Ann Droid Review: Morgan, Johnston Comedy Called Wonderful
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- Ann Droid is a new comedy co-created by Sarah Kendall and Diane Morgan, starring Sue Johnston as a widowed woman discharged from hospital who receives a preloved robot carer named Linda on a 24-month subscription contract after fainting at home.
- Diane Morgan plays Linda, the robot who is 'useless without an internet connection' but wins over Sue through small gestures — she is also hooked on The Apprentice and Cotton Eye Joe, and uses laser-beam eyes to taser a Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor.
- Sue Johnston delivers what the reviewer calls a 'frequently heartbreaking' performance as Sue, whose character arc centers on grief over her late husband David and finding connection with the socially inept but compassionate robot.
- Paul Ready plays Michael, Sue's 'gutless, whiny' son participating in a drug trial for quick cash and moving back in with his cheating ex, while Sarah Kendall doubles as co-creator and Cass, an overburdened delivery driver who holds a PhD on Chaucer.
- The series draws explicit comparisons to Channel 4's Humans for its tech ethics themes and Stefan Golaszewski's Mum for its grief elements, with the reviewer calling the show 'shot through with a love and care that are entirely human.'
- The comedy lands amid real-world developments: elder-care robots are already in use in Asia, and the reviewer notes the series 'treads carefully and with much warmth' on the pragmatic use of robots for isolated older populations.
Why it matters: Ann Droid arrives when AI debates are often framed as binary — humans good, robots bad — and reframes the question through a robot who is both useless without Wi-Fi and deeply emotionally attuned. For an ageing population facing isolation, and with elder-care robots already deployed in Asia, the show's warm treatment of machine companionship offers a counterpoint to dystopian sci-fi defaults.
