the longest-running scripted soap opera. This is assisted by the fact that it started out as a radio serial in 1937, with the TV version beginning in 1952. The show actually ran concurrently (running the same storylines) on radio and TV between 1952 and 1956. Notably, Guiding Light is the only radio soap opera to successfully transition to TV.
* ''Series/PeopleLikeUs'' was turned into a television series and reused several scripts, but added various visual gags as well.
* ''On The Town With Series/TheLeagueOfGentlemen'' retained most of its characters upon transferring to television, but changed the village's name from 'Spent' to 'Royston Vasey' (as a ShoutOut to comedian Roy "Chubby" Brown, whose real name is Royston Vasey, and who later appeared on the show as the town's mayor).
* Mark Steel's semi-educational radio biography series about''TheMarkSteelLecture'' was adapted into the TV series of the same name. It re-used most of the material but had lots of [[AnachronismStew anachronistic]] visual gags, like Charles Darwin watching 'Animal Hospital' on his TV.
* Sean Lock's radio series ''15 Minutes of Misery'' was adapted into ''another'' radio series, ''15 Storeys High'', which itself was later adapted into the [[Series/FifteenStoreysHigh TV series of the same name]].
* Radio series ''That Mitchell and Webb Sound'' was adapted into the TV series ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'', although the radio series is continuing.
* A lesser-known transition saw ''Series/TheBurkissWay'' transfer to TV as ''End of Part One''.
* And likewise ''Radio 9'' became ''The Message''.
* Somewhat more successfully, ''Radio Active'' became ''Series/{{KYTV}}''.
* Several episodes of ''Series/TheGoonShow'' were adapted for a 15-minute puppet version called ''The Telegoons'' starring the original cast as VoiceActors. There were also a couple of TV remakes of Goon Show episodes, but that was done by pointing cameras at a radio performance.
* ''Hello, Cheeky'' transferred to TV but viewers complained that it was also just a radio performance with no visual content.
* ''Series/DeadRingers'' spent many happy years on radio before making the shift to television. It has now shifted back to radio.
* ''Series/ArmstrongAndMiller'' also began on radio.
* Popular TV series ''Series/HaveIGotNewsForYou'', which was originally devised as an adaptation of Radio Four's ''Radio/TheNewsQuiz''.
* An even earlier example was the various series of Tony Hancock.
** Radio/HancocksHalfHour specifically started as a radio series in 1954, and made the jump to TV in 1956. From 1956 to 1959 the two versions ran simultaneously. Both were spectacular smash-hits.
* ''Series/LittleBritain''
* ''Series/AbsolutePowerBBC''
* ''Radio/TheMaryWhitehouseExperience''
* ''Radio/GoodnessGraciousMe''
* ''Series/RedDwarf'' was loosely based on ''Dave Hollins: Space Cadet'', a recurring character from the radio sketch show ''Radio/SonOfCliche''.
* ''Dick Barton, Special Agent'', possibly a British takeoff of his namesake Tracy, began as a radio show but had a telly season back in the '70s.
* Many old time radio shows, mostly comedies, later became successful TV shows. Examples include ''Radio/TheJackBennyProgram'' (radio: 1932-55, TV: 1952-65)and Burns & Allen (radio: 1933-52, TV: 1950-58), whose shows made the transition with almost no changes in format.
** And ''ChanduTheMagician'' became a movie ''serial''.
* GameShows have also made the transition. In the early 1950s the only commercial radio station that could be heard in Britain was Radio Luxembourg, which featured lots of quiz programmes. Then when ITV, Britain's first commercial TV network, began in 1955 most of the game shows packed their bags and moved over, leaving poor old Luxy with no option but to run sponsored record shows instead.
* New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo Music/FlightOfTheConchords reused large chunks of their BBC radio series (as well as most of the rest of their back catalogue) when creating their eponymous US TV series. The second series is supposedly due to be based on more original material, largely because they've used up most of their old stuff on the first.
* The latest (well, as of March 2009) seems to be ''I've Never Seen Franchise/StarWars''. (In which celebrity guests try things they've never tried before. This may make more sense on television since, for instance, Sandi Toskvig trying on her first set of high-heels on radio lacks a certain impact.)
* ''{{Genius}}'', the interesting ideas show hosted by Dave Gorman, is another British example.
* Canadian examples:
** Best known these days is probably the ''Radio/RoyalCanadianAirFarce''.
** Slightly lesser known, (and shorter lived), ''Radio/TheFrantics''.
** Probably the most famous was ''Series/WayneAndShuster'', who started in radio in 1941, moved to TV in the 1950s, stayed on until the 1980s, and their show was in reruns well into the 1990s.
* Not a direct switch, but some of the cast of ''Creator/MontyPython'' started out on ''Radio/ImSorryIllReadThatAgain'' on radio (John Cleese as a performer, Graham Chapman and Eric Idle as occasional script contributors) before making the jump to television, first on ''The Frost Report'' (again, with Cleese as a performer and all five British Pythons as writers), then via ''Series/AtLastThe1948Show'' and ''Do Not Adjust Your Set'' to Glory. ''Series/TheGoodies'' also started out on ''ISIRTA'' before moving to television, Tim Brooke-Taylor in ''At Last the 1948 Show'' and Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie in ''Twice a Fortnight'' (alongside Terry Jones and Michael Palin in their first programme in front of the cameras), and then all three in ''Broaden Your Mind'' and eventually ''The Goodies''. Some gags and sketches originally written for ''ISIRTA'' resurfaced in the various television programmes; this was less common for the Pythons than it was for the Goodies since the latter were all ''ISIRTA'' alumni (compared to only Cleese for the Pythons), and Garden and Oddie were prolific contributors to the scripts for ''ISIRTA'' (Oddie primarily with musical numbers) and subsequently wrote the scripts for ''The Goodies''.
* This was one step taken by the ''Doctor in the House'' series of stories; originally a collection of books by Richard Gordon, they were adapted into a [[Film/DoctorSeries series of films]] starring Creator/DirkBogarde, Creator/JamesRobertsonJustice, and Creator/LesliePhillips and directed by Ralph Thomas from 1954 to 1970. In the late 1960s, some of the stories were adapted for radio in two thirteen-episode series, ''Doctor in the House'' and ''Doctor at Large'', starring Creator/RichardBriers and Ray Cooney (Cooney also wrote the scripts). Between 1969 and 1979, the stories were adapted for television, with the characters re-named, in the series ''Series/DoctorInTheHouse'', ''Doctor at Large'', ''Doctor in Charge'', ''Doctor at Sea'', ''Doctor on the Go'', the Australian transplant ''Doctor Down Under'', and the short-lived early 1990s revival ''Doctor at the Top''. The television series is perhaps more notable for its writing staff and its guest cast than for its primary cast (which at various times included Creator/MartinShaw (''Series/TheProfessionals''), Jonathan Lynn (co-writer of ''Series/YesMinister''), Creator/GeorgeLayton (successful comedy writer and initial star of ''Series/ItAintHalfHotMum''), and Richard O'Sullivan (''Series/ManAboutTheHouse'')). Graeme Garden (himself a qualified doctor) and Bill Oddie wrote many episodes together before ''Series/TheGoodies'' became successful enough to demand their full attention, and Creator/GrahamChapman (also a qualified doctor) and Creator/JohnCleese wrote many more scripts, both together and with other co-writers, during breaks in the writing schedule for ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus''. (An episode of ''Doctor at Large'' written by Cleese and featuring a brusque hotelier with a domineering wife later provided the blueprint for ''Series/FawltyTowers''.) Creator/DavidJason was a guest star in various episodes of both the radio and the television series.
* ''Radio/ThisAmericanLife'' on PRI, and now {{Showtime}}. Very, very rare modern American example.
* ''Amos 'n' Andy'' had a few screen adaptations over the years, which proved to be tricky since the titular characters were black but their performers, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, were white. The first was the 1930 movie ''Check and Double-Check'', which featured Godsen and Correll in {{Blackface}}. The second was a 1951-53 TV sitcom which recasted the title roles with actual black actors, but nevertheless attracted enough controversy about its negative stereotypes that it was cancelled after two seasons and banished from reruns in 1966. The third was ''WesternAnimation/CalvinAndTheColonel'', a 1961 animated TV show which transformed Amos and Andy into FunnyAnimals to avoid racial controversy but otherwise used similar characterizations and situations.
* BBC Radio 4 stalwart ''Radio/JustAMinute'' was adapted for television several times, with unreleased pilots made in 1969 and 1981, a regional London series in 1994 (with some minor visual gimmicks), another series in 1995 (playing out some kind of bizarre Midlands vs. London team game with Dale Winton and Creator/TonySlattery as captains), and finally two proper BBC TV broadcasts in the original format in 1999 and 2012. Unlike the short-lived TV versions, the radio version continues to this day.
* ''Radio/PaMinuten'', the Swedish adaptation of ''Radio/JustAMinute'', filmed six episodes for the television series ''Nöjeshallen'' in 1975.
* The original ''Franchise/{{Dragnet}}'' was a famous example, with creator and lead actor Jack Webb bringing most of his radio team with him to the new show.
* ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'' started as a BBC radio program.
* ''Series/MeetThePress''
* ''Radio/AdventuresInOdyssey'' has about seventeen video episodes, which occasionally air on TV. As a whole, they're pretty different experiences.
* ''Suspense'' ran on CBS radio for 20 years. In the middle of that, it had a 5-year run on CBS TV.
* One of the [[LongRunners longest running]] Television shows ever, ''Series/{{Gunsmoke}}'', [[Radio/{{Gunsmoke}} started on radio]], where it ran for 10 years (overlapping with its TV incarnation for 7 of those years). Interestingly, the radio and TV series had [[TheOtherDarrin entirely different casts]].
* ''Radio/FibberMcGeeAndMolly'' had a brief, unsuccessful TV version with different actors in the title roles.
** Both of its spinoffs, ''The Great Gildersleeve'' and ''Beulah'', also had TV adaptations.
* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'' began on radio in 1948, with a TV version following in 1952 and theatrical movie, which acted as the series finale, in 1956. Many of the TV episodes were adaptations of radio episodes. Also notable was a {{retool}} in the final season of the TV version that introduced many dramatic changes -- all of which were completely ignored by the radio version (still running concurrently) and by the subsequent movie.
* ''Series/FatherKnowsBest''
* ''Series/TheAdventuresOfOzzieAndHarriet''
* ''December Bride''
* ''The Life of Riley'' had two TV versions, the first starring a young Jackie Gleason and the other with original radio star William Bendix.
* A TV pilot of ''Radio/ImSorryIHaventAClue'' was produced but never broadcast, owing to difficulties in making the show "visual". Much later, the stage show and video ''I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue -- Live!'' proved very successful simply by treating it as a radio recording -- the only concessions to the medium being that the teams stood up for the singing rounds, and [[TheGhost Samantha]] couldn't ever quite make it to a show.
* ''Radio/OldHarrysGame'' received a clay animation television show adaptation pilot, although it never quite made it to series.
* Italian radio show ''Radio/LoZooDi105'' became a Creator/ComedyCentral show in 2011.
* ''Radio/BoldVenture'' was turned into a TV series in 1959. It lasted for 39 episodes.
* The AnimatedAdaptation of ''Radio/TheRickyGervaisShow''.
* The BBC Radio 4 {{Mockumentary}} ''Delve Special'', starring Creator/StephenFry as IntrepidReporter David Lander was adapted for Creator/Channel4 as ''Series/ThisIsDavidLander'' (then, when Fry couldn't make a second series, Creator/TonySlattery [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute took over]] for ''This Is David Harper'').
* The Creator/Channel4 sitcom ''Milton Jones's House of Rooms'' is Radio 4's ''House of Milton Jones'' with a few tweaks.
* In an interesting example, a few episodes of ''Radio/TheDebaters'' were filmed to be aired on Creator/{{CBC}} television in 2011. TV cameras were set up in the theatre where the show was usually recorded in front of a live audience, and the show was produced completely unchanged.
* ''Series/KnowingMeKnowingYouWithAlanPartridge''
* Radio/InAndOutOfTheKitchen became a short-lived BBC Four TV series.
* ''Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show!'' became simply ''Series/CountArthurStrong'' on television. Although a few plotlines are recycled, the different setting and supporting cast have led some fans of the radio show to dispute whether it's a true adaptation or merely a {{sequel}}.
* ''Series/TheyThinkItsAllOver'' started out as a Radio 5 series presented by sportscaster Des Lynam, with two teams of two players each captained by Rory Bremner and Rory [=McGrath=] (who went on to become the only person to appear in every episode of the TV adaptation). The radio version was a more sedate, straight sport quiz than its television counterpart.
* In 1957, ''Radio/TheSixShooter'' was adapted into a TV series titled ''The Restless Gun'' and starring John Payne in the Creator/JimmyStewart role, renamed from 'Britt Ponset' to 'Vint Bonner'.
* ''Series/AnActorsLifeForMe'' started out as a radio sitcom which ran from 1989 to 1993 (on [=BBC=] Radio 2) before it was adapted into a short-lived [=BBC=] One Series in 1991.
* ''Series/TheTroubleWithYouLilian'' began as a radio series that aired on [[Creator/TheBBC BBC Radio 4]] from 1966 to 1969. While Creator/PatriciaHayes played Lilian in both, Madge was originally played by Creator/BerylReid who was unavailable for the TV series leading to Creator/DandyNichols taking her role.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Radio to Film]]
* ''Film/APrairieHomeCompanion'' is one of the few examples of a ''movie'' based on a radio show. And a {{meta}} one at that.
* Several Golden Age radio shows were adapted into films, including ''Radio/FibberMcGeeAndMolly'', ''The Great Gildersleeve'', ''The Life Of Riley'' (prior to its better-known TV adaptation), ''A Date With Judy'', and ''My Friend Irma''.
* ''Film/TheShadow'', starring Alec Baldwin, about an amoral man given the power of telepathy during a trip to the mysterious East. Pulp crime-fighting ensues.
* ''Film/UnaccompaniedMinors'' is based on a non-fiction story by Susan Burton which first appeared on an episode of ''Radio/ThisAmericanLife'', and is the first product of a first-refusal deal that Warner Brothers Pictures has with stories that appear on the radio program.
* The popular Creator/{{BBC}} radio discussion show ''The Brains Trust'' spun off a series of films during WWII.
* The ''Film/CrimeDoctor'' series of films was based on a long running radio program of the same name.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Radio to Multiple Media]]
* Probably the best known example is ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', which started off as [[Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1978 a radio show]] and was adapted into [[Series/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1981 a television series]], [[VideoGame/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1984 a computer game]], [[Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy2005 a film]], [[Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxyTrilogy a series of popular books]], three LP records, and a towel. The radio series actually comprises the first two ''HHGG'' books plus some material that never made its way into the other adaptations. The third, fourth, and fifth books were then adapted ''back'' into a radio series using the original cast 20 years later.
* ''Radio/TheNavyLark'' has had both two television shows (both latest for a short time) and one film.
* Several interviews and music performances recorded for ''Q'' on Creator/{{CBC}} are filmed and posted to the show's [=YouTube=] channel. In particular, a video clip of an interview with Billy-Bob Thornton (in which Mr Thornton was clearly intoxicated and Jian Ghomeshi kept his cool) went briefly viral.
* Golden age radio sitcom ''Radio/MyFriendIrma'' starring Marie Wilson as lovable DumbBlonde Irma Peterson produced two feature films and a television show.
* Creator/DylanThomas's ''Theatre/UnderMilkWood: A Play for Voices'', first broadcast as a [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] radio play in 1954, was made into a film in 1972. Creator/TheBBC made an AnimatedAdaptation in 1992, using the original radio soundtrack. There have also been several stage versions, including a ballet.
[[/folder]]

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