Ann Droid Review: A Funny, Warm Look at Technology, Grief and Companionship

By Justin D Williams

On paper, Ann Droid sounds like it could be another comedy built around one simple joke: an older woman gets stuck living with an incompetent robot carer, the robot misunderstands everything humans say, chaos follows. While the BBC series certainly gets plenty of laughs out of that premise, what surprised me is how much more there is underneath it. Ann Droid is funny, strange, warm and occasionally quite touching, with a story that uses artificial intelligence less as the main attraction and more as a way to explore aging, loneliness, grief, family and companionship. Created and written by Diane Morgan and Sarah Kendall, the six episode series is set in 2029 and centers on Sue, played by Sue Johnston. Sue has been widowed for two years and is facing another major change when her son Michael decides to move out again. Worried about his mother living by herself, Michael gets her an Ann Droid Z58/100, a secondhand humanoid care robot designed to help elderly people maintain their independence. Unfortunately, he cannot exactly afford the newest model. That is how Linda, played by Diane Morgan, enters Sue's life.

What I appreciate about Ann Droid is that it does not spend a lot of time trying to convince us that we are watching some massive science fiction world. Robots exist, people use them, and society has simply adjusted. The futuristic setting is there, but the show remains focused on ordinary people living ordinary lives. That simplicity allows the relationship between Sue and Linda to remain at the center instead of getting buried underneath complicated explanations about how the technology works. Sue initially wants very little to do with Linda, and you can understand why. She has already lost her husband, her son is leaving the house, and now everyone seems to be deciding that the next stage of her life involves having a machine look after her. There is something genuinely sad underneath that setup. Sue is not simply afraid of getting older. She is afraid of losing control of her own life. She wants companionship, but she does not necessarily want to admit that she needs it.

Linda is supposed to solve that problem, except Linda is not exactly the most advanced machine available. She can be useful one minute and create an entirely new problem the next. Her understanding of human behavior is limited, her social skills are practically nonexistent, and she frequently takes things far more literally than anyone intends. Yet that becomes part of the charm of the series. As the episodes continue, the show gradually moves away from the simple idea of Linda being Sue's robot carer and becomes much more about their friendship. I liked that progression because it does not happen instantly. Sue has to get accustomed to Linda, while Linda begins learning more about Sue and the strange behavior of the humans surrounding her. Their adventures take them into different situations involving work, family, outings and even camping, giving each episode its own little story while continuing to build their relationship.

There is also an interesting idea running throughout the series about what actually makes someone a good companion. Linda does not completely understand emotion, yet she can sometimes be more attentive than the actual humans around Sue. The show never turns that into some heavy speech about technology replacing people. Instead, it quietly asks whether companionship is ultimately about understanding everything someone feels or simply being there when they need somebody.

Sue Johnston is one of the main reasons the series works as well as it does. Sue could have easily been written as nothing more than the grumpy older woman who does not understand technology, but Johnston gives her much more personality than that. There is sadness there because she is still dealing with the loss of her husband, but she is also stubborn, independent, sarcastic and occasionally just as ridiculous as everyone else. Johnston is especially good during the quieter moments. She can make Sue's loneliness noticeable without the show stopping everything to explain how lonely she is. You understand that she is entering a stage of life she never expected to face alone, and that emotional foundation makes the comedy stronger because Sue feels like an actual person rather than simply the normal character reacting to Linda's craziness. Critics have also pointed to that balance between the show's comedy and its treatment of aging and isolation as one of its strengths.

Then there is Diane Morgan as Linda, and Morgan absolutely understands what makes this character funny. Linda's comedy is not just in the dialogue. It is in the way Morgan walks, stands, turns her head, looks at people and processes whatever ridiculous situation is happening around her. She performs Linda with an almost uncomfortable stiffness that constantly reminds you that this is supposed to be a machine attempting to navigate human society. Morgan's deadpan delivery is perfect for the character because Linda can say something completely inappropriate without understanding why everyone else is uncomfortable. Some of the funniest moments are not elaborate jokes at all. Linda simply responds to something with complete robotic sincerity, and Morgan's timing does the rest. What also works is that Linda never becomes too human. The series allows us to grow attached to her, but she remains weird. She is still socially awkward, occasionally destructive and capable of making situations considerably worse despite technically trying to help. That balance is important because making Linda completely normal would remove the entire reason the character works.

Paul Ready's Michael is another important part of the show. Michael does care about his mother, but he is also dealing with his own mess of a life. The decision to get Sue a robot is not presented as something cruel. In his mind, he is solving a problem and helping his mother maintain her independence. The comedy comes from the fact that Michael is not exactly someone who has everything figured out himself. Ready gives the character an awkwardness that works particularly well whenever Michael is trying to convince everyone that one of his questionable decisions makes perfect sense. Kathryn Hunter also adds plenty of personality as Eileen, while Margot Leicester's Phyllis and the rest of Sue's circle help make the world feel lived in rather than simply existing around Sue and Linda. The supporting characters also give Linda more types of people to interact with, which naturally produces some of the show's funniest moments.

The humor is probably going to depend on how much you enjoy Diane Morgan's particular style of comedy. If you like awkward pauses, dry observations, people saying things they probably should have kept to themselves and situations gradually becoming more ridiculous, there is plenty here to enjoy. Linda being a robot obviously provides a lot of the comedy, but Ann Droid does not depend entirely on robot jokes. There is physical comedy, uncomfortable family comedy and plenty of humor surrounding the everyday absurdities of modern life. Even the fact that Linda is an older secondhand model becomes part of a larger joke about technology, subscriptions and how quickly products become obsolete. I also liked that the show knows when not to make a joke. There are moments where Sue's grief and loneliness are allowed to exist without immediately being undercut by some huge punchline. Then, when the comedy returns, it feels natural instead of disrespectful to what the character is experiencing. That mixture gives Ann Droid a personality that separates it from a traditional sitcom. It can get ridiculous, but there is always something recognizable underneath the ridiculousness. You might be laughing at Linda trying to understand human behavior, but the humans are frequently proving that they do not understand each other much better.

My standout episode is Episode Three. Without getting into spoilers, Episode Three takes Sue and Linda on a seaside outing that eventually leads them to a questionable funfair, while Michael has his own storyline involving his musical ambitions. That setup gives the episode plenty of opportunities for physical comedy and some wonderfully awkward Linda moments. What makes Episode Three stand out for me, though, is that it represents the show finding the right balance between ridiculous comedy and genuine emotion. By this point, Sue and Linda's relationship has developed enough that they no longer feel like an elderly woman and the machine her son dumped in her house. There is a genuine companionship forming between them, even though Linda is still capable of turning an ordinary day into complete chaos.

I went into Ann Droid expecting a quirky British comedy about an incompetent robot. I came away enjoying it far more for the relationship between Sue and Linda. The artificial intelligence element gets your attention, but the show is ultimately much more interested in people. It is about a woman trying to understand what the rest of her life looks like after losing her husband. It is about a son who loves his mother even though he does not always know how to help her. It is about friendship arriving from an unexpected place. And yes, it is also about a strange secondhand robot wandering around, making situations far more complicated than they need to be. The six-episode length works in the show's favor because it never feels like the premise is being stretched beyond what it can support. Each episode gives Sue and Linda another situation to navigate while slowly strengthening their bond, and by the end I had become genuinely invested in these two characters. I would absolutely watch another series because there is plenty more that could be explored with these characters and this world. I especially want to see what happens as Linda continues learning about humans, because based on what we see here, she still has a lot to learn.

Final Rating