Humans (TV series)

Humans
Title card for the second series
Genre	Science fiction
Created by	Sam Vincent Jonathan Brackley
Based on	Real Humans
Starring	Manpreet Bachu Emily Berrington Ruth Bradley Lucy Carless Gemma Chan Pixie Davies Jack Derges Sope Dirisu Rebecca Front Tom Goodman-Hill Jill Halfpenny Ivanno Jeremiah Neil Maskell Colin Morgan Katherine Parkinson Theo Stevenson Will Tudor Danny Webb William Hurt Marshall Allman Sonya Cassidy Carrie-Anne Moss
Theme music composer	Cristobal Tapia de Veer
Composer(s)	Cristobal Tapia de Veer Sarah Warne
Country of origin	United Kingdom United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	16 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Jonathan Brackley Jane Featherstone Lars Lundström Sam Vincent Derek Wax Henrik Widman
Producer(s)	Chris Fry
Location(s)	London, England, UK
Cinematography	Stuart Bentley David Rom
Running time	46 minutes
Production company(s)	Channel 4 AMC Studios Kudos
Release
Original network	Channel 4 AMC
Picture format	HDTV 1080i SDTV 576i
Original release	14 June 2015 (2015-06-14) – present (present)
External links
Channel 4 official website
AMC official website

Humans (stylised as HUM∀NS) is a science fiction television series that debuted on 14 June 2015 on Channel 4 and AMC. Written by the British team Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley, based on the award-winning Swedish science fiction drama Real Humans, the series explores the themes of artificial intelligence and robotics, focusing on the social, cultural, and psychological impact of the invention of anthropomorphic robots called "synths". The series is produced jointly by AMC in the United States, and Channel 4 and Kudos in Britain.

Eight episodes were produced for the first series, which concluded on 2 August 2015. The second eight-episode series premiered in the UK on 30 October 2016 and concluded on 18 December 2016. A third series was commissioned in March 2017 and is set to premiere in 2018.

The series was announced in April 2014 as part of a partnership between Channel 4 and Xbox Entertainment Studios. However, after Microsoft closed Xbox Entertainment Studios, AMC came aboard as partners to Channel 4. Filming commenced in the autumn of 2014, with the series premiering on 14 June 2015. The series' budget was £12 million.

The commissioning of a second, eight-episode series to air in 2016 was announced 31 July 2015. Gemma Chan had previously said, in an interview with Den of Geek, that the first series is "not completely tied up at the end" and "there are definitely still areas to be explored for a second series." Similarly, C4’s Head of International Drama, Simon Maxwell, told Broadcast’s Talking TV podcast that: "We've got a story that is told over a great many episodes and is very much designed to come back and return. We’ll be following those characters on a really epic journey." Filming of the second series began on 11 April 2016, with a premiere date of 30 October 2016.

A third series was commissioned in March 2017 and is set to premiere in 2018.

During rehearsals, Gemma Chan and her fellow robot actors were sent to a 'synth school' run by the show's choreographer, Dan O'Neill, in a bid to rid themselves of any human physical gestures and become convincing synths. "It was about stripping back any physical tics you naturally incorporate into performance", explains Chan, who adds that it was a "relief to go home and slouch" after a day on set.