SERIES PREMIERE: This new AMC series, co-produced by Britain’s Channel 4 (where it premiered earlier this month to the channel’s largest audience in decades), is based on a Swedish series called Real Humans, and imagines a contemporary reality in which artificial intelligence has developed to the point where human-looking, and human-acting, helpers called “synths” can be purchased and dispatched, either for domestic home use or as pleasure units in brothels. The concept, and the issues, are as old as the stories of Isaac Asimov (who’s alluded to and name-checked in the premiere), and Humans covers the same basic territory as everything from Blade Runner and AI: Artificial Intelligence to I, Robot and this year’s Ex Machina. But the surprising, and exciting, thing is, it covers the territory emotionally and intelligently, and based on the first two episodes, is a really interesting and compelling new series. William Hurt, as a “synth” inventor protective of an early model with implanted cherished memories, is melancholy and instantly sympathetic – a great choice for Hurt’s first foray into series TV. And as the synth brought by a harried husband and father into service as a domestic helper, and subsequently named Anita, Gemma Chan (pictured) is everything she needs to be: mercurial, spooky, alluring and inscrutable, often at the same time. It’s quite a leap from when she played Charlotte the dominatrix on Showtime’s Secret Diary of a Call Girl – and another memorable addition to her resume.