The BBC is working on an interactive audio drama for Alexa and Google Home

        The BBC has a long-history in audio dramas (it started out as a radio broadcaster after all) but the latest project from its R&D department promises something a little different.

        Instead of the linear narrative of a typical radio play, the new drama – produced in collaboration with Rosina Sound – is interactive. The narrator will ask you questions directly as the story progresses, and your answers shape the direction of the story.

        This is not the first time we’ve seen interactive stories told through voice assistants. Runescape: One Piercing Note was a choose your own adventure released for the Amazon Echo last year that tasked you with solving a mystery within the world of the free online game.

An active participant

However, unlike these choose your own adventure stories, the BBC’s interactive drama casts you as a character that the narrator interacts with, rather than an outside participant. The BBC’s blog post describes this as an attempt to keep the listener as immersed in the drama as possible.

        The experience will be available on both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa when it first launches, but the engine it’s built on is cross-platform, meaning there’s the possibility that it could come to more voice assistants in the future.

        The experience will be released via the BBC Taster platform later this year, and you can view a short demonstration video of the software on the BBC R&D Blog.

        
• Check out our full reviews of the Amazon Echo speaker and Google Home.

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