TV Pick of the Week: Ann Droid - review by Yvette Huddleston
Ann Droid BBC iPlayer, review by Yvette Huddleston
Set in the near future, this thoughtful, funny and thought-provoking sitcom, co-written by comedians Diane Morgan and Sarah Kendall, is in many ways a love letter to humanity in the face of encroaching challenges.
Sue Johnston plays recently widowed Sue whose beloved husband David, for whom she was for many years a carer, has died some 18 months previously. Her son Michael (Paul Ready), a slightly self-obsessed only child, has been living with his mother due to a crisis in his marriage but has decided to go back to his unfaithful wife Renee (Andrea Valls) who had an affair with her Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor. This means that Sue will be on her own and to ensure that she has some company and help around the house, Michael orders a robot assistant, Linda (played by Morgan). Sue is reluctant and ready to send back the robot, who she calls Linda, almost as soon as she arrives.
However, Linda, who delivery driver Cass (played by Kendall) informs Michael is an old outmoded model, proves to be reliable and surprisingly empathetic. She plants a rosebush, that Michael has been promising to do but hasn’t got round to, named after Sue’s late husband (or ‘dead David’ as Linda refers to him). Linda also organises activities designed to get Sue out of the house, meeting other people and getting exercise in order to boost her mood and prevent her from feeling isolated and depressed. Soon a bond grows between Sue and Linda with Sue beginning to learn how to enjoy life again. The central performance from Johnston is heartfelt, authentic and often very moving, while Morgan is absolutely brilliant as Linda, with her rigid movements, unblinking stare and socially awkward truth-telling.
Linda takes Sue on a day out to the seaside, for a ride on a rollercoaster and on a camping trip, all of which Sue initially didn’t want to do, but having been persuaded to go feels the benefit and is invigorated by it. Along the way we meet Sue’s quirky best friend Eileen (Kathryn Hunter) who works in a charity shop, snooty self-satisfied acquaintance Phyllis (Margot Leicester) and gentle widower Tom (David Hargreaves). There is plenty of warmth and humour here – with some hilarious laugh out loud moments – but this is a sensitive exploration of grief, loss and loneliness too, and it also addresses the issue of AI from a subtly different perspective.