Forest 404: 9-part thriller, 9-part talk, 9-part soundscape and exclusive bonus documentary

Can you feel loss for something you've never known?

Meet Pan. She lives a few centuries from now, in a future beyond a data crash that wiped out most records of life from before the 23rd century: The Cataclysm. Her job is to sort through the old sound recordings that survived from before the crash - from The Slow Times. When winters were still cold. When the USA still had people in it.

All day she listens to sounds from The Slow Times, and she decides which noises live, and which can just...finally die. Deleted to make space. Because data costs.

But when she finds an old recording of a rainforest, she has no idea what it is. Because forests no longer exist. And the sound of it haunts her - she is compelled to hunt down the truth about how the forests of the old world died. But the agents of new world have other ideas...

A sci-fi thriller starring Pearl Mackie (Doctor Who), Tanya Moodie (Sherlock, Motherland) and Pippa Haywood (Green Wing, Bodyguard).

Each episode is accompanied by a talk which looks at the issues raised by the drama, featuring a diverse range of speakers: musicians, bio-futurists, anthropologists and tree-climbers. They explore questions ranging from 'Why should I listen to trees?' to 'Would you vote for an AI government?' and 'What is death in the digital age?'

Each episode also comes with an immersive soundscape of natural world environments, mixed in binaural sound for a 3D headphone experience. You can hear the sound of the Sumatran Rainforest, the songs of whales, a chorus of frogs, and a full playout of Bonobo's specially-composed theme music.

Lastly, this release includes an exclusive bonus documentary episode, which looks at the making of the programme and features interviews with the writer, Timothy X Atack. It also discusses the findings of The Forest 404 Experiment: a related project in collaboration with Exeter University and the Open University, which assessed the effects that different natural sounds have on mental health and well-being, and used many of the natural soundscapes featured in this programme.

Forest 404

Clip - Talk - Why Should I Listen To Trees

Clip - Soundscape - Rainforest Symphony

Clip - Drama - Life In The Fast Times

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Forest 404

Penguin Books UK