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Humans (TV series)

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Humans
GenreScience fiction
Created by
  • Sam Vincent
  • Jonathan Brackley
Based onReal Humans
Starring
Theme music composerCristobal Tapia de Veer
Country of origin
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes8 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • Jonathan Brackley
  • Jane Featherstone
  • Lars Lundström
  • Sam Vincent
  • Derek Wax
  • Henrik Widman
ProducerChris Fry
Production locationsLondon, England, UK
Cinematography
  • Stuart Bentley
  • David Rom
Running time46 minutes
Production companies
Original release
Network
Release14 June 2015 (2015-06-14) –
present (present)

Humans (stylised as HUM∀NS) is a British-American science fiction television series, with the first season debuting on 14 June 2015 on Channel 4 and AMC, and concluding on 2 August 2015.[1] Written by the British team Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley, based on the award-winning Swedish science fiction drama Real Humans, the series explores the themes of artificial intelligence and robotics, focusing on the social, cultural, and psychological impact of the invention of anthropomorphic robots called "synths". The series is produced jointly by AMC, Channel 4 and Kudos.[2] Eight episodes were produced for the first series,[3] with a second, eight-episode series scheduled to air in 2016.[4]

Cast

Humans panel at MCM London Comic Con with Tudor, Dirisu, Berrington, Goodman-Hill and Chan.

Main

Humans
  • Manpreet Bachu[5] as Harun Khan, a friend of Mattie, who helps her hack the synths.
  • Lucy Carless[5] as Matilda "Mattie" Hawkins, Laura and Joe's teenage daughter, who is upset that her family is falling apart and angry at the emerging role of synths in society. Despite her own intelligence, she feels useless, claiming that synths will soon be able to do anything she can do. She is skilled in computer programming and hacking.
  • Pixie Davies as Sophie Hawkins, Laura and Joe's younger daughter. She names the new family synth Anita after a friend of hers who has moved away, and develops a strong affection for the synth.
  • Tom Goodman-Hill[1] as Joseph "Joe" Hawkins, Laura's husband. He bought Anita because he felt Laura's absence caused a void, and he needed help managing their family.
  • Jill Halfpenny[5] as Jill Drummond, Pete's disabled wife. She is dissatisfied with Pete.
  • Neil Maskell[2] as D.S. Pete Drummond, an unhappy Special Technologies Task Force officer who has always been suspicious of synths. He is partnered with D.S. Karen Voss.
  • Colin Morgan[1] as Leo Elster, son of David Elster, a part-synth fugitive believed by the rest of the world to have died in a car accident. He is trying to track down and reunite the conscious synths made by his father.
  • Katherine Parkinson[1] as Laura Hawkins, a lawyer and mother of three who feels uncomfortable around synths. She has concerns about Anita and is determined to find out more about her.
  • Theo Stevenson[1] as Toby Hawkins, Laura and Joe's teenage son, who is attracted to, and has become protective of, Anita.
  • Danny Webb[1] as Professor Edwin Hobb, an artificial intelligence researcher.[6] He is simultaneously concerned about and intrigued by the possibility of conscious synthetics. Hobb is a key player in the quiet government investigation to find the four synths deemed a threat.
  • William Hurt[1] as Dr. George Millican, a retired artificial intelligence researcher and widower who suffers from an unknown disability. He forms a special bond with his outdated caregiver synth named Odi.[7] He previously worked with Leo's father.
Synths
  • Emily Berrington[1] as Niska, a conscious synth built by David Elster, now assigned to work as a prostitute. She is violent and resentful of humans, and wishes to live her own life.
  • Ruth Bradley[5] as D.S. Karen Voss, police partner of D.S. Pete Drummond. Unbeknownst to those around her, she is a conscious synth and was created by David Elster to replace his dead wife, Beatrice. Karen wants to die, but her programming forbids suicide.
  • Gemma Chan[1] as Anita/Mia, a servile synth belonging to the Hawkins family. She was sold as new, but is actually Mia, a conscious synth build by David Elster, kidnapped and hacked with new software.
  • Jack Derges[5] as Simon, Jill Drummond's attractive synth caregiver and physiotherapist. Pete is dissatisfied with Simon, thinking that he is his replacement.
  • Sope Dirisu[2] as Fred, a conscious synth built by David Elster. Professor Hobb likens Fred (as a conscious synth) to the Mona Lisa.
  • Rebecca Front[1] as Vera, a tight-smiled medical synth from the NHS who is supposed to replace Odi as George Millican's caregiver; Millican is frustrated with her relentlessly officious and domineering manner, and generally refuses her help.
  • Ivanno Jeremiah[2] as Max, Leo Elster's conscious synth and confidant, built by David Elster.
  • Will Tudor[1] as Odi, Dr. George Millican's malfunctioning synth caregiver. He is prone to system glitches, though Millican is unwilling to recycle him or turn him in to the NHS.

Recurring

Episodes

Series 1 (2015)

No.
overall		No. in
season		TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateUK viewers
(millions)		U.S. viewers
(millions)
11"Episode 1"Sam DonovanSam Vincent & Jonathan Brackley14 June 2015 (2015-06-14)6.81[10]1.73[11]
After missing his wife at home in his busy household, Joe Hawkins buys a pretty synth, a robotic assistant that looks like a young woman; he doesn't consult his wife. Upon her return, wife Laura feels displaced and cast off. She also complains that this will confuse the children, especially after the youngest child, Sophie, names the robot Anita after her friend who moved away. In a flashback, a group including Leo, Max, Niska, and Anita were hiding out in the forest five weeks earlier; everyone except Max and Leo were abducted and taken away into London. Fred, Leo and Max's contact in London, is concealing a mobile phone, which is blatantly outside allowed behaviour for a synth, and taken in for investigation by Hobb, who suspects him to be "something much more special" than the average synth. George's outdated synth Odi malfunctions while shopping and injures a female shop assistant. Back at the Hawkins' residence, Anita carries the sleeping Sophie out of the house one night.
22"Episode 2"Sam DonovanSam Vincent & Jonathan Brackley21 June 2015 (2015-06-21)5.77[10]1.09[12]
Anita continues to worry Mattie with her human-like nature, and Laura with her closeness to Sophie and how she's taken over house tasks that Laura would normally do herself, while Toby finds himself enticed by her. George hides his outdated synth Odi, who he refuses to let go even with his GP insisting it be recycled, while he deals with his new overbearing health-service synth, Vera. Pete Drummond finds himself pushed aside and threatened in his life when his disabled wife begins to depend more upon their attractive synth Simon than on him. Niska has an elderly customer at the brothel who asks her to act young and frightened, but then behaves threateningly and chokes her. Scared, she kills him and runs for it. Fred remains captured in the facility run by Hobb, who inspects his memory and finds images and memories of Anita. Laura suspects that Anita is faulty, and prepares to take her back. Anita smiles when she realises she's going "back".
33"Episode 3"Daniel NettheimSam Vincent & Jonathan Brackley28 June 2015 (2015-06-28)5.08[10]1.21[13]
Toby races on a bicycle to stop Laura taking Anita back. He reaches her car, and Anita, seeing that Toby is in danger of being run over, steps in front of the van herself. Back at the house, Joe checks Anita to make sure there is no external damage. Elsewhere, George locks Vera in a room, and takes Odi out. The car crashes, and George orders Odi to hide in the woods. Drummond and Voss investigate the murder at the brothel, and Niska meets up with Leo and Max. After arguing with them, Niska goes to a bar, where she is chatted up by a man. Believing he is going to cheat on his wife with her, Niska hides a knife behind her back, but the man mentions he was looking after his young daughter for the weekend. Back at the Hawkins household, Sophie says she would rather have Anita put her to bed than Laura. Anita convinces Sophie to let Laura do it to make her happy. Later that night, Mattie downloads Anita's data to her laptop, and Anita grabs her wrist and displays fear.
44"Episode 4"Daniel NettheimJoe Barton5 July 2015 (2015-07-05)5.31[10]1.05[14]
Laura meets a client who thinks synths can feel emotions and deserve human rights; she is intrigued by the idea. Meanwhile, her husband Joe grows suspicious about her sudden absence, and asks Anita to track Laura's car. He asks if anyone on the road is called Tom, and is about to go and find Laura when Anita tells him she's meeting with a client. Joe discovers an "18+" pack and has sex with Anita. Mattie meets up with Leo but runs away when he claims her synth is called 'Mia'. Leo and Max then discover executable code within Mia's programming and extract it. Leo connects himself with his laptop and tries to run the program but tells Niska that it will require all of them. Niska finds a smash club, where synths are savagely beaten for entertainment and starts attacking the humans there. Laura and Joe take Anita in to be diagnosed and discover she is at least fourteen years old, rather than being brand new. Pete Drummond's wife suggests that they separate temporarily, and he goes to stay with his colleague Karen, who, unbeknownst to him, is a synth herself.
55"Episode 5"Lewis ArnoldEmily Ballou12 July 2015 (2015-07-12)5.15[10]1.15[15]
Leo sends Niska to stay with Doctor Millican for a few days, because she has made the news for killing a human. Mattie contacts Leo and brings Anita to him, but Anita does not recognise the name 'Mia' or show any signs of being aware of her past. Niska and Doctor Millican discuss artificial consciousness and his involvement with the creation of synths. Mattie takes Anita home and finds in a log that someone has had sex with her. She assumes it was Toby, who admits to it when Laura questions him. DS Drummond visits Doctor Millican, having found a malfunctioning Odi in the woods, but does not discover Niska. Joe talks to Toby, who knows that it was really Joe who had sex with Anita. Toby becomes angry at Joe. Drummond attends a "We Are People" rally and listens to a man who feels synths make humans redundant. Joe confesses to Laura that it was he who had sex with Anita, and asks her who Tom is. Laura throws him out.
66"Episode 6"Lewis ArnoldSam Vincent & Jonathan Brackley19 July 2015 (2015-07-19)5.08[10]1.03[16]
Edwin tells Fred he has found out about the program David left in the group of conscious synths. Niska is hiding out at George's. Laura reveals to Mattie that Tom was her younger brother who was run over and died and that her mother blamed her. Jill and Simon's relationship turns sexual, but she calls Pete when Simon won't stop. Pete saves her by destroying Simon. He offers to pay for a new synth, but Jill tells him to leave. Pete and Karen have sex, then Karen reveals she is really a synth. Whilst in the car with Laura and Mattie, Mia temporarily regains control and tells Mattie to take her to Leo. Leo reveals his past: David created Mia to be Leo's carer, then also made Max, Fred and Niska. When Leo drowned at twelve, David saved him by adding synth technology to him. Joe tries to reconcile with Laura but they are interrupted when Leo and Max arrive. Leo is able to restore Mia and then leaves with Max to meet Fred, but Joe calls the authorities. Cornered by Edwin and police, Max sacrifices himself by jumping into the river to help Leo escape.
77"Episode 7"China Moo-YoungSam Vincent & Jonathan Brackley26 July 2015 (2015-07-26)4.83[10]1.13[17]
It is revealed Karen was built by David Elster to replace his dead wife Beatrice, but Leo and David's conscious synths rejected her. After telling them he had killed her, David killed himself, so they had left her behind. Leo and Fred find and retrieve Max's inert body. Pete learns Karen's identity is stolen. At George's, Karen asks Niska to kill her. She refuses, and Karen produces her gun. Vera and George are shot. Niska leaves to evade the police. Odi waits as George dies, telling him his wife is waiting in the next room, an old memory. Leo, Fred, Niska, and Mia reunite at the Hawkins' to repair Max, but Max is too damaged and does not regain consciousness. Joe, Toby and Fred play football, and Joe apologises to Toby. A policewoman comes to the house, telling Joe she's there to follow up on the call he made. Joe apologises to the synths, but they decide to leave as soon as Max recovers. The TV news shows footage of Niska assaulting humans at the smash club. Laura insists the synths leave. They beg them to let them help Max, to no avail. As Leo gets his bag, Karen arrives with Hobb, and armed police arrest everyone.
88"Episode 8"China Moo-YoungSam Vincent & Jonathan Brackley2 August 2015 (2015-08-02)4.90[10]1.08[18]
Hobb has brought Leo, Max, Mia, Fred, and Niska to his lab, where he links their minds to extract David's programme, but the programme is incomplete, as Karen's part is missing. Hobb has made himself Fred's primary user, and plans to disassemble the other synths. Karen begs Leo to kill her. The Hawkins want to save Leo and the synths. Pete helps them recover Mattie's laptop, which contains a copy of Leo's memories, from the police. Laura forces Hobb to set his captives free by threatening to release Leo's memories to the press. Leo tries to remove Hobb's primary user status from Fred's coding. They all, Karen included, connect and share the programme. Karen almost shuts them down, but Mia convinces her not to, and David's programme is put together. They consider publishing it to give all synths consciousness but decide to store it on a hard drive and entrust it to Laura before splitting up. Niska tells the other synths that she wants to live her own life, but secretly makes a copy of the consciousness programme for herself.

Production

Development

The series was announced in April 2014 as part of a partnership between Channel 4 and Xbox Entertainment Studios.[19] However, after Microsoft closed Xbox Entertainment Studios, AMC came aboard as partners to Channel 4.[20] Filming commenced in the autumn of 2014, with the series premiering on 14 June 2015.[20] The series' budget was £12 million.[21]

Filming

During rehearsals, Gemma Chan and her fellow robot actors were sent to a 'synth school' run by the show's choreographer, in a bid to rid themselves of any human physical gestures and become convincing synths. "It was about stripping back any physical tics you naturally incorporate into performance", explains Chan, who adds that it was a "relief to go home and slouch" after a day on set.[22]

Katherine Parkinson began filming six weeks after giving birth to her second child; her part in the series was filmed on 10 separate days, between 10 days' rest.[23]

Marketing

For one week in May 2015, the series was marketed using a fake shopfront for Persona Synthetics on London's Regent Street, inviting passers-by to create their own synth using interactive screens,[24][25] and employing actors who pretended to be synths around central London.[26] An accompanying Channel 4 trailer for the series in the style of an advert for Persona featured "Sally," a robotic servant described as "your new best friend."[26]

Future

The commissioning of a second, eight-episode series to air in 2016 was announced 31 July 2015.[4] Gemma Chan had previously said, in an interview with Den of Geek, that the first series is "not completely tied up at the end" and "there are definitely still areas to be explored for a second series."[27] Similarly, C4’s Head of International Drama, Simon Maxwell, told Broadcast’s Talking TV podcast that: "We've got a story that is told over a great many episodes and is very much designed to come back and return. We’ll be following those characters on a really epic journey."[28]

Broadcast

The first episode of the series was broadcast in the UK on Channel 4 on 14 June 2015 and premiered in the United States and Canada on AMC on 28 June 2015.[29] It started airing in Australia on ABC2, on 3 August 2015.[30]

Reception

The show is Channel 4's highest rated drama since the 1992 programme The Camomile Lawn.[21] It has been described as having "universal appeal" and as being "one of 2015's dramatic hits."[31] The show has been described as "a bit dystopian and Black Mirror-esque."[32] The actors have been praised for their performances, but some critics have said the story is "conceptually ... old hat" and "wasn't breaking any new ground philosophically."[33]

In December 2015, Humans was voted Digital Spy's "Top Show of 2015," described as managing "to stand out as something totally different in a TV landscape awash with cop shows and crime thrillers... And its fearlessness, its creativity and its quality all deserve to be recognised."[34]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref
2015 British Screenwriters’ Awards Best British TV Drama Writing Joe Barton, Jonathan Brackley, Sam Vincent and Emily Ballou Won [35]
The Royal Television Society: Craft and Design Awards Design Titles Momoco Won [36]
Trails & Packaging 4Creative Nominated [36]
2016 National Television Awards Drama Performance (longlisted) Gemma Chan Nominated [37]
Drama Performance (longlisted) Tom Goodman-Hill Nominated [37]
New Drama Humans Nominated [37]
Satellite Awards Best Genre Series Humans Pending [38]
Broadcast Awards Best Drama Series or Serial Humans Nominated [39]

Themes

The series explores a number of science fiction themes, including artificial intelligence, consciousness, human-robot interaction, superintelligence, mind uploading[40] and the laws of robotics,[41] as well as social themes like racism and class relations. The "synths" threaten employment and social roles, leading to the emergence of a Luddite movement to destroy them.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Hegarty, Tasha (January 10, 2015). "Humans: Channel 4 and AMC's sci-fi drama releases its first image". Digital Spy.
  2. ^ a b c d "Humans: New AMC TV Show to Debut". TV Series Finale. May 14, 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  3. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (October 13, 2014). "Katherine Parkinson & Tom Goodman-Hill Lead Cast Of AMC Sci-Fi Series Humans". deadline.com. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  4. ^ a b Barraclough, Leo (July 31, 2015). "AMC, Channel 4 Renew Sci-Fi Drama 'Humans' for Season 2". Variety. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g "Humans - Series 1 Episode 1". Radio Times. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  6. ^ "HUMANS - Professor Edwin Hobb - AMC". AMC.
  7. ^ "HUMANS - Dr. George Millican - AMC". AMC.
  8. ^ "Humans - Series 1 Episode 5". Radio Times. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  9. ^ "Humans - Series 1 Episode 8". Radio Times. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h "Weekly Top 10s (including +1)". BARB. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  11. ^ Petski, Denise (3 July 2015). "'Humans' Series Premiere Ratings Grow To 2.5M In L+3". Deadline.com. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  12. ^ Cantor, Brian (8 July 2015). "Ratings: AMC's "Humans" falls sharply in week two; "Halt and Catch Fire" holds". Headline Planet. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  13. ^ Cantor, Brian (14 July 2015). "Ratings: AMC's "Humans" rises in week three, "Halt and Catch Fire" loses viewers". Headline Planet. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  14. ^ Cantor, Brian (21 July 2015). "Ratings: AMC's "Humans" falls to viewership low, "Halt and Catch Fire" slips in demo". Headline Planet. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  15. ^ Cantor, Brian (28 July 2015). "Ratings: AMC's "Humans" rises, "Catch and Hold Fire" viewership surges". Headline Planet. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  16. ^ Cantor, Brian (4 August 2015). "Ratings: AMC's "Humans" Falls, "Halt and Catch Fire" Finale Also Down". Headline Planet. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  17. ^ Cantor, Brian (11 August 2015). "Ratings: AMC's "Humans" Improves This Week". Headline Planet. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  18. ^ Cantor, Brian (18 August 2015). "Ratings: AMC's "Humans" Falls for Season Finale". Headline Planet. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
  19. ^ Fullerton, Huw (15 October 2014). "William Hurt and Colin Morgan to star in new sci-fi drama series". Radio Times. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  20. ^ a b Finbow, Katy (September 22, 2014). "Channel 4 teams up with AMC for sci-fi series Humans". Digital Spy. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  21. ^ a b Plunkett, John (22 June 2015). "Humans becomes Channel 4's biggest drama hit in 20 years". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  22. ^ "TV: Humans on Channel 4, all you need to know about the robot drama". Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  23. ^ Francis, Pam (7 June 2015). "Humans' Katherine Parkinson: When I started the job I had a six-week-old baby". Express. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  24. ^ Love, Ryan (May 12, 2015). "Channel 4 explains innovative Humans marketing campaign". Digital Spy. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  25. ^ Walker, Danny (9 May 2015). "Channel 4's Persona Synthetics ad for Humans could be the best TV promo we've ever seen". Mirror. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  26. ^ a b "Channel 4 dupes viewers into thinking robot servants for sale". ITV. 13 May 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  27. ^ Meller, Louisa (12 June 2015). "Humans: Colin Morgan and Gemma Chan interview". Den of Geek. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  28. ^ Kanter, Jane (10 July 2015). "C4 in talks over second run of Humans". Broadcast. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
  29. ^ Bibel, Sara (May 14, 2015). "New Drama Humans to Premiere Sunday, June 28 on AMC". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  30. ^ "Humans: ABC TV". Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  31. ^ Lawson, Mike (22 June 2015). "Humans: a bankable British TV show that isn't a costume drama". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  32. ^ Denham, Jess (14 June 2015). "Humans: Everything we know about Channel 4's new series so far from the cast to that creepy Persona Synthetics ad". The Independent. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  33. ^ Wilson, Benji (20 June 2015). "There's something slightly robotic about Humans". The Telegraph. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  34. ^ "Digital Spy's best TV of 2015: Our top 5 - and No.1 show of the year - revealed". Digital Spy. 18 December 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  35. ^ "The 2015 British Screenwriters' Awards". Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  36. ^ a b "The Royal Television Society Awards". Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  37. ^ a b c "National Television Awards (2016)". National Television Awards. National Television Awards. nationaltvawards.com. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
  38. ^ "Satellite Awards (2015)". International Press Academy. IPA. December 2, 2015. pressacademy.com. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
  39. ^ "Broadcast Awards". Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  40. ^ "AMC's 'Humans' Is Closer To Reality Than You Think". Popular Science. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
  41. ^ "Review: AMC's 'Humans' explores the laws of robotics yet again". HitFix. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
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