Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

Invited members of the press gathered in London’s West End for the world premiere of Channel 4’s new sci-fi anthology series Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams, followed by a Q&A with cast and creatives.

Breaking Bad legend Bryan Cranston appeared on the screen, addressing the gathered audience. He apologised for being unable to attend and then warned the press that if the show didn’t get five-star reviews he’d be sending round his friend Walter White. “And you wouldn’t like that!” he grizzled. He needn’t have worried.

Episodes The Hood Maker (with Richard Madden) and Crazy Diamond (with Steve Buscemi) were both shown and we’ll be reviewing them separately ahead of transmission. Following a round of applause and a trailer for the series, TV pundit Boyd Hilton welcomed producers Ronald D Moore and Michael Dinner, stars Sidse Babett Knudsen (Westworld, Inferno) and Noma Dumezweni (Doctor Who, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) and directors Julian Jarrold and Marc Munden to the stage.

When asked if he had always been a fan of PKD, Moore stressed that most if not all sci-fi writers are – “From Blade Runner and Minority Report onwards.” Michael Dinner explained that the show had taken five years to get going and that while some writers pitched their own favourites out of Dick’s substantial back catalogue, others were presented with stories to work on. Five episodes were produced in the UK while five were simultaneously produced in the States.

When asked about the grungy retro future world of his The Hood Maker, director Julian Jarrold said it was all there in the script. “I would have loved to have shot it in 16mm film.” And why the old cars? “There’s no longer any internet or electronics, so the only cars that work are those without computers… Oh, and [writer] Matthew [Life on Mars] Graham says that everything needs a Ford Cortina in it!”

The world in Marc’s Crazy Diamond is a very different locale – a crumbling homestead on the  cliffs. I mention that I recognise it as the Dorset location of Kimmeridge and the director adds that they spent considerable time finding the right coast, starting at Anglia and working in a clockwise direction down to Dorset, with Beachy Head also used. While the story does deviate significantly from Dick’s original, both share the theme of wanting to get away from the city, and that beneath the surface of this utopia there’s something not right.

Sidse stars with Steve Buscemi in Crazy Diamond, alongside Julia (Nighty Night) Davis. When asked about her action scenes, she laughs: “Sure she kicks ass, she’s an insurance sales person!” Another co-star is Lucian Msamati as Buscemi’s boss, a role that Noma went for, but lost. She subsequently was offered the role in The Hood Maker. “It’s like the captain in Starsky & Hutch!” she laughs, only this time she’s in charge of Richard Madden. “I fell in love with him,” she confesses. “He’s only 12!” When she first heard about the show she was immediately sold on it, being a fan of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? “I went ‘Shut. Up!’ and now I’m gagging to see the other ones.”

Moore stresses that while they made 10 separate movies, there is a common theme: “What does it mean to be a human?” Dinner added that he and Moore had to “…arm wrestle to decide who did which episodes.” Moore wrote Exhibit Piece and Dinner The Father-Thing. “I’m currently mixing the rest of the series from a studio in LA. The one I wrote was originally written a year or two before The Invasion of the Bodysnatchers and is a valentine to my children – I found the emotional component.”

The episodes pack a lot in to their running time. “It’s because we’re insane!” Moore suggests. “Every episode is a new cast, with new costumes and new sets. We’re very proud of the amount of ground that these mini movies cover.”

And finally, what of the serendipity that their show is airing at the same time the sequel to Blade Runner, the biggest Philip K Dick adaptation, is preparing to hit the screens? “I’d been hearing that for 20 years,” Moore shrugs. “I didn’t believe they were going to do it.” Will there be more Electric Dreams? “Ask us after we’ve completed these 10,” pleads Dinner. One thing’s for sure – there’s certainly no shortage of source material.

Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams premieres at 9pm on Channel 4 on Sunday 17 September. Gollancz have also released a tie-in collection of the 10 stories used in this first season.