Category: 大象传媒 FOUR; TV Drama
Date: 09.02.2006
Printable version
Following in the footsteps of 大象传媒 FOUR's popular success The Quatermass Experiment last year, comes another compelling adaptation of a science fiction classic: A for Andromeda.
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The drama stars Kelly Reilly (Mrs Henderson Presents, The Libertine) as Christine/Andromeda; Tom Hardy (Gideon's Daughter, The Virgin Queen, Sweeney Todd) as John Fleming; Jane Asher as Professor Madelaine Dawnay and David Haig as General Vandenberg.
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In this contemporary adaptation by Richard Fell (The Quatermass Experiment) of Fred Hoyle and John Elliot's 1961 sci-fi classic an alien threat to humanity in the form of a radio signal deep in the Andromeda constellation provides instructions to build a computer.
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In a very short period of time "the super computer" amasses a wealth of information about life on Earth and soon becomes more powerful than anyone could have ever anticipated.
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Using its vast intelligence, and with the connivance of the MoD, it fashions a robot from flesh and blood to carry out its wishes.
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Tom Hardy plays the heroic and brilliant scientist, John Fleming, who becomes by turns repelled and intoxicated by the icily beautiful humanoid computer that is created.
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A massive 13 million viewers watched the original A for Andromeda, which now only exists only in small fragments.
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Richard Fell says: "A for Andromeda is a true television classic tragically lost from the archives, and we are thrilled to be able to revive it.
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"It is a gripping and, in the end, a poignant story, about what we would do if we were contacted by an alien intelligence.
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"It raises themes about artificial intelligence, cloning, biological warfare and the political exploitation of science which are as important today as they were when it was written - if not more so.
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"It is also a strange kind of love story, if a man can fall in love with a machine that is."
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A for Andromeda shoots on location at Stanmore Air base and the Brecon Beacons.
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Directed by John Strickland (Bodies, Hustle), the production is produced by Alison Willet (The Quatermass Experiment, The Lavender List) and executive produced by Richard Fell and Bethan Jones.
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Filming completes on 21 February 2006.
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Notes to Editors
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British science fiction is enjoying a renaissance.
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In April 2005 大象传媒 FOUR adapted Nigel Kneale's cult series, The Quatermass Experiment, attracting the second largest audience that the channel had ever seen.
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The success of this - together with the 大象传媒's multi-award winning return of Doctor Who - has re-ignited an interest in the 大象传媒's sci-fi heritage.
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A for Andromeda was to the Sixties what The Quatermass trilogy was to the Fifties.
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Remarkably ahead of its time, Fred Hoyle and John Elliot's series burst onto our television screens in 1961.
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Together, Hoyle and Elliot produced one of the earliest and most compelling explorations into genetic cloning and the then fledgling science of computing that we have ever witnessed.
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It was huge television hit which retains its cult following today.
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