British television science fiction fiction was "Star Cops" (1987), which ran for only nine episodes to poor viewing figures on the corporation's second channel, BBC2. It was written by Chris Boucher, who had contributed scripts to "Doctor Who" and "Blake's 7", and was script editor for the later series entire run. The 1980s also saw the arrival on the BBC of two science fiction comedy series both of which had their origins on radio. The first was "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (1981) by Douglas Adams which amalgamated aspects of the original radio series with that of the subsequent novel. The second was
U.S. television science fiction lower costs to produce. Nonetheless, the popularity of science fiction as a genre means that several notable programs enjoyed significant longevity. "Stargate SG-1" began in 1997 and aired 10 seasons, and is somewhat unusual in being a successful spin-off series from the 1994 movie. The series became the longest-running North American science fiction television series, which warranted two spin-offs: "Stargate Atlantis", which ran for five seasons; and "Stargate Universe", which ran for only two seasons instead of the originally-planned five. "Stargate SG-1" retained its record until "Smallville" completed its run with 218 episodes in 2011 and broke its record. The