Planet B
The podcast logo for Planet B
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| Genre | Science fiction drama |
|---|---|
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Country |
 United Kingdom
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| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | BBC Radio 7 Now Radio 4 extra |
| Created by | Sam Hoyle Jessica Dromgoole Matthew Broughton James Robinson |
| Produced by | Jessica Dromgoole |
| Narrated by | Adjoa Andoh |
| Air dates | 2 March 2009 to 27 February 2011 |
| No. of series | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 20 |
| Website | BBC Sci-Fi Season |
| Podcast | BBC website |
Planet B is a science fiction drama series first broadcast on BBC Radio 7 on 2 March 2009 as part of BBC Radio's science fiction season between February and March 2009.Planet B is set in a virtual world called "Planet B" in which people play as life-size avatars. The first series follows John Armstrong who attempts to find girlfriend Lioba Fielding who is dead in the real world but alive in Planet B. As he travels between various worlds he becomes entangled in an array of strange scenarios, teleporting from each adventure to the next with his companion Medley, a "rogue avatar" who has no human controller. All the while, John and Medley are being watched by a dog-like antivirus programme called Cerberus who, along with the Planet B Corporation, considers the rogues to be a computer virus that need to be wiped out. In the second series, Lioba is on the run from Planet B and travels the virtual world with computer games expert Kip Berenger after they are attacked by Cerberus.
The series was created by Sam Hoyle, Jessica Dromgoole and Matthew Broughton with James Robinson. The first series ran for ten episodes and was BBC Radio 7's biggest ever commission for an original drama series. A second series of five episodes was broadcast from 29 November 2009 to 27 December. A third series started on 30 January 2011.
Lioba Fielding is one of the people behind "Planet B", a virtual world which advertises itself as: "Where you can be whatever you want to be." Planet B allows its users to download themselves onto it and play as a life-size avatar in a 3D world designed to be as realistic as possible. Planet B contains various environments, including schools, the Wild West, and Ancient Rome.
Lioba commits suicide in the real world by throwing herself off a cliff, to the distress and horror of her boyfriend John Armstrong. John then downloads himself into Planet B and enters a section called "Golden Moments" which allows him to play the best moments of his life, but a technical fault results in him being forced to constantly watch Lioba's funeral. John, along with his virtual hostess and guide Medley, discover that the problem revolves around Lioba. John then begins to see memories that are not his but Lioba's. He therefore begins to believe that Lioba is still alive somewhere in Planet B. John and Medley decide to search Planet B in an attempt to find her by jumping into a rift in the system, taking part in the various games and worlds in the system as they go along. However, when they exit the rift, John is no longer his avatar, but himself with his DNA digitised. As a result, he feels everything in Planet B for real, and if he is killed in a game, he will really die.
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Wikipedia