Issue 755

October 12 - 18, 2009

The meaning of life
It’s 30 years since The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy told us the secret to the universe. We talk to the author, Eoin Colfer, tasked with continuing Douglas Adams’ franchise. PLUS Russell T Davies and Neil Gaiman

Precarious ledge
The death of Heath Ledger almost proved too much for Terry Gilliam as he attempted to bring The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus to the big screen. But the ex-Python refuses to let the tragedy stop him, and is already well into his next mind-boggling project – turning Don Quixote into a cinema star

Spy queen
Holding the government responsible for the ‘dodgy’ Iraq dossier, running the Secret Service and being betrayed by the Ministry of Defence – it was all in a day’s work for the first female chief of MI5, Stella Rimington, as she explains in our exclusive interview