Iain M. Banks's "The State of the Art" to be BBC radio play

Paul Cornell reports "I've been commissioned to adapt Iain M. Banks' novella 'The State of the Art', from the collection of the same name, into a play for broadcast on BBC Radio 4 later this year. My producer is the wonderful Nadia Molinari, and we're looking to keep all the SF goodness of the original. I'm enjoying how serious and thoughtful the brief is. The story is about Banks' spaceborne utopian civilisation, the Culture, encountering Earth. Some interesting casting of a Ship voice ahead, I should think, and who should be Diziet Sma? I'm anticipating the process hugely."

Banks notes that Cornell "is best known for his work as a writer for Doctor Who and also writes novels and comics."