Diane Morgan is earning praise for her latest comedy offering, Ann Droid, a show that began its journey in her hometown of Bolton. The BBC One series features the 50-year-old as Linda, an outdated robot assigned to a grieving widow named Sue, played by Sue Johnston.
The six-part series, co-written by Morgan and Sarah Kendall, follows Sue, whose husband Dave died two years ago. Her son Michael is moving out to try to fix his marriage, and in a bid to support his mother's independence, he surprises her with an Ann Droid Z58/100 humanoid care robot. Sue, however, is not keen on having a robot in her home, especially one that causes chaos from the start.
Rising Popularity and Fan Demand
Since its release last week on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, Ann Droid has stormed up the streaming chart, with fans already calling for a second series. Morgan shared the inspiration behind the show: 'The idea has been batting around for a couple of years, not that long. But there are some ideas we have had for 15 years, and they don’t get made.'
She added: 'I read an article in the newspaper about how, in the future, not that far in the future, people who don’t have kids can end up having robots looking after them, and I thought this was hilarious, because I don’t have kids, and that’ll be me being fed soup by a robot. So I told my friend Pippa (Brown, a producer) about it, and she said we should write it up and see if the BBC will go for it. I agreed, thinking they won’t go for it, and then they did.'
Early Life and Jobs
Born in Farnworth, Morgan grew up in a household where comedy was prized. She recalled: 'I watched all comedy. Stuff that my dad would introduce me to: Hancock's Half Hour, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore [Not Only... But Also]. I think it was just all going in and I was absorbing it. It was prized in our house to be as funny as possible. You could fail all your exams as long as you were funny. I think they wanted us to be happy, basically. And it's a good job because I'm just not academic.'
To support herself while pursuing stand-up, she took various jobs: dental assistant, telemarketer, potato peeler at a fish and chip shop, packing worming tablets, and working as an Avon lady. She was fired from the Last Drop Village tea rooms in Bolton for not knowing what a cream tea was. She and fellow Boltonian Maxine Peake even took elocution lessons, thinking their broad accents were hindering their drama school applications.
Breakthrough with Peter Kay
After a suggestion from Maxine Peake, Morgan wrote to comedian Peter Kay, also from Bolton. She recalled: 'I wrote to Peter Kay and said I'm from Bolton and I want to be an actress if you're ever doing anything, let me know. And God love him, he got me in Phoenix Nights. That was my first TV job.'
From there, Morgan's career took off, with roles in Life, Mandy, Motherland, and the deadpan reporter Philomena Cunk in series like Cunk on Earth and Cunk on Britain. She also received an honorary doctorate from the University of Bolton in 2023. Away from screens, she is in a long-term relationship with BBC comedy producer and writer Ben Caudell, with whom she has collaborated on projects including Mandy and the Cunk series.
Family History
Last year, Morgan appeared on Who Do You Think You Are?, where she traced her great-great aunt's tragic love story, discovered a 19th-century ancestor who fought for her illegitimate children's rights, and searched for her mysterious three-times great-grandfather 'German Charlie'.
