Having recently had all the excitement of having my first android Sci- fi short story published at the amazing Pulp Metal Magazine, people have been asking – have you been watching Humans? In fact I hadn’t at the time I wrote Perfect Love, but of course, I couldn’t resist watching the series now that my story has been published; and it really was excellent, although I am glad that I didn’t watch this while I was writing, in case it influenced me too much!

The first thing that struck me on watching the first episode of Humans was the similarity in the opening scene set in the android warehouse, with and the very first Dr. Who episode I ever watched. That memorable episode, which was the first to feature with the wonderful actor Jon Pertwee as Dr. Who, had a storyline with terrifying Auton mannequins, who had come to life after a mysterious meteor storm. The Autons are completely devoid of emotion and were truly terrifying to their unsophisticated 1960’s TV audience. I think it was probably their complete lack of humanity which seemed so frightening; that something which looked like us, but didn’t feel anything, was capable of such merciless brutality.

The brilliance of new series, Humans, is the essential humanity of the androids, which appear to be much similar to us humans than the Autons. For most of the time we are left wondering, how much they actually feel and if it really possible to fully control something which is made specifically in our own image, and yet appears to have a life-force of its own. Are these androids, as in the Dr. Who programme, really a dangerous threat to the survival of mankind? Obviously in true cliffhanger tradition, we will have to watch the next series to discover their real agenda…

My android short story, Pefect Love, is set in the future of 2033, where android companions are a luxury as well as a growing market trend for international sales. A global manufacturer and distributer of companion androids decides to initiate an experiment to introduce human feelings into an android male – with devastating results… If you missed the story first time around, you can catch it here, with this link:  Perfect Love