Ann Droid: A comedy, but profound

Britain now has a Minister for Artificial Intelligence. Kanishka Narayan became minister for AI when Andy Burnham created the role in his new Cabinet.

Narayan has warned that “people are right to worry” about the impact of technological change, but that he was “going to work every hour, every day to try to make sure it goes right”. Meanwhile, our new Prime Minister has himself promised to fix adult social care. If you put these two issues together, you get the BBC’s new surprisingly moving six-part comedy drama Ann Droid. At a time of polarising political views that can feel like they lack nuance, this is a show that provokes laughter, and tears, that will make you ask questions about AI’s value as well as its risks, and what it means to be human.

Diane Morgan, the brains and face behind fictional and satirical “journalist” Philomena Cunk, created the show after reading an article about robots providing elder-care in Japan. She also plays Linda, the human-like robot who has been bought to support widowed Sue – played by The Royle Family’s Sue Johnston – and enable her to keep living at home when her son Michael wants to move out. Linda is far from the latest model – she’s a refurbished, cheaper option, who means well but makes a mess, literal or emotional, wherever she goes. There are misunderstandings and literalisms all over the place. She is jerky, irritating… and oddly likeable. It is possible she is loveable – or compassionate?