A for Andromeda (2006)

Infobox Television
show_name = A for Andromeda


caption = Kelly Reilly as Andromeda & Tom Hardy as Fleming
aka =
genre = Science fiction thriller
creator = nowrap beginFred Hoyle·wrap John Elliotnowrap end
writer = Richard Fell
director = John Strickland
creat_director =
developer =
presenter =
starring = nowrap beginKelly Reilly·wrap Charlie Cox·wrap Tom Hardy·wrap Jane Ashernowrap end
voices =
narrated =
theme_composer =
opentheme =
endtheme =
composer = Nina Humphreys
country = UK
language = English
num_seasons =
num_episodes =
list_episodes =
distributor = BBC Worldwide
executive_producer = nowrap beginRichard Fell·wrap Bethan Jonesnowrap end
co_exec =
producer = Alison Willett
sup_producer =
asst_producer =
cons_producer =
co-producer =
editor = Patrick Moore
story_editor =
location =
cinematography = Sean Van Hales
camera_setup =
runtime = 85 minutes
channel = BBC Four
picture_format =
audio_format =
first_run =
first_aired = nowrap beginMarch 27, 2006nowrap end
last_aired =
preceded_by = "The Quatermass Experiment"
followed_by =
related = "A for Andromeda"
website = http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/cinema/features/andromeda.shtml
production_website =
imdb_id = 0770442
tv_com_id =

"A for Andromeda" was a 2006 remake of the 1961 TV series of the same name by Fred Hoyle and John Elliot.

Production

The series was produced by Richard Fell, who the previous year had overseen "The Quatermass Experiment", a live remake of the 1953 TV series of the same name also largely absent from the BBC archives. [imdb name |id=0271400 |name=Richard Fell ]

Talking about the decision to commission the remake, Fell said, “We thought "A for Andromeda" was too good an opportunity to miss... it is the obvious follow up [to "The Quatermass Experiment"] . It had a huge impact when it arrived. It's also lost to the TV archives and it was an amazing story and, like "Quatermass", very forward looking”. [Brown, "A for Andromeda, R for Remake", p. 80.] He added, “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. It is also a strange kind of love story, if a man can fall in love with a machine that is”.cite news |title=A for Andromeda press release |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2006/02_february/09/andromeda.shtml |work=BBC Press Office |date=2006-02-09 |accessdate=2007-06-13 ]

Fell also adapted Hoyle and Elliot's original teleplays; at 85 minutes, this new version was much shorter that the original which ran for almost 300 minutes. In condensing the script, Fell used considerably fewer characters and locations. This included resetting the location from a radio telescope to a signals intelligence ground station. Fell also merged several characters – for instance, Judy Adamson and Christine were merged into the character of Christine; the Madeline Dawnay character combined the roles of both the original Dawnay character and that of Rheinhart while General Vandenberg took on the role of many of the authority figures from the original.Brown. "A for Andromeda, R for Remake", p. 82.]

Cast as Christine/Andromeda was Kelly Reilly, best known for her role in "Mrs Henderson Presents" (2005) for which she won a number of awards including a Chopard Trophy at the Cannes Film Festival. [imdb name |id=0717709 |name=Kelly Reilly ] Tom Hardy, best known to science fiction fans as Shinzon in "Star Trek Nemesis" (2002), played Fleming. [imdb name |id=0362766 |name=Tom Hardy ] Bridger was played by Charlie Cox and Vandenberg by David Haig. Dawnay was played by Jane Asher; Fell had hoped to be able to cast Julie Christie in this role as a nod to the original but the actress was unavailable. Directed by John Strickland, it was shot on location in early 2006 at Stanmore Air Base and the Brecon Beacons.

Reception

First broadcast on Monday, 27 March 2006 on BBC Four, it was watched by 580,000 viewers, making it the top rated programme on BBC Four for that week. [cite web |url=http://www.barb.co.uk/viewingsummary/weekreports.cfm?RequestTimeout=500&report=weeklytop30 |title=Weekly Viewing Summary: Multichannel Top 10 BBC4 – w/e 02/04/2006 |accessdate=2007-06-03 |work=BARB ] Reviewing the production for the "Independent on Sunday", Hermione Eyre said, “I squirmed as I watched, because I really liked it, even though I knew I shouldn't. The attempts at making the cast seem like convincing astrobiologists were risible. They swanned round in fitted white coats, occasionally sucking their pen tops as if deep in thought and then going rat-at-a-tat carelessly on their vast computer keyboards, more as if they were playing the honky-tonk piano than typing complex binary code to outer space. But this lent the programme a hammy, homemade charm”. [cite news |first=Hermione |last=Eyre |title=Television: A Whiter Shade of Bland |work=Independent on Sunday |publisher=Independent News and Media |page=p. 18 |date=2006-04-02 ]

References