By Chris Harrald

BBC Radio 4, March 6, 2017 and on iPlayer

NB Radio Times indicated this was the start of a serial and it was reviewed as such; we now understand it is actually a one-off drama

A neuroscientist and her team wonder if they’ve discovered something far beyond what they were searching for – a new consciousness…

Chris Harrald’s play for Radio 4 might not have the Dangerous Visions branding, but it fits right in with the strand’s focus on what might be and the dangers inherent in elements of our society today. Hayley Atwell plays Jo, a scientist who wonders if she’s starting to see patterns where there are none… but then the evidence starts to mount up, and it seems possible that communications are happening that simply can’t be explained as anything other than the most outlandish coincidences.

Part of me is wondering if this is going to go the Demon Seed route; the arrival of a pizza at the end could be a bad pun on the date of March 14th – that’ll make sense when you hear the episode – or it could be a foreshadowing of some unpleasant stuff on the horizon. Equally it’s got the potential (and with the involvement in the story of neuroscientist Daniel Bor from the University of Sussex, I hope this will be the case) to be a serious dramatic look at emerging consciousness, and both how it would cope with humanity and we would cope with it.

Harrald uses various devices to get the necessary exposition across – Jo has to give various talks or explain ideas to students – so the play never feels too much of a lecture, although I am surprised at the number of times the characters remind each other of their names within scenes. I’m sure Ben is aware that’s his name and doesn’t need his wife to keep saying it, and it does slightly undercut one of the key developments because we’ve become inured to hearing names in the dialogue.

Verdict: A thought-provoking play that hopefully will inspire a sequel! 8/10

Paul Simpson