Isaac Asimov’s Classic iRobot Gets the Audio Drama Treatment on Radio 4
So we all know that despite the Three laws of Robotics that Isaac Asimov’s came up with it’s only a matter of time before robots become self aware, circumvent the laws and go kill crazy (Amazon Alexa I’m looking at you). So while we are waiting for the extermination of humankind how about a nice relaxing audio drama to pass the time?
B7 Media in conjunction with Radio 4 are releasing audio dramatisation of I, Robot with Hermione Norris taking on the title role of Stevie Byerley. I particularly loved her performance as the hard core MI5 operative Roz in Spooks so looking forward to seeing or rather hearing her in this story.
I’ve never read the original book and I’m a massive fan of audio dramas so this is a win win for me. The reason for excitement is that the team behind recently put out one of my fave audio dramas for of 2016 –The Dan Dare Audio Adventures. In light of that I asked director Andrew Mark Sewell what we can expect from the drama and this was what he had to say.
“We’ve always been fans of I, Robot, Asimov’s classic of speculative fiction. It’s a timeless commentary on the relationship between humans and technology. It’s an allegory of how we treat others who are not like us. But it’s also a cracking story, with a unique perspective. Perhaps what’s most striking about I, Robot is that given that the original stories were written some 60 years ago it’s a tribute to Asimov’s vision that they remain so pertinent and perhaps even more prescient than ever. Our march towards a society ever more reliant on robots and in particular AI technology makes Asimov’s morality tale between humans and robots seem ever closer. In fact you could say that the world that he imagined is now upon us…” – Andrew Mark Sewell, Producer/Director, I, Robot
The first of the six episode story is released on Radio 4 on Monday 6 February at 10:45am and runs throughout the week with an omnibus on Saturday 11th February.
Episode One: ROBBIE
As a child, Stevie Byerley is raised by Robbie, a robotic childminder, because her parents are too busy working. The powerful bond she forms with the robot is unbreakable. Their relationship will change the course of Stevie’s life.
The rise of robotics in the 21st century, told through the poignant and mysterious story of enigmatic lawyer, Stevie Byerley.As a girl, her strongest emotional bond is formed with a robotic childminder rather than her parents. As a young woman, she is involved in a catastrophic car accident, and is only saved by the use of state of the art, and secret technology.
Content retrieved from: http://geeksyndicate.co.uk/news/isaac-asimovs-classic-irobot-gets-the-audio-drama-treatment/.
