Big Finish Audio, out now

Anna Swift (Pepter Lunkuse) is part of the crew of the Human Frontier, a secret sleeper vessel sent to colonize an abandoned alien world. She and the rest of the crew all have a built-in AI, called Nilly (Lucy Briggs-Owen), a constant voice at the back of their mind, a Jiminy Crikkit for a ship full of Pinnochios. It’s a dangerous mission, a massive adventure. And that’s even before they arrive and discover they aren’t alone…

Briggs’ epic is full of intrigue, romance, danger, secretive politics and massive ideas. But it’s the core of it, the engine, that holds your attention. Fundamentally this is both a romance and a discussion of the core ideals of this exact sort of science fiction; what does it mean to be human? What do we sacrifice in the name of the future?

Anna wants to live, and wants the people she cares about to live and that determination is a big part of the show. A pivotal early scene has her and Daisy cornered by alien predators. Seconds from death, Daisy is adamant that they don’t hurt the creature. Anna, intent on saving her commander (and girlfriend at this point) countermands the order and drives a wedge between them. It’s the Prime Directive with exit wounds, a red in tooth and claw, practical application of a complex ethical dilemma. It also drives much of the series. Lunkuse is fantastic as Anna, always practical, always eyes up and ready for the next problem but never hyper competent. The interplay between her and Briggs Owen as Nilly is especially great and the two make a double act so instinctively good you stop thinking about them as a human and an AI and instead hear a partnership very quickly. They’re matched beat for beat by Genevieve Gaunt as Commander Daisy Bailey too, and the pair embody the two sides of the dilemma with equal and complimentary intelligence and verve.

But that’s not all the show is about. The other side of it is concerned with the people who left after the Human Frontier and arrived before it. That’s another fascinating SF concept, and the second engine of the show; the idea of the Frontier crew’s massive sacrifice ultimately meaning very little. Or at the very least, not what they thought. The world, now named Triton, they arrive at is an industrial nightmare, run by President Brett Triton (Clive Wood) and his loyal chief of staff Malden Gray (Mark Elstob). It’s a dystopia, one built on an unsustainable relationship with the locals and one that, as the series opens, is about to collapse…It’s also a chance for Wood and Elstob, who are always massive fun, to go full Shakespeare at one another. Wood’s President Triton is King Lear with a better cape, a man tormented by his past but quite prepared to do whatever it takes to secure his future. Elstob’s Gray is arch, ruthless and increasingly frightened both for and of his friend. They are the dark shadow to the Daisy/Anna equation, one intimately concerned with doing the right thing, the other with getting away with doing the wrong one. These two pairings orbit each other at increasing speed as the show continues and the back and forth between them is as gripping as it is surprising.

But where the show really works is in the fact it doesn’t stop there. The Human Frontier’s origin is seeded throughout the series and as it comes into land, we, and the crew, are asked massive questions about the mission. The show is brave enough to provide you with some answers but leave others dangling, and the end result is a series which feels both complete in setting and absolutely ready for a second series. What you’re told and what you know when you come in at the first episode are completely turned on their head by the fourth and it’s a superbly executed, character-driven piece of drama. One that may involve you taking notes on who the villains really are…It’s also just really involving, fun science fiction. Everything from the core relationships to Elstob’s double duty as endlessly put upon duty pilot Bob and Briggs’ jovially sinister Hitchcockian cameo as project mastermind Dendrick just works and works well.

Verdict: Intensely ambitious, narratively complex and gripping, Human Frontier works on every level. The cast are fantastic, the direction is urgent without sprinting and the writing deals with character, theme, concept, and occasional tentacles, with equal grace. It absolutely deserves a second season, but remains a complete, and intensely enjoyable, experience in and of itself. Recommended. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart

Click here for part 1 of an indepth interview with Nicholas Briggs about the genesis of the drama (spoiler free)