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Intelligent Design cover art

Intelligent Design

By: David Spicer
Narrated by: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Edward Bluemel, Erin Doherty
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About the performers

Kingsley Ben-Adir

Rising star Kingsley has graced our screens in the popular BBC drama Peaky Blinders and the Netflix series The OA as well as in films such as Noelle, The Commuter and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.

Edward Bluemel

Before making his screen debut in 2017, Edward Bluemel trained at the prestigious Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. His TV credits include Killing Eve, A Discovery of Witches and Sex Education.

Erin Doherty

Winner of the Evening Standard Rising Star award in 2018, Erin’s star turn as Princess Anne in Netflix’s The Crown has led to critical acclaim. She has also appeared in Call the Midwife and Les Miserables.

About the author

David Spicer has written numerous audio series, including three series of Double Income No Kids Yet, starring David Tennant and the comedy series Three Off the Tee (both available on Audible).
He has written for dozens of UK TV shows, writing material for (among others) Jasper Carrott, Michael Barrymore, Paul O’Grady and Armstrong & Miller. He wrote various episodes of the children’s cartoon show, Chuggington and scripted the first Miss World contest to be recorded in China.
His stage plays, which are regularly performed in Britain and across Europe, include Long Live the Mad Parade, Stop!...the Play and Raising Martha. He has written two short films, Beast and Two Minutes.

Summary

At a shadowy company (Karoli Robotics Corporation) owned by a Sillicon Valley billionaire, a scientist named Jim creates an AI that can fool the Turing test at the same time as his colleague, Daniel, successfully synthesizes DNA in a test tube. Daniel's attempts to reanimate dead chimps using his discovery have been unsuccessful, but when his friend Laura Bocelli is killed by being trapped inside a lab freezer, Daniel is presented with the perfect specimen. However, Laura is irreparably brain dead. 

Daniel and Jim join forces to reanimate Laura using the DNA technology as well as the AI, creating a brilliant but psychopathic new Laura.

A year later a young journalist starts digging into the new CEO of Karoli Robotics Corporation, Laura Bocelli, and finds more than she bargained for. Laura will do anything to protect her secret and her plan to engineer a race of AI Cyborgs made in her image.  

Featuring: Sara Alexander, John Ammirati, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Edward Bluemel, Erin Doherty, Adam Fitzgerald, Mark Holden, Ryan Forde Iosco, Sandra-mae Luykx, Stuart Milligan, Elizabeth Moynihan, Christopher Ragland, Anna Rust, Derek Siow, Robert G Slade and Wyatt Warner.

©2020 Audible, Ltd (P)2020 Audible, Ltd

A look behind Intelligent Design

0:00

What listeners say about Intelligent Design

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Slightly Flawed Design

I always look forwards to the Audible dramas, they have produced some real crackers in the past. I didn't think this was quite up there with them though and the key weakness is with the story. The sound design is good, I enjoyed the original music though anyone listening in noisy conditions may find it occasionally intrusive and at times it seemed a little overdone and where it should have scored with big hitting sounds it seemed quiet, such as gunshots..

I also liked the performances, a couple of great voices in there but, apart from the fact that about two minutes of opening and closing credits were repeated every half hour it was the story that never quite hit the mark. I liked the start and everything seemed very contemporary but the threat, the solution and to be honest the character behaviour seemed very old fashioned sci-fi rather than anything cutting edge.

It's an enjoyable enough way to spend a few hours but not up there with the very best.

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21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

great story, great performance, annoying format

great story (although the core story has been done many times). the performance is good but the pseudo-episodic nature really annoyed me. having to listen to a full credits list (that hardly changes) every 30-40 minutes annoys and takes me out of the story. I understand audible trying to get into the podcast scene, but if he whole story goes out at once, play it as a whole, or at least skip the lengthy credits. there's also a few editing errors included, so not perfect. overall though, I really enjoyed this, and my only gripes are with the format

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

impossible to follow

the speech soundtrack is overlaid by a dreadful music soundtrack, making it impossible to concentrate on the story. useless. I only wanted to give it one star, the least possible, but it came up as 2 stars

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Great narration

I liked the plot and the narration was great but the story was very short with big jumps and the list of credits after each episodes was very annoying

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent and Imaginative

Really enjoyed this drama. A story very much of our time with so much current discussion about AI.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Okay, pretty predictable

It has a good cast, a little predictable and short. Good the for a freebie though.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good story

Fun, fast paced and not too overly complex. Good characters and engaging story. Really hope there’s a second season!

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

voice actors great, story poor

It was funny when one of the characters told the other character their accent isn't posh, when whoever the voice actor is literally has the most private school accent ever.

A lot of this story is just lazy writing, it's a no finisher for me

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
  • IB
  • 29-01-24

AI takes over the world?

Here’s a thought, Could AI have written the story. Nicely produced and performed. Didn’t like the add breaks,

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Witty and very listenable to.

Pacy, engaging, clever. I kept extending the sleep timer, keen to see where the story went with each chapter.

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