Arthur Philip Dent is a fictional character, the hapless protagonist and antihero in the comic science fiction series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Along with Ford Prefect, Dent barely escapes the Earth's destruction as it is demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Arthur spends the next several years, still wearing his dressing gown, helplessly launched from crisis to crisis while trying to straighten out his lifestyle.
He rather enjoys tea, but seems to have trouble obtaining it in the far reaches of the galaxy. In time, he learns how to fly and carves a niche for himself as a sandwich-maker. In the radio, LP and television versions of the story, Arthur is played by Simon Jones, no relation to Peter Jones, the voice of the Guide.
In Ken Campbell's stage production from 1979, Chris Langham took the part. In the theatrical movie he is played by Martin Freeman. In The Illustrated Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, he is portrayed by Jonathan Lermit.