Planet B

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 his 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 season, 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 of five episodes ran from 30 January through 27 February 2011. Plot Series 1 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.